Widespread Panic, Unattainable Women, Shedding light on Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

In June 2021, Knopf released James Ellroy's Widespread Panic, the latest novel in the 73-year-old author’s oeuvre. That includes the L.A. Quartet, which spans 1946 to 1958 in Los Angeles and incorporates The Black Dahlia—his breakout book in 1987—and L.A. Confidential; the Underworld U.S.A. trilogy, which starts with American Tabloid and covers the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.; and the Second L.A. Quartet, set during World War II, beginning with 2014’s Perfidia. Ellroy “will watch any crummy film noir on TV just to see shots of L.A. as it really looked in 1951—the architecture, the clothes, everything else,” he says. “I live in the past. My life is freeze-framed at the time of my mother’s death, which was 1958.” In Widespread Panic, a sort of follow-up to Shakedown, Ellroy again returns to that time, spinning a fictionalized story about the real-life Fred Otash, a former L.A. police officer who became a private investigator and “the head strong-armed goon for Confidential magazine,” a celebrity scandal rag that he helped fill with gossip. There is a brief glance at 2020, though: Otash, stuck in purgatory for 28 years since his death in 1992, has been offered a way out by telling all. “There’s Heaven for the good folks, Hell for the beastfully baaaaaad,” Otash explains. “There’s Purgatory for guys like me—caustic cads that capitalized on a sicko system and caused catastrophe.... Baby, it’s time to confess.” In the novel, Otash is driven to help and love unattainable women (mainly actress Lois Nettleton). Ellroy thought Fred Otash to be good company but not trustworthy. Otash is “just ripped in half by his desire to do good and his desire to roll around in the dirt of the human condition,” says Ellroy, who describes the novel as “satire, parody, a big riff on this male figure at midcentury. It’s my fondest book.” Source: https://www.publishersweekly.com

The Untold Story of Carolyn Bessette (working title) will be coming soon: A sensitive, sophisticated act of reclaiming the narrative of a woman both ordinary and extraordinary, whose legacy has heretofore been determined by authors and journalists dead set on casting her in an unflattering light as a villain. Media accounts—and even historical treatments today—have usually portrayed Bessette as an ice queen, a vapid fashion insider, a child of WASP privilege, and a fame-hungry accessory to her husband. Yet the Carolyn that comes alive in these pages is a warm, vivacious daughter of a middle-class Italian-American family; a magnetic, caring friend; an ambitious go-getter; and a camera-shy woman with a history of trauma, who had complicated feelings about the public life that her relationship required of her. The Untold Story of Carolyn Bessette will open readers’ eyes to the many sides of Bessette without shying away from the thornier aspects of her character and story. It will couch its observations and revelations in the care and empathy due any human being, while also invoking the glamor and possibility of the 90s in New York. This biography will also be a “Kennedy book” that breaks new ground. 

(A Weirdland Exclusive) A relative of Carolyn Bessette explains about the separation rumors between John Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and other issues:  There was nothing to reconcile. As I dig into this, I can say with absolute certainty that most of this is fabricated bullshit. Any reconciliation that happened was a basic step back from the public eye as they started a family. That's where things were going. Carolyn spent her formative years in Greenwich and Boston. Quite possible that she occasionally enjoyed cocaine [in CK]. However, she was really intelligent and probably was around it [the drug scene] but not partaking in it. She did not have a habit. I graduated from UConn one month prior to the crash. I met JFK Jr in New York. He was really down to earth. And they were great together. I respect your positive angle on a tough situation. I trust you and appreciate everything you're doing. I find your level of detail to be value-worthy. For all of the fluff, we are very much a New England family. Very pragmatic, sensible, loyal and not about our airs. Carolyn and I had very similar personalities. She was always confident in her skin. Always. She was very Connecticut and she got annoyed with intrusions. She just wanted to say f-off when the p-squad was in their face. She always had to tambour her temper in order to be gracious. And she did a good job.

As for Mike Bergin: That has no truth to it. Mr. Bergin's dad was a police officer in Naugatuck, Connecticut, at the time when my dad was a detective on the statewide narcotics team. Our families knew each other. We all hung out after Thanksgiving in Watertown,  Connecticut at a bar in 1996. (Circa 2005) I literally ran into Bergin at Maggie McFly's in Middlebury, Connecticut and made him admit his lie publicly which is why I tried to connect you with my best friend, my boarding and college roommate at Gunnery and the University of Connecticut. He (my best friend) witnessed it (Bergin's admission). All of my college buddies were drivers for both funerals. All of our Tahoes were donated by a bunch of dealerships because of my dad being a cop. Governor Rowland sent a state police escort to the NY State line and then Governor Pataki sent another escort. There are so many layers to this. We are a French family that resided on America Street in Waterbury. All Italian. Have you watched Ken Burns' documentary The War? If you want to do the family and Carolyn and Lauren and do it right, you have to understand our history. I'm proud of it. But, we came from dirt poor beginnings. I met Ken Burns once. He's a dork.... You should watch it. You'd understand us a little more. I grew up with Corado "Babe" Ciarlo's niece in Waterbury, who lived at 1032 North Main Street. "Babe" was a typical Italian from Waterbury. A great guy. I grew up in a melting pot. Irish, Scotch, Italian, Jewish, Slav, African. There's nothing better than living in Connecticut.  

One of the four cities featured in The War is Waterbury, Connecticut. We were super poor. My grandfather was electrocuted. He was killed on the job working as a foreman for Connecticut Light & Power when my dad was 16 and Carolyn's father was 26. William Bessette had graduated from the University of Connecticut and was a civil engineer. My dad is incredibly intelligent, he turned down West Point and became a cop. He was under cover (infiltrated the Hells Angels). I think the bigger story and narrative is that Carolyn and Lauren were more accomplished than most of the Kennedys. We don't like to compare but they were killing it. Look at Lauren: 34 and a phenomenon at Morgan Stanley. Was Carolyn's apex John? She had her own path. Carolyn was very 'fuck you'. She just did not want people in her face all the time and John had a different approach. Carolyn and I were very similar. Extremely perceptive of a room and the people in it. She was socially intelligent and also shy. She was smart and would lie back and observe. I laugh now but we wrote letters to each other. The laugh is that it was the time before email. I didn't keep the letters. 

A big tragedy in this unfortunate situation is that Lauren is overlooked. She was an amazing woman. I'll ask (another relative who was closer to the girls) about her dating another Kennedy (Bobby Shriver), however it seems highly unlikely. She was dating a cohort at Morgan Stanley at the time of her death. I believe he was Asian. About that flight: I was in Rhode Island when they crashed. It was the most hazy I've ever seen and I have been on boats all of my life. A Carolyn and Lauren's book is paramount. Lauren and Carolyn and Lisa were very sweet. We are very stoic. I don't think anyone read Bergin's filth. I'm very angry. He is such a leach. I'm mad. It's just not true (Bergin's book The Other Man).

Lauren Bessette, Carolyn's sister, was remembered in an ecumenical memorial service at 7 p.m., July 24, 1999, in her hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut. The candlelight service at Christ Church, an Episcopal church, was led by an Episcopal priest and the pastor of a non-denominational church. Lauren Bessette was remembered as a woman "always there for her friends" and "one who searched for challenges." Lauren was eulogized by her uncle, Jack Messina, who conjured a picture of his niece "playing miniature golf in the back yard in her pajamas and high heels." Previously, John Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s memorial had been conducted on July 22, 1999, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Little Italy, New York. "We believe that our children are with us in spirit each and every moment, and that is what helps sustain us," wrote Ann and Richard Freeman, the mother and stepfather of Carolyn and Lauren, in a statement issued Wednesday. "The Freeman family is very thankful for the tremendous support we have received from all over the world." Source: www.chicagotribune.com

In NYC, Monicka HanssenTeele got to know his colleagues, including PR co-worker Carolyn Bessette, the woman who later became the wife of John F Kennedy Jr., also known as John-John and JFK Jr. Monicka HanssenTeele: "Carolyn and I became friends and shared an apartment. When she was to become a show director in the company, she appointed me as her successor. Then she came home and said, 'Tomorrow you will personally go to Calvin Klein's job interview'. John was very fond of paddling (kayaking), and they said they wanted to visit the north of Norway. The trip was planned and they were supposed to come the year after the accident." Monicka had witnessed her friend Carolyn developing a love affair with JFK Jr. In the United States, the Kennedy family was the closest to a royal family and Monicka saw how Carolyn's life was turned upside down. She was hunted by paparazzi as she moved outdoors, becoming the cover of magazines and newspapers. That meant that Carolyn had to give up her job, which gave Monicka the chance to try herself as a PR after having worked three years as a celebrity stylist in Calvin Klein.

Model Carolyn Murphy: “Calvin Klein was also a big supporter in my career, and it was Carolyn Bessette who initiated that relationship. A standout pinch-me moment in my career was when I was introduced to Calvin Klein, via Carolyn Bessette, who worked for him at the time; I’d met her on the street when she was casting for CK. From that moment I worshipped her and her style.” Sciascia Gambaccini: "I think Carolyn gave Calvin a lot of inspiration in terms of her personal style," says Gambaccini, the fashion director of Marie Claire, who previously worked at Calvin Klein. "I am sure [Carolyn] intrigued Calvin a lot and inspired a lot of his campaigns, with the way she looked. A healthy, beautiful American, that is what Calvin likes most in a woman."

Steve Gillon on what Sasha Chermayeff said to him about being part of William Cohan’s book "Four Friends": “Sasha forwarded to me an email she sent to her entire class at Andover criticizing Cohan for the way he depicted her, John and Carolyn. I did not know that he repeated the old canard that Carolyn was responsible for them taking off late on Friday evening. I have the FBI report that establishes the timeline for that night. According to witnesses, Carolyn pulled just as John was preparing the plane for take-off. She could be blamed for lots of things, but not that!” Gillon discussing Richard Blow's book: “Blow made the mistake of being the first out of the gate. John’s death was still raw. Blow’s book is actually quite good and very complimentary toward John. People at George did not like Blow to begin with. They found him arrogant and pretentious. He was always dismissive of Rosemarie Terenzio and others who did not share his academic pedigree. He was not close to John. [...] I did not attend any birthday parties after his mom [Jackie Kennedy] died. They used to be much bigger affairs in her apartment. After she died John made the dinners more intimate. I was not among his closest friends who would’ve been invited to those events. The Radziwills attended, and so did Santina [Goodman]. They always celebrated their birthdays together. Christiane Amanpour. Robert Littell. Maybe Sasha [Chermayeff]. Some of the Andover guys.” 

Barbara Vaughn about John Kennedy Jr: "I was instant friends when we met as I had grown up with two of his best friends-Billy Way, Andover roommate, and Robbie Littell, [John Jr.] Brown roommate. I was also friends with Christina Haag, Daryl Hannah, Julie Baker and Carolyn. John and I met on a rafting trip in Maine late September 1989. Julie Baker contracted Lyme disease, which went undiagnosed for many many years, and in addition to becoming sick for the following eight years, she lost much of her long-term memory. Really tragic.” Historian Steve Gillon: “John said he did not want to do to his wife what his father did to his mother. Also, I interviewed Julie Baker and she was adamant that her relationship with John was not sexual. Sasha and every other friend I interviewed said John was not having an affair. I spent many hours with Sasha and she never suggested that John and Julie Baker had a sexual relationship.” 

Barbara Vaughn didn't know exactly if Billy Way was the person who had introduced John Kennedy Jr to Carolyn Bessette: “I don’t know if Billy did, but it wouldn’t surprise me. He introduced Julie Baker and John. [...] Carolyn tried to be the gatekeeper with many of John’s friends, and even his sister [Caroline Kennedy]. John was in touch with whomever he wanted to be and got together when Carolyn was seeing her fashion friends. John and Billy Noonan had a falling out sometime before John’s death, so neither he nor Carolyn were hanging out. And I’m sure John wasn’t interested in all of Carolyn’s gang... I was at one of his birthdays and dinners with our mutual friends. Carolyn would always give me a hug and a “Hi sweetie!” when our paths crossed at events. We had traveled together and hung out one-on-one prior to their marriage. She even fixed me up with a friend of theirs. [...] Finding my calendars from 1989-1996 has been illuminating. About Julie, she and John met in 1990, and she was at John’s 30th b-day bash despite the fact that Christina was his date. Then on Halloween 1991, I went with John and Julie to a crazy party where both my date and John dressed as “David”, the Michelangelo sculpture. I never realized that Julie and Carolyn had any overlap in 1994. Here’s an even stranger thing: John was seeing Daryl behind Christina‘s back in the fall of 1989. I have photos of John and Daryl at a good friend’s Xmas party in 1992, and more pictures of her and John in Shelter Island, summer of 1994. Julie was a trusted friend and confidant who he chose to talk to. She told me they did not have sex [at the Stanhope Hotel], because John wanted a clear head and conscience while trying to figure out what to do about his marriage. John told me that Julie didn’t measure up in the intellectual category, so there was a limitation on their relationship, but he really loved her - which was evidenced by the longevity of their relationship, on or off the main stage.“

Barbara Vaughn was close to Robert Littell, Rosemarie Terenzio, Julie Baker, Christina Haag, the late Billy Way, and Mary Richardson; she also knew RFK Jr for 30 years, as well as Kerry, Rory, and Max Kennedy. She also met Jackie Kennedy at John’s 30th birthday bash. Barbara also had dinner with Clint Hill, Jackie’s Secret Service agent with JFK, and his partner/co-author of “The Kennedy Detail”, Lisa McCubbin. Barbara commenting about the rumors of if she had started dating John after his breakup with Daryl Hannah and before dating Carolyn Bessette: “Absolutely not! That misinformation is a perfect example of why you can’t believe everything you read. I was not dating John in 1994-5; he was dating Carolyn, and we had all gone diving together in Honduras the year before. Some friends were weirdly possessive of John, and competitive about their relationship. Carolyn grabbed the gold ring, and won, so jealousy [was] not that surprising. And a wife can try to edge out friends... I had heard that John vehemently did not want to be unfaithful as he wanted a clear head in figuring out how to proceed with Carolyn. It’s all hearsay. Carolyn was very warm and generous with me until the point where she felt uncomfortable, and I know exactly when, where, and why that happened, and I don’t fault her for her feelings.” 

Barbara explained why Carolyn had cut her off, but not Julie Baker who had a close relationship with John: “Carolyn was not threatened by Julie - John must have explained why he and Julie were never serious, why he never would have married her. Carolyn didn’t know Julie to my knowledge, but she knew me, knew John liked me and respected me, and I was one of John’s “Ivy League” pals. She was very insecure with academic and intellectual topics - even games he liked to play - and would not join in. She would sit on John’s lap trying to distract him. This is difficult for me to say, but I think I was more of a credible threat in her eyes. John was extremely well-read and super-knowledgeable about history. He was much smarter than most people realized and had a very good sense of humor, which requires intelligence. I thought Carolyn was very smart and clever, but not well-read, and was just a bit out of her depth in the cultural literacy arena.“

Barbara Vaughn on John and Caroline Kennedy’s relationship: “There was a period where they were a bit estranged. Caroline knew that Carolyn was driving a wedge between John and certain groups of friends, and she called some to ask if they’d seen him. She was disappointed to learn that many had not. John called Carolyn’s abrupt cutting me off “a tempest in a teapot”, and said she’d get over it. Carolyn never reached out to me as she had in the past, but she was actually very warm when I’d run into her. “Hi sweetie!” she’d say as she would give me a hug hello.“

Interview with Blaine Applegate (a friend of Carolyn Bessette since college): “She wasn't blown away by John. Carolyn was casual when she spoke about John to her friends. She was more genuinely interested in others than she was of herself. I mean, not uncommon to see her, you know, roll out of bed and go to the dining hall in sweats and, you know, messed-up hair and no makeup. I mean, that was the Carolyn we knew, and that's the Carolyn that we'll all remember is just this regular gal who was an unassuming beauty. She would not have sacrificed her heart for a guy who wasn't gonna also give his heart to her. She was genuine. She wasn't a gold digger. She was just a normal person who wanted to have a relationship, a one-on-one relationship with somebody who would treat her with respect.”

Her care in avoiding the incessant media attention made some characterize Carolyn Bessette Kennedy as a reluctant hermit, holed up in the couple's TriBeCa loft, and she herself had pointed out that the invasion was close to total -- and sometimes genuinely threatening. "I thought it was kind of a joke at first," she told an editor at WWD. "I'd pick up the phone at work and there would be this guy calling from the National Enquirer, asking the most absurd questions: `Why did you beat up John in the park yesterday?' But then it just got bizarre. I realized that a lot of the photographers really didn't like me. They wanted me to do something wrong -- so they could photograph it. And when I fell in the street one day outside the apartment, these four or five guys just went crazy. Nobody helped me up. They just kept snapping." Carolyn had prided herself on not being an uptown girl. When she first came to New York, she moved to the East Village. "I used to step over drunks and crack dealers to get to my apartment," she remembered. "Everybody at Calvin thought I was crazy, but I couldn't imagine coming to New York and living anywhere else. Even with all the weirdness, I felt comfortable and I had fun."

Twenty-two years after the death of Carolyn Bessette and husband John F. Kennedy Jr., social media users celebrate Carolyn's signature spirit: "I think she would be amused and delighted," a friend says. Carolyn's influence lives on as a new generation celebrates her life in a variety of popular Instagrams such as Carolyn Iconic and CBK's Closet, which focus not only her unique fashions but her independent spirit. "A new generation has discovered her," says RoseMarie Terenzio, a close friend of both John and Carolyn. "Her style is not just about fashion but also the way she carried herself and her quiet confidence and her relatability... and I think that comes through. As private as she was, I think she would be amused and delighted and proud that her influence lives on." When financial analyst Mary Taylor, 23, wanted to learn more about Carolyn a few years ago, she says, "there weren't a lot of resources online. Definitely no Instagrams. So I thought if there aren't any accounts commemorating her style and her legacy, why don't I just do it?" Taylor's tribute page, created in 2018, quickly took off. 

Taylor makes it a point to also include stories and anecdotes beyond the wardrobe. "She was mysterious," she says of Carolyn, who worked as a Calvin Klein publicist before her death. "She had a big personality, was very creative and, by all accounts, a very loyal friend. More than being a super cool person fashion wise, she was a goodhearted person and I wanted to honor her legacy. A lot of people still care." George Carr, brother of Calvin Klein's onetime creative director Zack Carr, is a huge fan of all the social media accounts that celebrate her life. "Carolyn was the American and contemporary version of Audrey Hepburn," says Carr. "Zack was enchanted by her. She was his muse, the inspiration for thousands of his sketches. She had an all-American beauty. Not a model. Not an aristocrat. Not a celebrity. It was never contrived. Calvin [Klein] saw it immediately and so did Zack [Carr]." Source: people.com