Earlier this week, FX/Hulu released the first trailer for Ryan Murphy’s long-gestating project on John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. I thought the trailer was interesting, and I admit, I’m going to watch this (at least the first few episodes, before the quality falls off a cliff). This was originally called “American Love Story,” but now it’s called Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Paul Anthony Kelly plays John and Sarah Pidgeon plays Carolyn. Naomi Watts plays Jackie Kennedy, and Grace Gummer plays Caroline Kennedy. I just saw that the series will include Michael Bergin, who was Carolyn’s on-and-off lover/ex/friend. Bergin is played by Noah Fernley.
Anyway, they had the big premiere event last night in New York. While I think the “dressing up in character or on-theme for the promotional tour” bit is tired, I would have welcomed it for this series. It’s jarring to see Sarah Pidgeon promote a project where she’s playing one of THE style icons of the 1990s and Pidgeon just looks so… unlike Bessette. Carolyn would have hated this dress/ensemble, that’s all I’m saying. Sarah wore fresh-off-the-runway Chanel, part of Matthieu Blazy’s debut with Chanel. Technically, it’s a giant “waistcoat” with feathers, all over a pair of trousers. Meh. Naomi Watts wore Balenciaga.
Sarah also spoke to Vogue ahead of the premiere, as she was selecting her Chanel ensemble. She spoke a lot about how Ryan Murphy’s team was able to pull a lot of vintage ‘90s looks to recreate Bessette’s closet – they got access to a lot of Yohji Yamamoto, Prada, Hermès, Valentino, etc. They also tailored Levi’s jeans to look like specific pairs owned by Carolyn.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- New York series premiere of FX’s ‘Love Story’ a story about John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ Featuring: Paul Anthony Kelly, Sarah Pidgeon Where: New York, New York, United States When: 03 Feb 2026 Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
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- New York series premiere of FX’s ‘Love Story’ a story about John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ Featuring: Naomi Watts Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 03 Feb 2026 Credit: mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
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- New York series premiere of FX’s ‘Love Story’ a story about John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ Featuring: Sarah Pidgeon Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 03 Feb 2026 Credit: mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
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- New York series premiere of FX’s ‘Love Story’ a story about John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ Featuring: Paul Anthony Kelly Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 03 Feb 2026 Credit: mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
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- New York series premiere of FX’s ‘Love Story’ a story about John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ Featuring: Sarah Pidgeon Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 03 Feb 2026 Credit: mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
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- New York series premiere of FX’s ‘Love Story’ a story about John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ Featuring: Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 03 Feb 2026 Credit: mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages
Sarah’s outfit looks like a little girl got into her mom’s closet and blindly chose the dress that looked the most fancy. Oof.
There have been some really beautiful slip dresses featured on the recent runways which would have hit that 90s vibe. Seems like a missed opportunity
I just hope they don’t trash Carolyn in this series. She was relentlessly harassed when she alive and slandered after death.
Paul, the actor who plays John is handsome really handsome.
Chanel designs have been ugly for years and I don’t understand the draw other than the name. Even then Coco Chanel was a Nazi sympathizer.
Honestly I’m not trusting Murphy at all not to end up trashing Bessette. I still don’t understand how he has never been sued by family of real life people in his “Monster” shows.
I think that is the draw it’s Chanel. It’ll be hard to turn it down and say no to wearing it to a Premier. I don’t know how easy it is to get to wear Chanel.
All the pictures I have seen of the Paul playing JFK Jr. reminds me of Andrew Shue. Is it just me?
I see it….
Ooh,,,I see it now.
Now that you point it out, yeah, he really does!
Is there something wrong with my eyes… or my memory… because NEITHER of them look ANYTHING like the people they are portraying! It’s infuriating. I feel like Elaine Benes when she screams, “I HATE IT!” during The English Patient.
I don’t think they look like them either.
JFK Jr and CBK were kind of larger-than-life looking whereas the actors, while attractive, look more like normal people. I don’t think I’d feel intimidated around the actors.
Yes – great point. They just look like everyday people who are not very memorable.
Yeah, but…that’s part of what made them special; a charism, an X-factor, that cannot be duplicated.
The missing X-factor is the problem, I agree.
The fact that I wouldn’t be intimidated around the actors but might go silent around the real couple is a criticism of the casting. I’m not praising the actors, but kind of dissing them (it’s not their fault they were cast though).
I’m trying to think whether more famous actors would work better in these roles, but even famous actors don’t have that untouchable quality JFK Jr. had. I can’t really decide on the unnamed quality or essence he had, which is a bit strange since it wasn’t like he was prodigiously skilled at anything except being good-looking and glamorous. (I’d say he was well-spoken but most upper middle class people are. He also has history behind him, but so do the rest of the Kennedys). But that one indefinable thing in terms of how he looked and came across publicly is what he was better at than everyone else, and I’d extend the same perception to CBK. They remind you of a time when some people were kind of aspirational to the masses without trying so hard and influencers would fail next to them.
Yes! I’m sitting here trying hard to think of someone else with that X-factor to the level of JFK jr. but I can’t.
They say Clinton in his hey day, but I don’t think that even he touches the level of JFK jr. To me, Clinton has always been a little smarmy and too slick.
Maybe because we (general we) embraced him and wanted to protect him since he was a little boy, saluting his father’s coffin?
Naomi looks amazing.
That Chanel dress is just tragic. Naomi Watts, on the other hand, looks AMAZING. That dress is perfection and she looks gorgeous.