Ryan Murphy’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is now the most-streamed/watched show in FX’s history. The show has caused a huge boom in interest in all things John & Carolyn. People are so hyped about almost every part of the show, and we all have our fingers crossed that the show doesn’t screw up the final episodes. But… one thing was clear in the early episodes: Love Story’s writers and producers were doing Daryl Hannah dirty. Daryl and John had an off-and-on relationship for years, and there’s some evidence to suggest there was some overlap between the end of John and Daryl and the start of John and Carolyn. Love Story made it seem like Daryl was clinging to John, that she was desperate to marry him, and that she would bring her drugged-out friends to his New York loft. I wondered if Daryl would say something about how Love Story and Dree Hemingway portrayed her, and now Daryl has done so in a New York Times op-ed, “How Can ‘Love Story’ Get Away With This?” An excerpt:

I have generally chosen not to respond to media coverage of me. I have long believed that engaging with distortion often amplifies it. But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me. The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident.

In discussing the show, “Love Story,” one of its producers explained: “Given how much we’re rooting for John and Carolyn, Daryl Hannah occupies a space where she’s an adversary to what you want narratively in the story.”

Storytelling requires tension. It often requires an obstacle. But a real, living person is not a narrative device. There is also a gendered dimension to this thinking. Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?

The character “Daryl Hannah” portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John. The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue. I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.

When so many people watch a dramatization that uses a real name, real-life consequences follow. In the weeks since the series aired, I have received many hostile and even threatening messages from viewers who seem to believe the portrayal is factual. When entertainment borrows a real person’s name, it can permanently impact her reputation.

[From The NY Times]

She also writes about how she’s valued privacy and discretion always, especially in recent years. Which is true, she does her work and doesn’t seek the spotlight for herself whatsoever. She’s also been remarkably discreet about John during and after their relationship and after his death. What Love Story did to her is not fair at all and I think Daryl is owed a public apology. I’d also like to say: it’s not Dree Hemingway’s fault. Dree plays the “Daryl” character as written, and I could actually tell that Dree did a lot of work to try to play Daryl as authentically as possible (Dree’s voice work as Daryl is INCREDIBLE). The writers really f–ked up – we would have been rooting for Carolyn anyway, but they chose the cheapest way to tell a false story of John and Daryl’s relationship.

Photos courtesy of Paul Adao/INFphoto.com, Cover Images, Avalon Red, Colin Mason/Avalon, Starstock/Photoshot.