‘Love Story’ Trailer Reveals the Tragic Romance of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy

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Feb 2

Ryan Murphy’s Love Story frames JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s relationship as a collision between intimacy and relentless public scrutiny.

The first trailer for Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette offers a sweeping, emotionally charged look at one of the most mythologized romances of the 1990s — and the fame that ultimately consumed it.

The FX limited series, executive produced by Ryan Murphy, stars Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, tracing their courtship, marriage, and mounting strain under the glare of constant media attention. From its opening moments, the trailer establishes a love story shaped as much by longing as by isolation — a private relationship unfolding on a public stage.

The footage captures the couple’s early connection, juxtaposed against the omnipresence of paparazzi, flashing bulbs, and tabloid obsession. “There’s your world, and then there’s mine,” Carolyn tells John in one of the trailer’s most telling exchanges. It’s a line that neatly encapsulates the central tension of the series: the impossibility of maintaining privacy when one partner is American royalty by birth and the other is thrust unwillingly into that orbit.

The series also foregrounds Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s identity beyond her marriage. The trailer depicts her career at Calvin Klein, where she rose from sales assistant to executive, becoming known for her restrained elegance and enduring influence on ’90s fashion. That legacy, however, has already proven contentious in adaptation. When first-look images were released last year, online criticism centered on costume choices, with some calling the styling inauthentic. Bessette Kennedy’s real-life hair colorist later echoed those concerns publicly, underscoring how closely guarded her image remains decades later.

The show’s official synopsis frames the romance as immediate and electric, but increasingly threatened by fame’s corrosive effects. As John and Carolyn’s lives become fodder for headlines and photographs, the series positions their relationship as a study in pressure — how constant observation distorts intimacy, identity, and agency.

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Love Story is inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s biography Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999, an event that permanently sealed the couple’s place in American cultural memory.

The ensemble cast includes Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein, alongside Leila George, Sydney Lemmon, and Constance Zimmer. The series was created by Connor Hines, with Max Winkler directing the pilot.

The nine-episode limited series premieres February 12 on FX, with episodes available to stream on Hulu the same night and internationally on Disney+.