John F. Kennedy Jr. was famous from almost literally the moment he was born.
His parents loved him, too.
“There was a bond between the two of them.
John was definitely the apple of his eye,” he said.
As he grew older, Kennedy would struggle to find his place in the world.
He was a socialite and a lawyer, a tabloid fixture and a political servant.
Bartender Joe Diggs recalled (viaEsquire), “John looked in your soul and he understood it.
John was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
I don’t know anybody who said anything else but that about that man.
I just don’t.”
In other words, Kennedy’s life was a complicated one.
Read on for a look back at the all-too-brief life of one of the most famous children in America.
That month, JFK was elected to the Presidency of the United States.
A few weeks later, the President-elect flew to Florida to work on his transition to the White House.
There was a phone call waiting for him as soon as the plane touched down, according toUPI.
He spoke withPeopledecades later, recalling the President-elect’s mood on that busy day.
“He was elated that he was now a father and it was a boy, his first son.
That made him very, very happy.”
That nickname followed JFK Jr. for the rest of his life, but he reportedly disliked it.
According to Kathy McKeon, the family’s nanny, it wasn’t even something they called him.
No matter what people thought they knew, there’s always more to learn.
Like the whole world,Jackie was in shock at having witnessed the death of her husband.
“One second later, I thought, ‘Why did I wash the blood off?’
I should have left it there; let them see what they’ve done,” she said.
A few days later, on November 25th, JFK’s funeral was held.
It also happened to be his son’s third birthday.
“I just watched Jackie,” he recalled toUPI.
“She bent down and whispered in her son’s ear.
John-John’s hand came up to a salute.
It was emblematic of a nation in mourning.
In fact, she wrote his system herself.
“My son is in Africa,” the former First Lady wrote.
“I will attempt to fill this out for him.”
At Brown, John was heavily involved in theater.
What’s the surprise in this?
He’d been acting his entire life.
One performance after another.”
In 1988,Peoplenamed Kennedy the Sexiest Man Alive.
He really did."
All that being said, Kennedy does seem to have been conflicted about his status as a public hunk.
Biographer Steven Gillon toldPeople, “John was proud of his body.
It was the one thing that John could do on his own.”
He should know; JFK Jr. lived at that intersection through a series of high-profile relationships with celebrities.
According toInStyle, biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli wrote that the Material Girl was frightened of Kennedy’s temper.
She even called him “slightly more frightening” than her ex Sean Penn.
The relationship didn’t last long.
In the early 90s, Kennedy went on a few dates withSarah Jessica Parker.
It has become the defining factor in the person I am.
It’s pathetic."
She even called the whole endeavor “the Kennedy fiasco.”
This relationship didn’t last long, either.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Kennedy courted “Splash” star Daryl Hannah.
“John just found Daryl so self-absorbed,” Kennedys friend and biographer Steven M. Gillon toldInStyle.
“And yet he went to the district attorney’s office,” Rodi said.
“So he did have a sense of public service.”
However, there was trouble ahead.
The following year, the press learned that he’d failed the bar exam twice.
“The Hunk Flunks,” headlines blared.
Kennedy told press (viaThe Chicago Tribune) that he was hopeful his third attempt would be more successful.
“I am very disappointed, again.
God willing, I will be back …
I am clearly not a legal genius,” Kennedy confessed.
Thankfully, the hunk passed.
“I got the word.
I’m very relieved,” he told reporters in November 1990, perUPI.
Still, after all that, Kennedy wound up leaving the law just a few years later.
As theTampa Bay Timesnoted, his conviction record was perfect.
This was something Kennedy himself thought about.
“It’s hard for me to talk about a legacy or a mystique.
It’s my family,” he once said (via The Tampa Bay Times).
“The fact that there have been difficulties and hardships, or obstacles, makes us closer.”
One of Kennedy’s attempts to seem normal was his insistence on riding his bike to work.
On the other, according to Kennedy’s friend and biographer Steven Gillon, Onassis could be overbearing.
“She was a helicopter mom before there was such a term.
She guided him, she could be tough with him,” Gillon toldInStyle.
“The one thing that she impressed upon John was that he had to lead a meaningful life.”
Onassis died in 1994 from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Left without parents, Kennedy was devastated.
She spent the weekend with Kennedy after he lost his mother.
He founded George Magazine
By September 1995, the world had its answer.
Its first cover famously depicted supermodel Cindy Crawford dressed as the magazine’s namesake, George Washington.
“Certainly it helps, and it draws attention, and what any new launch needs is that.
Right out the gate, the magazine was a hit, thanks in part to its charismatic founder.
However, it was not without controversy.
According toEsquire, one pundit even called the magazine a “net loss of information.”
His involvement in the magazine would soon cause trouble in JFK Jr.’s life.
I had to be a bit sneaky for reasons that by now are obvious.”
Kennedy had indeed married his girlfriend, Carolyn Bessette.
They met several years earlier in a Calvin Klein store, according to ABC News.
Kennedy’s assistant RoseMarie Terenzio said that her boss appreciated that his girlfriend, a publicist, was independent.
“I think he loved that.
“I think … that was rare for John, to be that comfortable doing that with someone.”
They kept their Georgia wedding a secret from the world until after it happened.
A beautiful gesture… and a marriage that would soon unravel.
“She didn’t want to go out,” the friend said.
She burned a lot of bridges.”
It seems that Bessette fixated on the long hours her new husband was spending at his magazine.
She would fax him to come home, according to Klein.
When he did return to their apartment, he would find her doing drugs.
Eventually, Bessette’s meddling led to the departure of Kennedy’s partner Michael Berman from George.
It was July 1999.
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Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Biographer Christopher Andersen told ABC News that Kennedy learned to fly because he loved the thrill of adventure.
Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli added that Bessette came to appreciate her trips with her husband.
“That’s the only time they were ever alone,” Taraborrelli said.
They were headed to his cousin’s wedding on Martha’s Vineyard.
Shortly thereafter, the news broke that something had happened.
“John Kennedy’s Plane Vanishes Off Cape Cod,” a headline byThe New York Timesread.
“It was earth-shattering.
It was unbelievable,” Kennedy’s assistant RoseMarie Terenzio told ABC News.
“It was as [if] the earth had cracked in half somehow.
And I could not understand how this could happen.”
