Actress Daryl Hannah has criticized how she’s portrayed in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette in a bombshell new essay for The New York Times. Hannah, 65 — who had a long‑term relationship with John F. Kennedy Jr. before he ultimately married Carolyn Bessette — has never publicly spoken about her romance with JFK’s son until now. “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,” she insisted in the piece.
Actress Daryl Hannah has forcefully condemned her portrayal in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
Speaking out in a scathing new essay for The New York Times, Hannah, 65 — who had a long‑term relationship with John F. Kennedy Jr. before he married Carolyn Bessette — slammed the hit limited series, the first installment of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story anthology.
The nine‑episode show depicts how JFK Jr. went from an on‑again, off‑again relationship with Hannah (played by Dree Hemingway) to falling for up‑and‑coming Calvin Klein associate Bessette after they met through her influential boss.
Hannah — who has never spoken publicly about her romance with JFK’s son — wrote in The New York Times, “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.” She continued, “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 present her as irritating, self‑absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident.”
She went on to refute multiple moments depicted in the show, including a scene showing a cocaine‑fueled party in which the drug is placed on a priceless Kennedy family heirloom.
“I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine‑fueled parties,” she wrote. “I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial.” She continued with a point‑by‑point rebuttal of several other buzzy scenes. “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,” Hannah added, referencing JFK Jr.’s mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Hannah continued in The New York Times, “I’ve endured a number of outrageous lies, crappy stories and unflattering characterizations before. I chose not to battle them but to focus on my work and respect my loved ones by keeping my private life private. But my silence should not be mistaken for agreement with lies.”
A rep for Murphy did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment on Hannah’s essay.
Kennedy and Hannah first met in the early 1980s while vacationing with their families on the Caribbean island of St. Martin.
They reconnected in 1988 while attending the wedding of Kennedy’s aunt, Lee Radziwill, to director Herb Ross — who had worked with Hannah on Steel Magnolias.
The pair dated on and off for more than five years before ending their relationship for good in 1994, despite speculation in the early ’90s that they were preparing to marry.
Hannah told Entertainment Weekly in 1993, “It’s getting really annoying. I get asked about it all the time,” adding, “This morning I call up my plumber, and even he asks me. Oh, brother, I’m just trying to get my pipes fixed. Why can’t people talk about something else?” During the couple’s passionate romance, a New York neighbor also told PEOPLE in 1993 that she’d seen Kennedy — tall, dark and shirtless in boxer shorts — dancing with a barefoot Hannah, who was wearing a short nightgown.
“They were doing this little love play,” the onlooker said. “He was tickling her, and she’d run away. Then he’d catch her, and they’d dance around. Even if you didn’t know who they were, you’d be entranced.”
Around two years after his split from Hannah, JFK Jr. married Bessette with just 40 guests in attendance at a super‑secret ceremony at the First African Baptist Church on Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia, on Sept. 21, 1996.
Meanwhile, Hannah continued her acting career and advocacy work, and eventually married Neil Young in 2018.
