With the release of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story, the Kennedys are once again back in the spotlight. And with that, the whirlwind marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette has also become the talk of the town. However, there is another person who is sharing that spotlight as well, and that is Caroline Kennedy.
The five-episode series features Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, while Paul Anthony Kelly embodies JFK Jr. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep’s daughter, Grace Gummer, is seen as Caroline Kennedy, JFK Jr.’s sister.
While many of the historical figures are deceased, Caroline is still alive. Therefore, the series once again renewed public interest in her life. She hasn’t been doing quite well, to say the least, even as recently as December 2025.
Breaking News: Tatiana Schlossberg, an environmental journalist and child of Caroline Kennedy, died at 35. She recently wrote of her battle with leukemia in The New Yorker. https://t.co/GGW2GXdy8E
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 30, 2025
Having experienced the deaths of many loved ones, career setbacks, and cousin betrayals, she must be going through unimaginable despair. As we take a look at her life, it only gets more tragic.
Caroline Kennedy, who recently celebrated her 68th birthday, actually experienced the first death of a close one at the age of five. The birth of her youngest brother, Patrick Bouvier, was very difficult, as he was a premature baby. Within minutes of his birth, Patrick began showing signs of difficulty breathing.
Later, he was diagnosed with hyaline membrane disease. Despite utmost efforts to save his life, he died just 39 hours after being born. Caroline, who was herself a child at that time, was deeply affected by the loss.
Mere days before she turned five, her father, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald during a motorcade through Dallas’ Dealey Plaza. At the time, she was too young to fully understand the event. Later, she began reflecting on the very short period of time she got to spend with her father.
“I have thought about him and missed him every day of my life,” Caroline said. “Growing up without him was made easier by all the people who kept him in their hearts, who told me that he inspired them to work and fight and believe in a better world, to give something back to this country that has given so much to so many.”
Just when she was coming to terms with the loss, five years later, Caroline lost another family member, her uncle, Robert Kennedy. He was killed on the same day he’d won the California primary by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan.
On November 22nd 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. While the media declared Lee Harvey Oswald “a lone assassin”, everybody knows today that it was part of a much more elaborate plot, with multiple other parties involved. The Media lies. Always! pic.twitter.com/ldsdMKN4Q9
— Price of Reason (@priceoreason) November 22, 2020
While her family members passed away one by one, she was left behind. But Caroline herself also faced imminent death threats. But, perhaps, losing her mother, Jackie Kennedy, in 1994 was the biggest loss for her, as that was when she became an orphan.
“My mother was a woman of tremendous courage and commitment and she worked hard to do her very best, every day of her life, whether that was in raising her children or being First Lady or working as a book editor,” Caroline later said of her mother, hoping to pass on her traits in her offspring.
Just when the woman was finally getting on with her life, she experienced another major loss. Her middle child, Tatiana Schlossberg, died at the age of 35 in 2025. She was suffering from Leukemia.
