American attorney and magazine editor. A member of one of the most famous families in American history, he was born the second child and only son of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy. John took the time to find his own niche in one of the most publicized families in America. Easy-going and well-bred, with intense physical charisma, he was known as one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, called the Sexiest Man Alive by “People Magazine.”
John was delivered by cesarean section at Georgetown University Hospital; his birth was, by no means, flawless. Born 17 days premature, Kennedy spent the first five days of his life in an incubator with hyaline membrane disease, the same respiratory ailment that killed his infant brother Patrick three years later. His dad, the 35th President of the US, was killed three days before his third birthday and buried on his birthday. He and older sister Caroline were raised in New York City to be different than the rest of the raucous Kennedy clan by his mom, Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy. His uncles Robert and Teddy became surrogate fathers.
He has been in the public eye for more of his life than anyone except for British Royalty. Having little direct memory of his dad, he came to know him through family and friends. He was given his own red speedboat when his mom married Aristotle Onassis when he was almost eight.
John attended the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, MA where he flunked a year-end exam and had to repeat a grade. When he was 14 he pelted paparazzi with snowballs in Gstaad and has since worked out a compromise with them; he will pose for pictures if they will back off when he requests it. John spent three days alone on an uninhabited island off the coast of Maine when he was 16 during an Outward Bound project. Instead of going to Harvard as the rest of the male members of the family, he chose Brown University. At Brown he kept a baby pig in the basement of the Phi Psi frat house. Though he never showed signs of turmoil, during his school years he was seeing a psychiatrist. A guy’s guy and a team player, he got on well with schoolmates. Not the best of students and having a short attention span, Kennedy graduated from Brown in 1983 with a BA in history.
In April 1985 he injured his foot while lifting weights. Kennedy wanted to attend Yale’s drama school, but his mom said no. An aspiring actor, on 4 August 1985 he had his professional acting debut opposite his then girlfriend Christina Haag in “Winners,” a play that had six performances with an audience by invitation only at the Irish Arts Center, a 75 seat theater, in Manhattan. He also appeared in a film with Haag in 1988, “A Matter of Degrees,” that had no US distribution. Though he has an ear for accents and a natural talent for acting, his mom persuaded him not to go into show-business as one actor in the family, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was enough.
He went into a New York city development job and then entered New York University Law School. Kennedy spent the summer of 1988 learning in a prestigious Los Angeles law firm, one of whose founding partners was Ted Kennedy’s law school roommate. He joined the NYC District Attorney’s staff, but failed the bar exam for the second time in May 1990 and the headlines in the New York Post read “Hunk Flunks.” Seven months later he passed the exam and became an assistant DA in the fraud and white collar crime office, remaining there for four years.
His mom, Jackie Kennedy Onassis died 19 May 1994.
After attending a two day magazine publishing seminar with friend Michael Berman, following in his mom’s footsteps he took on the job of editor for “George” magazine which premiered in October 1995. Needing $10 million capital, Paris based Hachette Fuilipacchi Presse, the largest magazine publisher, committed $20 million to launch the publication. With the magazine Kennedy hopes to inspire a new generation to talk about politics. A week before the magazine came out, John appeared in an episode of CBS’s “Murphy Brown” doing his 90-second scene in two takes with no flubs. Preferring to get around on his bike, he is an avid shopper, works out and his body shows it, roller blades and loves to party. An aura of excitement pervades a room when he enters by virtue of being a Kennedy, but he has no plan to join the family business, politics, although he has a tremendous sense of duty and responsibility. He is earnestly trying to find his own way despite his famous name. Whenever he meets someone, he always introduces himself, not taking for granted they know who he is. He spends a good deal of his time in support of various family causes. A remarkably decent fellow, impeccably well mannered, considerate, without airs, and honest, he once followed a stranger down a street to return a $5 bill he had dropped. Although he goes shirtless quite often, he likes hats and has since he was a child.
Unlike his grandfather and father, he has had long term relationships. Actress Daryl Hannah wasn’t to his mom’s liking and their almost six year relationship ended in late 1994. In 1995 Carolyn Bessette, six years his junior, a coltish former Calvin Klein executive and 1988 graduate of Boston University, moved into John’s book filled loft on the upper West Side of Manhattan in an area known as Tribeca. They met jogging in Central Park. She was born in White Plains, NY, grew up comfortably in Greenwich and New Canaan, CT and was voted Most Beautiful Person by her high school class. Their marriage, which was a most closely guarded secret, took place 21 September 1996 in the 19th century wood frame First African Baptists’ Church on remote Cumberland Island, GA. It took six months to plan so the 40 close friends and family that were in attendance could enjoy the day without the usual photographers and news people. Although the pair have a bit of turmoil in their relationship, they seemed to have worked things out once the paparazzi learned when to leave them alone. Jackie would have approved of Carolyn as they are both known for their fashion sense and need of privacy.
On 16 July 1999, while he and Carolyn were flying to Martha’s Vineyard, he reported at 9:39 PM that they were 13 miles off the coast and coming in for a landing. Moments later the radar showed the plane dropping. After a full day of searching, debris was found in the water the following afternoon, but no survivors.
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was born on 7 January 1966, White Plains, NY.
On 4 January 2001, the parent corporation of “George” announced that the magazine will cease publication with the March issue due to a lack of advertising support.
Link to Wikipedia biography