Many knew the late Carolyn Bessette as the timid wife of John F Kennedy Jr who hated the paparazzi and did everything she could to shy away from cameras.
In Ryan Murphy’s FX series Love Story, she’s depicted as a naive young woman who just happened to fall for the world’s most eligible bachelor, and had no idea that intense media attention would also follow her.
But newly unearthed photos of Bessette modeling long before she met JFK Jr – and tales from her raunchy college days – tell a very different story.
Friends of Bessette’s who allegedly knew her before she became a glossy Calvin Klein publicist in the late 80s have previously described Bessette as a ‘seductress’ who ‘knew how to get what she wanted, especially when it came to men.’
It has also been said that she had no shortage of suitors and enjoyed herself thoroughly before she became Mrs Kennedy – as she did in 1996 – with one former college pal even branding her the ‘campus maneater.’
Now, the Daily Mail can publish a stunning trove of modeling photos taken of Bessette during those wild years at Boston University – where she enrolled in 1983, majoring in elementary education.
One picture sees her provocatively bent over in a tiny polka dot skirt that just barely covers her assets.
Another shot shows her staring seductively at the camera as she sits on a bale of hay in a low-cut black coat dress with her legs spread open.
Newly unearthed photos of Bessette modeling long before she met JFK Jr tell a very different story
In a third, Bessette stands next to a pickup truck in a skin-tight mini dress and leather jacket, her back arched just so.
And in a fourth, she sits on the front of a car, leaning toward the camera and wearing a gray cardigan sweater, black top, baggy jeans and cowboy boots; her blonde hair is disheveled and tossed loosely across her face.
Bessette was raised in the wealthy enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut. Her first boyfriend was said to be a football player at her high school named Eugene ‘Gene’ Carlin.
But after graduating and heading off to Boston University, she dumped Carlin for ‘star college athlete’ John Cullen during her sophomore year. Cullen, of course, would go on to become a professional ice hockey player for the NHL.
She was also linked to Alessandro Benetton, heir to the fashion brand, during her heady college years – and it was during her time at BU that Bessette briefly attempted to launch a modeling career.
She ever hired a professional photographer to take pictures of her and appeared on the cover of the university’s calendar in 1988.
But when that didn’t take off, she started working instead for John Lyons, one of the city’s biggest nightlife impresarios.
‘Carolyn was very good at her job,’ a former friend of Lyons told the New York Times in 1996. ‘She had a lot of hands to hold, and she did it very well.’
One of the pictures, which were taken during her years at Boston University, features her provocatively bending over in a tiny polka dot skirt that just barely covered her assets
In another, Bessette stands next to a pickup truck in a skin-tight mini dress and leather jacket, her back strategically arched to add extra attention to her backside
‘Being in the circles she was in, young men with power and influence were hitting on her frequently,’ the friend continued. ‘She’s had offers of courtship and marriage from every Saudi prince from here to the Middle East in those clubs.’
Bessette started at Calvin Klein as a sales associate at a mall in Boston but eventually moved to New York to work in the company’s flagship store.
She quickly worked her way up and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the director of show productions for the company.
It was during her time at Calvin Klein that she first crossed paths with JFK Jr.
How exactly the pair met has long been debated, with some claiming that Klein was the one who introduced them at a fundraiser event back in 1992, and others saying they met when the Kennedy heir came in to get a suit fitted at the flagship store.
Theresa DeMaria, 55, who worked alongside Bessette for years at Calvin Klein, previously told the Daily Mail that word at the company was that they first ‘met at an event.’
She sat on the front of a car as she leaned in toward the camera in another shot, wearing a gray cardigan sweater, black top, baggy jeans and cowboy boots
The sultry images seem to concrete her reputation as a confident temptress and not the cagey fawn in the woods showed in Ryan Murphy’s new show Love Story
Bessette briefly attempted to launch a modeling career while she was a BU student and hired a professional photographer to take pictures of her
But she claimed that Kennedy did show up at their offices for a fitting soon after, and ‘everyone was talking about it.’
After that, DeMaria claimed that JFK Jr started ‘sending Bessette gifts’ and coming to ‘pick her up’ from the office, despite the fact that he was in a relationship with actress Daryl Hannah at the time.
‘He sent her clothes from Barneys. He was still dating Daryl so it was a bit scandalous,’ DeMaria said.
‘[It was understood that Bessette] was super upset because he was with Daryl. We all felt sorry for her when that was happening.’
DeMaria described Bessette as ‘quiet’ but ‘nice,’ explaining that ‘she was a very quiet person until you really got to know her and then her personality came out.’
Bessette’s first boyfriend was allegedly a football player at her high school named Eugene ‘Gene’ Carlin. She’s pictured with him here in her high school yearbook
Bessette was then linked to future ice hockey star John Cullen (left in 1988) and Alessandro Benetton (right in 2005), heir to the fashion brand, during her college years
Bessette famously dated Calvin Klein model Michael Bergin during her years at the fashion brand, who has alleged that he and Bessette were intimate even after she married JFK Jr
She was also rumored to have been linked to New York City nightclub owner Will Regan in 1993. They’re seen here together in 1993
She had a reputation for being a party girl, according to DeMaria, who remembered her smoking cigarettes ‘constantly’ and often enjoying boozy nights out with her coworkers after a long day at work.
‘She definitely had a bad girl, party [vibe],’ DeMaria dished. ‘She was definitely a partier, she would smoke a ton, she was in and out of clubs. When we would stay late at work it seemed like she was always going straight from work to some sort of event or bar.’
Bessette famously dated Calvin Klein model Michael Bergin during her years at the fashion brand, who has alleged that he and Bessette were intimate even after she married JFK Jr.
She was also rumored to have been linked to New York City nightclub owner Will Regan in 1993.
Kennedy and Hannah eventually split in 1994, and he started officially dating Bessette soon after.
Bessette ultimately left Calvin Klein in 1996, when she and JFK Jr got married. The couple tragically died three years later when the plane he was piloting crashed.
