Daryl Hannah, in a terrific New York Times guest story published today, gloats over Ryan Murphy’s highly rated FX limited series. A Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessetteespecially his portrayal as an evil “enemy” in the subject of love. And a coke-snorting, legacy-defying, funeral-crushing enemy at that.
Hannah, who dated Kennedy for five years in the early 1990s, reportedly surprised Kennedy’s mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, writing that the character of “Daryl Hannah” in the series, played by Dree Hemingway, is designed to be an “enemy” that threatens the love story between the two main characters.
It’s calling Love story “a television series that uses tragedies,” Hannah writes that “the choice of display [Hannah] since anger, self-control, anger and inappropriateness did not happen by accident.”
“Telling stories requires disagreement,” the Splash writes the star. “Often it takes an obstacle. But a real, live person is not a narrative tool. There’s also a sexist side to this thinking. Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook blasphemy to tear down one woman to build another?
Hannah says that in the weeks since the series began airing, she has received “many hostile and threatening messages from viewers who seem to believe the show is real.”
He continues: “When entertainment borrows a real person’s name, it can permanently affect their reputation.”
I Steel Magnolias the actor points to something Love story plotlines are very important.
“The character ‘Daryl Hannah’ portrayed in the series is not even remotely accurate of my life, my behavior or my relationship with John,” he said. “The actions and behavior attributed to me are not true. I have never used cocaine in my life or held parties fueled by cocaine. I have never pressured anyone to get married. I have never defiled any family heirloom or interfered with anyone’s memory. I have never planted any story in the press. I have never compared the death of Jacqueline Onassis to the death of the dog I protect against my dog’s app. Television show this is not a personal embellishment it is a moral assertion – and it is false.
In the series, actress Hannah invites some drug-using friends to the Tribeca heritage high-rise she shares with Kennedy, and later shows up uninvited to Kennedy Onassis’ memorial service.
“I know that as an actress I will be in the public eye,” Hannah wrote. “I have endured a lot of horrible lies, crazy stories and unpleasant portrayals of people before. I chose not to fight them but to focus on my work and respect the people I love by keeping my private life a secret. But my silence should not be mistaken for agreeing with lies. Obviously, my intelligence makes me a victim.”
He continues, “The Kennedy family is also notoriously secretive, and I have always respected their right to privacy.
“Many people,” he continued, “believe what they see on TV and don’t distinguish between drama and reality — and the impact is not invisible. In the digital age, entertainment is often a collective memory. Real words are not fictional devices. They are part of real lives.”
Earlier this week, A Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette became FX’s most-watched limited series ever, racking up more than 25M hours watched in the first five episodes on Disney+ and Hulu, according to the network. The series premiered on February 12, and was created by Connor Hines and executive produced by Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Connor Hines, Eric Kovtun, Nissa Diederich, Scott Robertson, Monica Levinson, Kim Rosenstock, DV DeVincentis and Tanase Popa. Max Winkler executive produced and directed the pilot episode. Produced by 20th Television.
The series stars Paul Anthony Kelly as JFK Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette. Naomi Watts plays Jackie Kennedy and Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein.
