‘Love Story’ Rewrites JFK Jr.’s Most Painful Public Moment in 10 Devastating Minutes

True to form, another one of Ryan Murphy’s projects takes a painful real-life event and dramatizes it for the masses. Unlike his penchant for serial killers, Love Story is a story about the high-profile romance between John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette. Starring Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon, the series dramatizes the early days of their courtship, leading up to their tragic end when they died in a plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

The Kennedys have always been a source of fascination because of the tragedy that seems to follow the political dynasty. Love Story digs deep into their most difficult moments, the most recent of which was the infamous Battery Park fight when they were still engaged. At the time, paparazzi had captured an intense fight between the couple, which seemed to indicate they were ending their engagement. No one knows the specific details of the fight, but in Episode 5, aptly titled “Battery Park,” the series imagines what the fight could have been about as the couple contended with the pressures of their public relationship.

'Love Story' Episode 5 Is Hard to Watch

JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s relationship was under constant scrutiny because of the President’s son’s legacy. Though the exact specifics of their conflict during their Battery Park fight will never be known for sure, it seems as though that was a likely reason. Bessette reportedly had difficulties with being in the public eye and the constant pressures that came with it. The series depicted this as one of the stressors that led to the fight dramatized in the series. Paul Anthony Kelly explained in a recent interview the challenges of filming the scene.

“Unfortunately, they had a very private situation happen very publicly. But there’s video evidence of this, and that’s one thing that we were able to really review pretty often and choreograph, so we would kind of be as close to the real thing as we could get it, without it being tacky.”

In the scene, Carolyn struggles with John’s approach to their engagement. She already had reservations because she isn't sure if she can fit into his highly publicized life. Carolyn eventually accepts the ring, but when news about it breaks, John does exactly what she asked him not to. He makes a public statement stating that he had not proposed at all. This was just a microcosm of the internal issues of the relationship, which exploded in a public setting.

Episode 5 depicts what could have happened in the real-life paparazzi photos that showed Bessette jumping on Kennedy’s back to stop him from leaving, and him allegedly taking the ring back. These moments were the high-intensity portion of the fight, but other photos showed them talking more rationally and making amends. The episode goes through all of these stages until John eventually admits that he doesn’t want to be president like everyone expects him to. He just wants to be a good partner and a good man. This mends the fractures between the two, and as the public knows, the two eventually get married.

Love Story attempts to stay as faithful to what these people could have been experiencing in real life, but the trouble of the matter is, no one can ever be certain. JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette are not in a position to deny or validate these moments, which is always the issue with putting entertainment value on real-life tragedies. Love Story is sadder than most biographical stories, which is crystallized in this episode. This wasn’t the end of their tragic story, a story that will continue to be told over the span of nine episodes.

Release Date February 12, 2026

Directors Max Winkler, Anthony Hemingway, Crystle Roberson Dorsey, Gillian Robespierre, Jesse Peretz

Writers Connor Hines, D.V. DeVincentis, Juli Weiner, Kim Rosenstock

Cast

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  Sydney Lemmon

  Lauren Bassette