Carole Radziwill Say the Media’s Nickname for John F. Kennedy Jr. Was Not Tied to the Kennedy Family
John F. Kennedy Jr.’s life and death remain of public interest more than 25 years after he died at 38 in a plane crash. His life is so interesting to the public that a series, American Love Story, is currently being filmed about his marriage. While we don’t have a release date for that project just yet, a CNN docuseries, American Prince: JFK Jr., has just dropped. In it, the Real Housewives of New York City alum, Carole Radziwill, revealed that no one in the Kennedy family called John F. Kennedy Jr. by the nickname the media saddled him with; he was never John John.
Carole Radziwill revealed that no one actually called John F. Kennedy Jr. by a nickname
Carole Radziwill sat down to discuss John F. Kennedy Jr., a staple in New York City society, who became one of her close friends before his death. Radziwill opened up about the Kennedy family dynamic and actually debunked a myth. No one in the Kennedy family called John F. Kennedy Jr. by a nickname. Radziwill revealed that the son of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was simply known as “John” to family and friends. The magazine publisher and lawyer reportedly hated the nickname bestowed upon him by the media.
While the magazine publisher hated the moniker, it did serve a purpose. Radziwill noted that it helped weed out people who wanted to create a sense of artificial closeness to JFK Jr. Radziwill observed that those trying to create a false sense of familiarity with John F. Kennedy Jr. often gave themselves away by calling him by the media’s nickname, “John John.”
How did Carole Radziwill come to know JFK Jr.?
Carole Radziwill became acquainted with John F. Kennedy Jr. through her marriage to his cousin, Anthony Radziwill. Carole married Anthony in August 1994. The pair met through their work as broadcast journalists in the early 1990s. Their marriage was largely affected by Anthony’s cancer, which metastasized after a brief remission shortly before he tied the knot. Anthony Radziwill battled testicular cancer, trying various treatments, until 1999. He died from the disease just 17 days before his five-year wedding anniversary.
His death came less than a month after John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy died in a plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Anthony had served as JFK Jr.’s best man at his 1996 wedding, and the cousins were incredibly close. John F. Kennedy Jr. served as Anthony’s best man just two years earlier. Carole noted that they were as “close as brothers.”
