EW revisits “What Remains,” the memoir penned by Radziwill, who was married to JFK Jr.’s cousin Anthony, in honor of the “Love Story” finale.

What Love Story missed about Carolyn Bessette with the absence of Carole Radziwill

EW revisits “What Remains,” the memoir penned by Radziwill, who was married to JFK Jr.’s cousin Anthony, in honor of the “Love Story” finale.

By Sarah Hearon

March 27, 2026 8:29 a.m. ET

Carole Radziwill and Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr. Credit:

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Evan Agostini/Liaison/Getty

FX's *Love Story**: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette* may have come to an end, but there’s elements of the famous couple, particularly Carolyn Bessette, that are missing from the popular series — and some of that would have been solved with the inclusion of Carole Radziwill.

Bravo viewers may recall getting occasional insights into Carole’s marriage to John F. Kennedy’s cousin, Anthony Radziwill — and the even more rare reference to her close friendships with JFK Jr. and Carolyn — during her original stint on *The Real Housewives of New York City*.

The reality star’s connections to the Kennedy family were barely a storyline on the show, but her 2005 memoir, *What Remains*, became a topic during season 6 when Carole was accused of using a ghost writer. The book details Carole’s own love story with Anthony and the pain of losing her close friends and husband within three weeks of each other. (Anthony lost a lengthy battle with cancer during the same summer JFK Jr. and Carolyn’s plane crashed.)

While Carole vehemently denied the ghost writer allegations, the *Housewives* fights about the book (“Use your vocabulary, writer girl!”) stuck with this Bravo fan, who (incorrectly) assumed that Carole would be depicted in *Love Story*. Executive producer Brad Simpson later told TV Insider that the show opted to showcase Carolyn’s relationship with her sister Lauren (who also died in the fatal plane crash) instead of Carolyn’s friendships.

“People’s lives are full and rich. There’s tons of people in them, and you have to make decisions,” he told the publication. “And a decision we made was to really focus on creating Lauren, her sister, as a character because she was often an afterthought in all of this." (Lauren was an identical twin, but her sister Lisa is also rarely referenced in the show.)

Carole has said she isn’t watching *Love Story*, writing via her Substack in February that she no longer worried “about misrepresentations, false narratives, or bent truths” about the couple. “I don’t flinch at flat, lifeless descriptions or cornball storylines. I don’t care whether people get it wrong, get it right, or ever know what they were really like,” she wrote before encouraging her readers to “fall in love with them the way we all did back then.”

More recently, she reiterated to* The New York Times* that she’s hit a bit of a wall in her efforts to set the record straight about her late family members. “Defending Carolyn and talking about my husband was a hill I was going to die on,” she told the outlet in a story published on Thursday. “But honestly, I didn’t think that 25 years later, it would become a mountain.”

Not able to wrap our heads around the decision to exclude Carole — especially after revisiting *What Remains* in 2026 — ** breaks down some of the biggest takeaways from *What Remains*, including the anecdotes that are reflected (and missing) in *Love Story*:

The softer side of Carolyn

Some fans are still recovering from the uncomfortable and tense scenes between Carolyn (played by Sarah Pidgeon) and John (Paul Anthony Kelly) in the penultimate episode of *Love Story*, which saw the couple on the verge of a separation, and didn’t necessarily show Carolyn as the most empathic partner.

While Carole’s book doesn’t get into the personal details of Carolyn and JFK Jr. 's relationship (she does refer to the stress of *George* not doing well financially), *What Remains* showcases how the whole family was affected by Anthony’s cancer — with Carolyn refusing to let Carole go through the hardship alone.

After her first time accompanying Carole for one of Anthony’s procedures out of the city, Carolyn left Carole a note that read: “Lamb, please know that I am always thinking about you and worrying about you. It is so lonely and scary to go through that, and I can't bear the thought that you will ever have to do it alone. I can't ever let you go again without me. It broke my heart. XOXO, Carolyn.’”

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Not long before Carolyn and JFK Jr. 's deaths, Carolyn and Carole had a hard conversation about Anthony’s fatality in the back of a cab, leading Carolyn to make an excuse to leave and not go to the hospital. “She comes to my apartment late that night, the doorman calls up and I let her in. ‘I'm sorry, lamb, I locked myself out.’ I know this too is a lie. It is three in the morning. She takes off her black dress without a word, crawls into bed and falls asleep,” Carole wrote.

The sarcastic side of Carolyn

On both *Love Story* and in real life, it’s clear Carolyn struggled with the downfalls of life as a Kennedy. Her friendship with Carole, however, shows she could be in on the joke, too. Carole recalled the pair coming up with a plan to trick the paparazzi by wearing the same outfit every day, hoping they would lose interest (it didn’t work), and wrote about several conversations the twosome had about trying to keep up with the expectations. Carolyn would jokingly end notes to Carole with the line, "And remember it’s all about me.”

A true friend to confide in

Carole and Carolyn’s friendship also provided Carolyn with someone who could relate to what she was going through, even if on a smaller scale, which could have benefitted the understanding of Carolyn in *Love Story*. In one chapter, Carole recalled how they both didn’t have a “handbook” when it came to marrying into a famous family.

“She knew things would change when she became his wife, more than she could imagine. She tried to tuck herself in neatly that first year, but it wasn't so much about learning the rules as it was about learning they weren't for her, the glass wall and you're constantly bumping into it,” Carole wrote. “I didn't have a handbook either. If there had been one, I doubt I would have left [my hometown of] Suffern.”

Calling the Coast Guard

One of the most head-scratching parts of Carole’s absence from *Love Story* is the fact that she was the one who called the coast guard the night that John and Carolyn’s plane crashed. In *What Remains*, she detailed getting a call from John’s friend Pinky, who was supposed to pick up the couple in Hyannis, Mass., after dropping Lauren off in Martha’s Vineyard. She then called various airports, the man whom Lauren was supposed to meet, and John’s flight instructor.

“It's after two in the morning now. … I have to make a decision. I have to call someone who can help. I place a phone call to the United States Coast Guard to file an official report. They are missing,” Carole wrote. “I am very calm on the phone, but when I hang up, I am terrified. What if they didn't believe me? What if they did, but this is really a big misunderstanding, and I have panicked and jumped to conclusions. The Coast Guard Lieutenant gives me another number to call, and I speak next to Lieutenant Porter with the United States Air Force. I tell him everything I know, except what I'm not saying yet, that it is too late.”

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Carole recalled thinking that there were “many theories” about what could have happened to the pair.

“There is the motel theory: that they checked into a motel without telling anyone to get away by themselves for a weekend. There is the gas theory: that the plane ran out of gas and they were forced to land on one of the small islands, and their phones aren't working, and they are cursing their luck, waiting to be spotted. This is the one I cling to, but by the time the sun comes up, I have, for the most part, let it go,” she wrote.

The anecdotes that back up Love Story

There are some stories in *What Remains* that back up what is depicted in *Love Story*, including Carolyn’s initial resistance to making her engagement to John official.

“She didn't say yes or no, she tells me. They just understood it would happen,” she wrote. “She loves him, but she isn't in a hurry to be his wife. ‘Don't tell anyone,’ she says, and I don't, not even Anthony. She would like to stay secretly engaged, forever, I think.”

The depiction of John’s sister Caroline, played by Grace Gummer in the show, is another example. Carole wrote about Caroline’s birthday party, where Carolyn meets the family for the first time, in the book.

Anthony Radziwill and Carole Radziwill.

Carole Radziwill/Instagram

"This is her official coming out. There have been rumors and sightings, and John puts them all to rest here. Relaxed and dressed in black, she walks casually into the apartment beside him, holding his hand. They have been back together for a few months. Caroline hugs him warmly and hesitates for a brief moment before greeting his date," Carole wrote. "[My] relationship [with Caroline] stayed superficial in a way I never quite understood. But Anthony adored her. They had fun together, laughing at a long running joke between the two of them that I was never going to get. I am an outsider here, but a quiet one. I watch and adapt, but not Carolyn, I can see. She walks into this guarded room, radiant and stubbornly original, impulsively affectionate."

As for any mention of John’s ex-girlfriend Daryl Hannah — whose portrayal has been controversial and condemned by Hannah — Carole only made one apparent reference. After an initial split from Carolyn, which lasted two years, Carole wrote that John was back in his “on-again, off-again relationship with an actress.”

“She came a few times that summer with two girlfriends who barely spoke and three kittens,” Carole wrote. “I kept locking the kittens in the laundry room because Anthony was allergic.”

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW TV”