They were the closest America had to a prince and princess in the 1990s. John F. Kennedy Jr – the son of assassinated President John F. Kennedy – and his glamorous wife Carolyn Bessette turned heads wherever they went.
After his father’s tragic death in 1963, the president’s only living son came to embody a revival of Camelot, that shining ideal of Kennedy chivalry. Hollywood mogul Ryan Murphy, 60, thought so too and his highly anticipated TV series Love Story, which centres around the pair’s romance, hits screens Friday, February 13 on Disney+.
The couple’s gilded lives came to a shockingly abrupt end in 1999, when their small plane plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean on the way to a family wedding in New England. For many, it signalled that
the long talked-about Kennedy Curse was still at work.
Today’s Kennedys are all descended from Joseph Kennedy, a ruthless and wealthy American businessman, and his wife Rose, who raised their nine children in Massachusetts in the early 1900s.
Here, we take a look at the misfortunes that have bedevilled the clan.
1941
Rosemary has a botched lobotomy
Joseph and Rose largely erased their third child, Rosemary, from the family story, believing she suffered from undiagnosed mental health issues and developmental delays. By her early twenties, her father was concerned for her reputation and the family’s political prospects. When she was 23, he forced her to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy without his wife’s knowledge. It was a complete disaster, leaving Rosemary with the mental capacity of a toddler, incontinent, unable to speak intelligibly and incapable of walking properly. Rosemary was hidden away in institutions for the rest of her life, and the press was told she was off “helping disabled children”. She died in 2005, aged 86.
1944
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr dies in World War II
Joseph Jr was the eldest of Joseph and Rose’s nine children. He served as a naval aviator during the war and died on a top-secret mission, flying an explosives-laden plane toward German V-weapon sites while the crew parachuted out before impact. Unfortunately, the aircraft exploded prematurely over Suffolk in England. He died at 29, and authorities never recovered his body.
1963
Patrick Bouvier Kennedy dies after a premature birth
John F. Kennedy – the second-eldest son of Joseph and Rose – was US president when his wife Jacqueline gave birth to their third child, Patrick. Sadly, the little boy was premature and lived only two days. A devastated Jacqueline told her husband she would be okay “as long as I still have you”.
1963
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
On November 22, three months after losing son Patrick, John. F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a Dallas motorcade with Jacqueline by his side. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead at 46. In the hours after the shooting, many people suggested to Jackie she should change out of her blood-soaked pink suit. She declined, saying, “I want them to see what they’ve done.”
1968
Robert F. ‘Bobby’ Kennedy was assassinated
Robert was the seventh child of Joseph and Rose, and after JFK’s death, he became the family’s new political champion. In June 1968, the New York senator, widely tipped to be the next US president, was campaigning for the Democratic primaries when Sirhan Sirhan shot him. He died in hospital the following day, aged 42. Sirhan, 24, a Palestinian from Lebanon, said he shot Bobby as revenge for his pro-Israel sympathies. He is still serving his life sentence in California.
1969
Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident
The youngest of Joseph and Rose’s nine children, Ted was a senator who, despite his older brothers’ fates, had presidential aspirations.However, a scandal in July 1969 doomed his prospects after he drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Cape Cod. He fled the scene and didn’t report the accident for 10 hours. The body of his 28-year-old aide, Mary Jo Kopechne, was found in the car. He pled guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing personal injury and received a two-month suspended jail sentence. He died in 2009, aged 77.
1984
David Anthony Kennedy dies of an overdose
Bobby Kennedy and his wife Ethel had 11 children, and David was the fourth. He was 13 when, watching TV alone in a hotel room, he saw his father fatally shot. He went on to develop a serious alcohol and heroin addiction, and died of an overdose at a Palm Beach hotel in Florida on April 25, aged 28.
1997
Michael L. Kennedy dies in a skiing accident
Bobby’s sixth child, businessman Michael, was playing football on skis in Colorado with other members of his family when he crashed into a tree on New Year’s Eve. His younger sister, Rory, tried to resuscitate him, but doctors later pronounced him dead. He was 39.
1999
John F. Kennedy Jr and wife Carolyn Bessette die in a plane crash
President JFK’s only living son, JFK Jr, 38, had been married to fashion publicist Carolyn, 33, for just under three years when they took a fateful journey in a small plane on July 16, 1999. Together with Carolyn’s sister Lauren, 34, the threesome was heading to a family wedding in Massachusetts with JFK Jr piloting the plane. He had little instrument flying experience and when night fell, he crashed into the sea off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. All three perished.
2011
Kara Kennedy dies of a heart attack
Edward’s eldest child Kara was working out at a gym in Washington on September 16 when she suffered a fatal heart attack, aged 51. Family said it may have been related to the aggressive cancer treatment she underwent a decade earlier.
2012
Mary Richardson Kennedy dies by suicide
Mary was a Kennedy by marriage after exchanging vows with Bobby’s son Robert Jr in 1994. They had four children, but by 2012 their relationship had fallen apart, and Mary reportedly became so depressed she could barely get out of bed. On May 16, she took her own life, aged 52.
2019
Saoirse Kennedy Hill dies of an overdose
Saoirse was Bobby’s granddaughter – the child of his daughter Courtney. On August 1, paramedics responded to a call at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Cape Cod, where the 22-year-old student activist was staying with her grandmother, Ethel. Officials later determined that she died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol.
2020
Maeve Fahey Kennedy McKean and her son Gideon drown
On April 2, Maeve, 40 – Bobby’s granddaughter through his daughter Kathleen – and her eight-year-old son Gideon paddled a canoe into Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to retrieve a ball. High winds were blowing and they were swept out to sea. A day later, the coast guard found their overturned canoe.
Rescuers recovered Maeve’s body on April 6, and found Gideon’s two days later; both had drowned.
2025
Tatiana Schlossberg dies of cancer
Tatiana is the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, who was just five years old when her father, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Tatiana received a rare cancer diagnosis in 2024, and in November 2025, she wrote, ‘I did not – could not – believe they were talking about me. I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months’ pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew.” She died in December, aged 35, leaving behind her husband George and two young children.
HELP IS HERE
Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO).
Depression Helpline – 0800 111 757 or free text 4202 (to talk to a trained counsellor about how you are feeling or to ask any questions).
Anxiety NZ – 0800 269 4389 (0800 ANXIETY)
