Kennedy Fans React to Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette in New Movie

There is a new movie coming out about the Kennedys.

American Love Story will follow JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s whirlwind romance as they became a power couple then tabloid fodder.

The couple tragically passed away in a plane crash in 1999 when she was 33 and he was 38 but there is still massive intrigue about the two.

Sarah Pidgeon, 29, is playing Carolyn in the new project.

On Tuesday a new look at Sarah as Carolyn was shared with mixed reviews on if she nailed the look.

Some fans on Reddit said she was ‘spot on with those big eyes’ while others felt her hair was not ‘blonde enough’ to play the glam queen of New York. Many wondered if Sarah was wearing a wig or if she dyed her hair blonde.

The movie premieres in February 2026 

Pidgeon was seen filming on the street in New York City.

The star wore a black turtleneck with slacks and a black purse over her shoulder.

Her long blonde hair was worn down in a casual style as she had on brown eye makeup and red lipstick on. Her bails were short as she did not appear to have her wedding rings on.

The star was coming out of the subway exit in the midtown area of Manhattan.

Carolyn was a fashion publicist who worked for Calvin Klein until her 1996 marriage to JFK Jr.

The couple, along with her older sister Lauren, died in a plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in 1999.

Bessette was born in White Plains, New York and had two older sisters, twins Lauren and Lisa.

The star with the French background attended Boston University’s School of Education, graduating in 1988 with a degree in elementary education.

Bessette briefly attempted a modeling career, but it did not pan out.

During her career at Calvin Klein, she went from being a saleswoman to becoming the director of publicity for the company’s flagship store in Manhattan.

Then she worked with Klein’s high-profile clients like Annette Bening and Diane Sawyer.

Bessette first met Kennedy in 1992, while he was dating actress Daryl Hannah.

Bessette and Kennedy began dating in 1994, she then moved into Kennedy’s Tribeca loft in the summer of 1995, and the couple became engaged later that year.

Kennedy and Bessette wed on September 21, 1996 on the remote Georgia island of Cumberland. The couple honeymooned in Turkey.

She got a ton of media attention and there were comparisons to her mother-in-law, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

There was talk the Kennedys were experiencing marital problems and contemplating divorce in the months preceding their deaths.

In his book, The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America’s First Family for 150 Years, Klein claimed that the couple’s problems reportedly stemmed from Bessette-Kennedy’s difficulty dealing with the media attention.

Bessette-Kennedy died on July 16, 1999, along with her husband and older sister Lauren, when the light plane John Jr. was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Martha’s Vineyard. 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the crash was: ‘The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze and the dark night.’

After a five-day search, the wreckage was discovered in the late afternoon of July 21. 

The bodies were recovered from the ocean floor by Navy divers and taken by motorcade to the county medical examiner’s office, where autopsies revealed that the crash victims had died upon impact. 

All tested negative for alcohol and drugs.

The new movie has several other Kennedy characters in it.

Jackie O – also known as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis – is being portrayed by Naomi Watts, 56.

Onassis was a writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy.  Jackie died in 1994 at the age of 64 in New York City. 

Blonde actress Watts sported a brown wig as she transformed into Jackie.

Watts was filming a scene in a park on Monday afternoon in New York City.

Also in the movie is Paul Kelly, who will play Jackie’s son John F. Kennedy Jr.

Grace Gummer, who is playing Jackie’s daughter Caroline Kennedy, was also seen playing in the park with two little girls that are playing Caroline’s daughters Rose and Tatiana.

JFK Jr’s ex-girlfriend Daryl Hannah is being played by Dree Hemingway, 37, whose mother is actress Mariel Hemingway. 

She gained attention playing the lead in director Sean Baker’s feature Starlet. Dree has since become known for her high-profile fashion campaigns and her extensive work in independent film.