Daryl Hannah pulls no punches in blasting “Love Story” and how she is portrayed in the FX series that follows the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
Hannah, who dated JFK Jr. before he married Bessette, blasts the show in a New York Times op-ed published March 6.
“I have generally chosen not to respond to media coverage of me,” she wrote. “I have long believed that engaging with distortion often amplifies it. But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me. The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident.”
Hannah, who is portrayed in “Love Story” by Dree Hemingway, says the version of her depicted onscreen falls well short of who she is.
“The character ‘Daryl Hannah’ portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John,” she wrote.
“The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue. I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.”
Hannah, 65, said the response she has gotten from the show has been negative.
“When so many people watch a dramatization that uses a real name, real-life consequences follow,” she wrote. “In the weeks since the series aired, I have received many hostile and even threatening messages from viewers who seem to believe the portrayal is factual. When entertainment borrows a real person’s name, it can permanently impact her reputation.”
Hannah wrote that she focuses on “keeping my private life private,” while noting the Kennedys also value that.
“The Kennedy family is also notoriously private, and I have always honored their right to privacy,” she wrote. “Know that most (if not all) of those claiming to have any intimate knowledge of our personal lives are self-serving sensationalists trading in gossip, innuendo and speculation.
“Many people believe what they see on TV and do not distinguish between dramatization and documented fact — and the impact is not abstract. In a digital era, entertainment often becomes collective memory. Real names are not fictional tools. They belong to real lives.”
Getty Images
Getty Images Daryl Hannah (L) and “Love Story” star Dree Hemingway (R).
Hannah and Kennedy dated in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, even appearing on the cover of People in 1993 before splitting in 1994. She is currently married to Neil Young. She is known for starring in movies such as “Splash,” “Blade Runner,” “Roxanne,” “Wall Street,” “Steel Magnolias,” “A Walk to Remember” and the “Kill Bill” films.
Hemingway said she took the Hannah role seriously and is a big fan of hers, while noting “Love Story” took some liberties.
“I mean, I love her so much,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in February. “It’s an incredible and iconic shoe to fill, but Ryan (Murphy) and Connor Hines, who wrote everything, were so great at characterizing Daryl. The show is definitely told from a fictional aspect because we don’t know what happened (behind closed doors). But it was amazing. She’s amazing.”
Hemingway, who said while she doesn’t know Hannah, her mother, the actor Mariel Hemingway does. Hemingway even tried to contact her.
“I reached out (to Hannah). I have no expectations of her reaching out to me in any way, but I basically wrote her a love note of how much I appreciate her as a woman, as an actress, and what an honor of my life this has been,” she said.
Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon star in the new Ryan Murphy series “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” which explores the high profile marriage of the couple who, in 1999, met a tragic end in a plane crash.
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