Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's Hatred of Gwyneth Paltrow Laid Bare — as JFK Jr.'s Bride's Cutting 3-word Nickname for Movie Star is Revealed
JFK Jr.'s bride was not a fan of the movie star.
July 30 2025, Published 7:00 p.m. ET
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy no doubt took many secrets to her grave after she died in a 1999 plane crash. However, a new book sheds light on how much she disliked Gwyneth Paltrow when the two stunning blondes were forced to work together, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Author Amy Odell writes in Gwyneth: The Biography how the Oscar winner was incredibly loyal to designer Calvin Klein as she started her meteoric rise to stardom in the mid-'90s, wearing his clothes almost exclusively. This put Paltrow, 51, in direct contact with Bessette-Kennedy, who was a publicist for the brand at their New York City headquarters.
Paltrow 'Irked' Her
Carolyn was not impressed with the movie star fashionista, according to a new book.
Odell writes how Gwyneth arranged for an appointment at Calvin Klein in NYC with Jill Taylor, who was her costumer for the 1998 film Sliding Doors. They used the star's connections with the designer to pull items for the movie for her characters to wear, given the film's limited budget. In it, Paltrow played a woman whose life simultaneously takes two different paths based on whether or not she made it aboard a London train after getting fired from her job.
The author notes how Paltrow had become a "regular presence" at Calvin Klein's New York office, much to the chagrin of Bessette-Kennedy.
"One of the publicists on the brand's small team who helped Gwyneth was Carolyn Bessette, (who would go on to become Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy). According to one person familiar with her thinking, Gwyneth irked her," Odell writes.
'Little Miss Perfect'
Carolyn had a snarky nickname for Paltrow
"When there were pictures of Gwyneth in the papers, Bessette, who viewed her as 'little miss perfect,' would make cutting remarks about her," Odell writes about John F. Kennedy Jr.'s bride.
At the time, Paltrow was engaged to an equally red-hot Brad Pitt. The duo was together for three years before splitting in 1997. Their romance made Paltrow and Pitt, 61, fodder for the newsstand tabloids, with the Emma star hard to miss.
Carolyn would go on to be a staple in the same magazines following her 1996 marriage to JFK Jr.. Their relationship was fraught, with photos of the couple appearing to have a blowout fight in Central Park making headlines. Carolyn also notoriously hated being photographed, preferring to stay home rather than go to glitzy events in the Big Apple.
'Little Miss Perfect'
Paltrow really did live up to Carolyn's nickname.
Paltrow was as close to perfect as it got in the mid to late 1990s. After she split from Pitt, the Iron Man star went on to date Ben Affleck on and off from 1997 through 2000.
In 1999, at the age of 26, Paltrow took home a Best Lead Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, seemingly having it all personally and professionally.
Sadly, in July of that year, JFK Jr., Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, were killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed off Martha's Vineyard. The trio had been en route to a Kennedy family wedding when the tragedy occurred.
New Interest in the Power Couple
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Ryan Murphy's newest project explores JFK Jr. and Carolyn's relationship.
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Carolyn's own hairdresser, Brad Johns, even weighed in, describing her character's styling as being "too 2024."
