John F. Kennedy Jr. captured the world’s heart in an iconic photo saluting his father’s casket during the president’s funeral in 1963.
The mystique surrounding his life hit a groundswell when Kennedy came into his own as a dashing and accomplished NY assistant district attorney in the 1980s and a publisher of George Magazine in the 1990s. Now, 25 years after the plane crash that took the life of Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren Bessette, he is being celebrated in a new book, “ JFK Jr: An Intimate Oral Biography .” Former Kennedy executive assistant RoseMarie Terenzio and PEOPLE editor at large Liz McNeil interviewed more than 200 Kennedy friends, confidants, and colleagues for an honest, vivid portrait of the man behind the Kennedy myth.
The Boston Globe talked with Terenzio and McNeil about Kennedy’s friendships, his relationship with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and his legacy. GLOBE: JFK Jr.’s early years had profound sadness between longing for his dad when he was alive, to growing up fatherless after his death.
RMT: In the Collegiate [the NYC private school Kennedy attended] chapter of the book, especially the story of football legend Rosey Grier accompanying him on Parents’ Night when he’s in sixth-grade — it’s then that John understands he doesn’t have a father. He also has all these people around him who have memories, images, affection, and emotional connection to his father, but unfortunately John doesn’t. That’s whe.