What Is The Kennedy Curse? All About The JFK Jr.’s Families Tragic Fate Ahead Of ‘Love Story’ Finale

Love Story took us on a dramatic ride through the life of John F. Kennedy and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. From their early romance in 1990s Manhattan to their secret wedding and tumultuous marriage, the audience got to see the most intimate moments of their time together. However, their lives were cut short by the tragedy that took place on July 19, 1999, when the plane piloted by JFK Jr. crashed, killing the couple and Carolyn’s sister, Lauren.

The heartbreaking event is the focus of the final episode of the Ryan Murphy-produced drama, which has caused immense controversy and drawn big ratings. However, it is the primary tragedy of the storied Kennedy family. The Kennedy family has suffered several tragedies in the past decades, which have often led people to call it the ‘Kennedy Curse’. So, as we wait for the finale, let’s take a look at what this curse is and what it has resulted in.

The ‘Kennedy Curse’ and the tragedies in America’s most prominent political family

The Kennedy family was one of the most prominent political families in America, which included John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, over the decades, the family has faced repeated tragedies, leading to the idea of a “Kennedy Curse”, a term popularised by Ted Kennedy in 1969. Nonetheless, although not everyone believes in them, notable misfortunes and deaths have often led them to think otherwise.

The ill-fated flights linked to the ‘Kennedy Curse’

Before the tragic flight of JFK Jr., it was Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the eldest son of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy, who was killed in a plane crash while fighting in World War II at the age of 29. Almost four years later, Joseph and Rose’s daughter, Kathleen, met the same fate when she passed away 

This was followed by the tragic plane crash of JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, on July 16, 1999, along with his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette. According to reports, JFK Jr. was piloting the small aircraft when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard. He was 38, Bessette Kennedy was 33, and Lauren was 34. However, that wasn’t the last tragedy the family faced. 

John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy lost two babies

John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy lost two children, named Arabella and Patrick, in 1956 and 1963, respectively. The heartbreaking moment was marked by the demise of Arabella, who was stillborn. On the other hand, Patrick, born in 1963, met a similar fate after he passed away two days after his birth, marking a major loss for the Kennedys.

The assassinations in the Kennedy family

We are all aware of the tragic demise of President John F. Kennedy, a moment that is still seen as the darkest day in American political history. The former President was riding in a presidential motorcade alongside his wife, Jackie Kennedy, in Dallas on November 22, 1963, when President JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, at the age of 46. However, that was not the only assassination in the Kennedy family. Five years later, while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, John F. Kennedy’s brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles at age 42. 

The endless cycle of accidents in the Kennedy clan

In 1969, Sen. Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Edgartown, Massachusetts. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Kopechne, was killed in the incident. While he did not report the accident immediately, he later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended sentence. The incident abruptly ended his dream of running for president. Years later, in 1997, Michael Kennedy, also a son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, lost his life in a skiing accident.

He was on a trip in Aspen, Colorado, on New Year’s Eve in 1997, marking another tragedy in the Kennedy clan. Unfortunately, the cycle of tragedies did not end there. In April 2020, Maeve Kennedy McKean, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy and daughter of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, died along with her 8-year-old son, Gideon. The two disappeared while on a short canoe trip in the Chesapeake Bay. Their bodies were found later in the week.

The dark phase of drugs and depression

While so many tragedies could move the strongest of people, it’s not clear whether the drug problems of David Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, were a result of their family’s history of tragedies. Unfortunately, while no one ever got an answer to that, David joined the list of tragedies with his death on April 25, 1984, at the age of 28, from a drug overdose in Palm Beach, Florida, during a visit to his grandmother, Rose Kennedy. In 2019, another member of the Kennedy family fell victim to drug abuse. Robert and Ethel’s granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, was found dead on August 1, 2019, at the age of 22.

Saoirse was found dead in her family’s Massachusetts home. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose. On May 16, 2012, Mary Richardson Kennedy, who was married to but legally separated from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., died by suicide in Bedford, New York. She was 52 and in the middle of a divorce and custody battle with RFK Jr. at the time of her death.

What are your thoughts on the ‘Kennedy Curse’? Let us know.

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