Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly Reveal If They Spoke to Any Kennedy or Bessette Family Members for “Love Story” (Exclusive)

Julia MooreFri, February 13, 2026 at 10:49 PM UTC

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Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon play John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in the new FX series, Love Story, which was inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s 2024 biography about Bessette

The actors tell PEOPLE how they prepared to play the beloved couple — and reveal if they ever got in touch with any Kennedy or Bessette family members during production

The first three episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette are now streaming on Hulu

It's a daunting task to step into the shoes of one of America's most beloved couples, and that's just what Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly did for FX's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.

In the series, Kelly, 37, plays JFK Jr., and Pidgeon, 29, plays Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and they both went down rabbit holes after they were cast to learn everything they could about the couple, who met in 1992, wed in 1996 and died tragically just three years later.

Kelly, whose role marks the "first big production" of his career, tells PEOPLE he "knew a little bit about" JFK Jr. and Carolyn before he was cast, but "I'm from Canada, so it's not necessarily our cultural zeitgeist."

"Definitely, during this whole process, I really got to know them, I think, pretty well — within reason, of course," he says, admitting he was "constantly learning something new about them."

As for Pidgeon, she tells PEOPLE she was "very familiar with many photos" of Carolyn and knew about her marriage to JFK Jr. and that she worked at Calvin Klein, but "learned so much more" through her own research.

"Luckily, there were a lot of books and interviews done by people who knew them quite well, lots of photos. So there were jumping-off points that were incredibly helpful," she shares.

One resource both the actors did not tap into, though, were the families of the late pair, as both Pidgeon and Kelly tell PEOPLE that they did not contact anyone from the Kennedy or the Bessette family as part of the production.

John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in 1999 (left); Sarah Pidgeon, Paul Anthony Kelly film "Love Story" (right)

WILLIAM REGAN/ZUMA Wire; Steve Sands/BACKGRID

Instead, Pidgeon says she felt a deep understanding of who Carolyn was almost immediately from the first scripts she saw.

"Even from my rudimentary knowledge of her in my first audition, she felt like such a three-dimensional person with her intelligence, her warmth, her charisma, her sensitivities," the Tony-winner says. "That was apparent on the page when I had the surface knowledge of her when I did my first tape."

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"Upon learning more about her, it made sense that that rang so true on my first impression, because those are all qualities that she had," she says, adding that "the scripts were really wonderful."

When the first photos from the series were released in June, Jack Schlossberg, the 32-year-old son of JFK Jr.'s sister, Caroline Kennedy, spoke out as he said his family had not been aware of the show.

"Lately, my news feed has been filled with pictures of my uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., a great man," Schlossberg said in an Instagram video. "For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with, the new shows being made about him, the answer is no. And there's really not much we can do."

"I hope those making these shows about him take seriously what he stood for in his life, all that he achieved in it. And that they donate some of the profits [that] they're making," Schlossberg said. "For the record, I think admiration for my Uncle John is great. What I don't think is great is profiting off of it in a grotesque way."

Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in "Love Story"

Eric Liebowitz/FX

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The series is inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s book, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and "explores the undeniable chemistry, whirlwind courtship and high-profile marriage of one of the most iconic couples of the 20th century," per FX.

Along with Pidgeon and Kelly, Love Story also stars Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein, Leila George as Kelly Klein, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette and Constance Zimmer as Ann Marie Messina.

The first three episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette are now streaming on Hulu. New episodes debut Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”