Kerry Kennedy is calling out what she says is a major inaccuracy in Ryan Murphy’s Love Story. The daughter of Ethel Kennedy says one scene involving her mother and Carolyn Bessette does not reflect what life was actually like inside the Kennedy family. Kennedy has not watched the full series herself. However, she says the breakfast scene in question gets an important part of Ethel’s personality wrong.
Kerry Kennedy disputes Love Story’s portrayal of Ethel Kennedy denying Carolyn Bessette breakfast
In an interview with People, Kerry Kennedy addressed a scene from Episode 5 of Love Story. In the scene, Carolyn Bessette comes downstairs at the Kennedy family’s Hyannis Port compound and asks Ethel for coffee.
The series shows Ethel, played by Jessica Harper, telling Carolyn that she missed breakfast because she failed to fill out a sign-up sheet. Kennedy says that never would have happened.
“There’s no sign-up,” she told the outlet. Kennedy added that her mother would never have denied someone food and described the idea as “completely inconceivable.”
Instead, Kennedy remembered Ethel Kennedy as an easygoing host who always welcomed more people to the table. She recalled how Robert F. Kennedy could call home and unexpectedly increase the lunch guest list from 10 people to 20 or even 30. Ethel, she said, would simply make room.
Kennedy said that approach applied to breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was “always room” and “always food,” according to her account.
The criticism comes months after other people connected to the Kennedy family story questioned details in Ryan Murphy’s Love Story. A JFK Jr. biographer previously challenged several elements of the series, including its portrayal of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
Meanwhile, RHONY star Carole Radziwill, who was close to Carolyn, has also discussed the renewed attention surrounding the show. She previously described watching Love Story as emotionally difficult.
Kerry Kennedy also said that she generally avoids dramatizations about her family. She explained that such shows often get both the personalities and accents wrong.
Still, Kennedy acknowledged one potential positive. If Love Story helped viewers feel more warmly toward the Kennedy family, she said that could ultimately be a good thing.
For Kennedy, however, the Ethel Kennedy breakfast scene remains a detail she believes Ryan Murphy’s Love Story got wrong.
