“I would see her all the time and she was nice," DeMaria said of her early 90s connection to Bessette
Credit: Lindsay Siu/Netflix; Ron Galella Collection via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Theresa DeMaria, who appeared on Age of Attraction, recently revealed her early 1990s connection to Carolyn Bessette
- DeMaria recalled her interactions with Bessette in the early stages of Bessette’s relationship with John F. Kennedy Jr.
- Bessette and JFK Jr., who died in a plane crash in 1999, reportedly met while he was at a fitting at Calvin Klein in 1992
Age of Attraction isn’t the only TV show that documents an important time in Theresa DeMaria’s life.
In a video posted to TikTok last month, the Netflix star, 54, revealed that she worked at Calvin Klein at the same time as Carolyn Bessette, whose romance with John F. Kennedy Jr. inspired Ryan Murphy's new limited series, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
“I was there from early ‘92 until ‘94, and it was my very first job out of college,” DeMaria said. “I worked in the men's division, which was a few floors higher than the women’s collection, which was where Carolyn worked. And she was there when I was there, and I would see her quite often.”
@theresademaria
Here is my experience of working with Carolyn Bessette at Calvin Klein 1991-ish to 1994. Let me know if you want a part 2! #lovestory #calvinklein #carolynbessette #jfkjr #fyp
♬ original sound – Theresa DeMaria 💙
The FX series explores the relationship between JFK Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly), who is the son of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy, and Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon), before they tragically died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999. It took inspiration from Elizabeth Beller’s book, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, in which she claimed that the couple met in 1992 while JFK Jr. was getting fitted for a suit at Calvin Klein.
“[Bessette] would show up and it was kind of shocking,” DeMaria admitted. “Because we would hear all these stories about how JFK Jr. is courting her and all the stories similar to what you see in Love Story, and I would see her literally show up in the elevator with her hair tangled up like she had just gotten out of bed, and it was kind of up in some weird ponytail bun. But her hair was literally crazy, and you can kind of see that in the [show].”
“I just remember that vividly, because I was always like, ‘Why doesn't she brush her hair?’ ” she quipped. “But she also was so, so chic that she could get away with it.”
Credit: Ron Galella Collection via Getty
DeMaria added that she and Bessette both took the freight elevator rather than the main elevator, which she speculated was due in part to the late publicist wanting privacy.
“She was always super super thin, obviously she smoked nonstop, which was kind of the trend back then,” DeMaria recalled. “I would see her all the time and she was nice.”
At the time, the reality personality recalled, “there were a lot of rumors going around,” as JFK Jr. was at the tail-end of his relationship with actress Daryl Hannah and beginning to date Bessette.
“By the time that I left, they were still not seriously dating, but they were off-again, on-again, similar to what you see in [Love Story],” DeMaria added. “So it's really funny to watch it in a fictional, sort of historical fiction type setting, because I was literally there.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Years later, DeMaria said she ended up running into Bessette and JFK Jr. on the streets of New York’s SoHo neighborhood, which she admitted left her “starstruck.”
“She stopped and said hello to me and obviously it was so quick that I didn't really have a conversation, but it was like, ‘Hey,’ ” DeMaria shared. “I was acknowledged, so I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I was so starstruck because he was insanely gorgeous. I dreamt about him. I was like, ‘Can you please dump her and date me?’ ”
She concluded, “It’s great to watch Love Story. It's very well done and it does bring me back to those days.”
Read the full article here
