Did John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Really Eat KFC? Fact-Checking “Love Story”

Erin ClementsMon, March 23, 2026 at 5:26 PM UTC

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Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly in 'Love Story'Credit: FX -

The latest episode of Love Story sees JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette eating takeout from KFC

Elizabeth Beller, who authored a biography of the couple in 2024, told PEOPLE, "It was often Kentucky Fried Chicken when they would order out"

However, a source scoffed at the idea in a comment to PEOPLE, asking, "Where is the KFC in Tribeca?"

A scene in the latest episode of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette has fans wondering about the famous couple’s fast-food habits.

In the FX limited series’s eighth episode, JFK Jr. returns home from a book party to the apartment he shares with Bessette in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood and they have KFC takeout for dinner.

The chain, which was known as Kentucky Fried Chicken until 1991, was an occasional dinner choice for the sophisticated pair, according to Elizabeth Beller’s 2024 biography, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

The book, which was excerpted in PEOPLE ahead of its release, recalled moments of normalcy in Bessette’s lifestyle.

“She had one recipe... and it was how to make a roast chicken, and otherwise they would order out,” Beller told PEOPLE. “It was often Kentucky Fried Chicken when they would order out."

Sarah Pidgeon in 'Love Story'Credit: FX

However, one source scoffed at the idea in a comment to PEOPLE, asking, "Where is the KFC in Tribeca?"

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In Beller’s book, Bessette’s friend Hamilton South remembers the couple’s “home routines,” noting it was often their butler Efigenio Pinheiro who made meals.

“When Effie didn’t cook − and usually he did − Carolyn had one recipe, roast chicken with lemon and garlic. If it wasn’t one of those two, then they ordered in, sometimes even from Kentucky Fried Chicken,” South said.

Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr.Credit: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

JFK Jr. and Bessette met in N.Y.C. and married in a private ceremony on Cumberland Island, Ga., on Sept. 21, 1996.

The latest episode of Love Story chronicles marital tensions for the late couple, played by Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly, in the period leading up to their untimely deaths when a plane JFK Jr. was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on July 16, 1999.

The onslaught of media scrutiny the couple faced led Bessette to step back from the spotlight.

"It was getting harder and harder [on their marriage]. How could it not?" JFK Jr.'s friend John Perry Barlow once told PEOPLE. "John started trying to get me to come around as often as possible just to have another person to talk to. She was a very bright but fragile person. Hell, nobody could tolerate that."

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”