While the Ryan Murphy-produced and Connor Hines-created FX anthology series “Love Story” has punctured the pop cultural consciousness with its first offering, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette,” at least one of the very real people it chronicles has plenty to say about just how true the whole thing is. (In a word: not.)
In a startling new op-ed in the New York Times, actress and philanthropist Daryl Hannah takes the FX series to task for its inaccurate portrayal of her. Hannah famously dated Kennedy before he met Bessette, and Hannah is played in the show by Dree Hemingway in a recurring role.
“The character ‘Daryl Hannah’ portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John,” Hannah wrote in the piece, published on Friday morning. “The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue. I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s.”
Hannah continues, “It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.”
Early reviews of the series, including ours from Ben Travers, pointed out some of the more galling characterizations of Hannah within the show. Travers wrote in his review that Hannah “could win a defamation case based on how much this show hates her.”
For Hannah, the real-world fallout has already been intense. She wrote, “When so many people watch a dramatization that uses a real name, real-life consequences follow. In the weeks since the series aired, I have received many hostile and even threatening messages from viewers who seem to believe the portrayal is factual. When entertainment borrows a real person’s name, it can permanently impact her reputation.”
In the op-ed, Hannah also cautioned against viewers believing everything they see on their screens, noting that “the Kennedy family is also notoriously private, and I have always honored their right to privacy. Know that most (if not all) of those claiming to have any intimate knowledge of our personal lives are self-serving sensationalists trading in gossip, innuendo and speculation.”
You can read Hannah’s full op-ed right here.
