'Love Story' gets no love from Daryl Hannah over her portrayal: 'Real names are not fictional tools'

Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times on Mar 6, 2026

Published in Women

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LOS ANGELES — Daryl Hannah is no fan of FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette." She made that abundantly clear in an op-ed for the New York Times that also criticized the series for what she claims is a misogynistic portrayal of her younger self.

"It's appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show," Hannah, 65, wrote in the op-ed published Friday. "These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false."

A representative for FX did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

"Splash" and "Kill Bill" star Hannah, whose romance with Kennedy in the 1990s made for tabloid fodder before his marriage to Bessette, wrote that the Ryan Murphy-produced project depicted her as "irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate." She wrote that the show also depicted her as a cocaine-loving, selfish obstacle in the way of the series' late lovers. Kennedy and Bessette Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999.

These creative choices, she claimed, were "no accident."

Hannah decried her story being used as a "narrative device" to drive tension in the series and as a result, the series fell into "textbook misogyny" by pitting two women — in this case, actor Dree Hemingway's Daryl Hannah and Sarah Pidgeon's Carolyn Bessette — against each other.

The actor, also a filmmaker and advocate for environmental and senior health causes, also distanced herself from the series' "untrue" depictions of her life, behavior, actions and relationship with Kennedy.

"I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone's private memorial," she wrote. "I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis' death to a dog's."

"Love Story," created by Connor Hines, premiered in February with Paul Anthony Kelly starring as Kennedy. Hannah wrote that since the show's debut, she received many "hostile and even threatening" messages from viewers who believe the series' depictions.

Before Hannah's op-ed, Murphy received criticism from Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy Jr. In an interview with "CBS News Sunday Morning," the 33-year-old political commentator said Murphy "knows nothing" about his family and that the prolific TV creator is making a "ton of money on a grotesque display of someone else's life."

While she has often chosen not to address "outrageous lies, crappy stories and unflattering characterizations," Hannah wrote her "silence should not be mistaken for agreement with lies." She said she felt compelled to speak out against the series' depiction of her because continuing her "good work," including her philanthropic efforts, "requires an intact reputation."

Hannah said she has respected the Kennedy family's privacy and, like Schlossberg, condemned "self-serving sensationalists trading in gossip, innuendo and speculation."

"In a digital era, entertainment often becomes collective memory," she wrote. "Real names are not fictional tools. They belong to real lives."