Sarah Pidgeon Related to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's "Lived Experience" During the Filming of 'Love Story'
"It wasn’t lost on me that there were so many parallels."
Sarah Pidgeon's biggest role to date—as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in Ryan Murphy's limited series Love Story—will premiere on FX on February 12.
While filming the high-profile series, Pidgeon felt a little of what it must have been like for Bessette-Kennedy to endure unwanted media attention and backlash, the actress says in our Winter 2026 cover story.
"I wouldn't say I’m necessarily glad for it," Pidgeon tells senior news editor Halie LeSavage, referring to early criticism of the show's casting and costume design.
"I don’t think it was super-shocking that people were invested in Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and had strong opinions on what we were doing. But it was a real opportunity to understand what it might have been like for her, and that’s always helpful."
She adds, "It wasn’t lost on me that there were so many parallels. Granted, I'm playing a character and acting. Carolyn and JFK Jr. were trying to live their lives. But it did give me a sense of what her lived experience was, and it wakes up the things happening physically in your body—what it feels like in your chest, what’s going through your mind."
While Pidgeon was delighted to take on the acting challenge of playing Bessette-Kennedy, she explains that fame doesn't interest her. "I really like my life as it is," she says. "I think anonymity is wonderful because you can get lost in a role."
As for Bessette-Kennedy herself, who died in 1999, "she's become so incredibly important to me," Pidgeon says. "I revere her and everything that I’ve learned about her and her legacy. I understand people also have that affinity and care and investment in her, and I think that's true of anyone who plays a real person. I certainly felt that responsibility, and I carried that every day."
The highly anticipated Love Story traces the romance between CBK and John F. Kennedy Jr. The eight-episode series, available on FX via Hulu, stars Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, and Paul Anthony Kelly as JFK Jr.
