Getty
More than 25 years after her death, fashion icon and eternal It girl Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy remains one of the most mythologised women of the modern era, with her image continuing to circulate endlessly online.
But for Sarah Pidgeon, stepping into the shoes of a woman the world never stopped obsessing over was less about recreating her hair colour and more about finding the real person behind the legend in Ryan Murphy’s new Disney+ series Love Story.
Pidgeon, 29, was plucked from relative obscurity from more than 1,000 actresses who auditioned to portray the chic blonde who captivated John F. Kennedy Jr., the charismatic son of one of America’s most revered presidents.
Despite being photographed relentlessly, the only footage of Carolyn speaking that can be found online lasts mere seconds.
“There’s so much mystery about Carolyn,” Pidgeon told US Vogue.
“My familiarity with her was through paparazzi images. She never sat down for an interview. The acting challenge was taking documentaries or books about her, and trying to find a commonality of how people described her to create the character.”
How did Sarah Pidgeon transform herself into Carolyn Bessette?
To become CBK, Pidgeon began with mastering her alluring presence. She worked closely with movement coach Julia Crockett to capture the subtle poise that defined Carolyn.
“Her eyes were a huge centre for Carolyn,” Pidgeon explained. “There was so much energy coming from her eyes.”
Of course, next came the wardrobe. While Carolyn barely spoke a word in public life, to her fans, her clean lines and simple silhouettes spoke volumes.
Costume designer Rudy Mance helped with the daunting task, reworking the looks initial screen test images of Sarah wearing Converse sneakers and carrying the wrong type of Hermès Birkin bag ignited backlash online.
“There were collectors that we were able to pull from, and whether or not it was the actual piece that she herself wore, [or] they were the same pieces from the same collection,” Sarah said. “We found her Prada and Valentino coats, and fitted some Levi’s so that they looked exactly how they fit Carolyn.”
Sarah Pidgeon copped backlash after she was cast as Carolyn
The scrutiny surrounding those early images from Love Story echoed the intense pressure Carolyn endured in her own lifetime.
“They’re doing to our Carolyn what they did to the real-life Carolyn. It’s not fair,” Ryan Murphy told Variety in June 2025.
But this experience is likely what helped Pidgeon the most in becoming her.
“It wasn’t lost on me that there were so many parallels,” Pidgeon told US Marie Claire. “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.”
Even before Carolyn’s tragic death at just 33 in a 1999 plane crash alongside her husband and her sister Lauren, her life was far from the fairytale it appeared.
She and Kennedy were reportedly living separately and attending marriage counselling at the time of the accident. It is this complexity Pidgeon wants to portray on screen.
“What I hope is that people feel a little closer to knowing the woman behind the clothes,” she told Vogue. “She is known as this minimalist fashion icon, but I learned that she was also vivacious, funny, and had a wildness about her.”
Sign up to Disney + to watch Love Story.
