Throughout her life, Princess Diana was forced to deal with intense press intrusion and being hounded by the paparazzi. Now, a new documentary has revealed the ways in which Princess Diana and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s lives were alike, especially as they both faced huge media pressure on a daily basis.
In CNN’s new docu-series, American Prince, experts weighed in on John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s lives, which included comparisons to the British Royal Family. John’s friend and colleague, Gary Ginsberg, revealed in the documentary (via Us Weekly), “Princess Diana was living that struggle [with the paparazzi] so publicly, her fights with the paparazzi during that period [were notorious].”
Ginsberg continued, “I’m sure Carolyn was watching it and feeling like she was the American version of it. It probably just increased her sense of isolation and frustration.”
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John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in 1996.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Royal biographer Tina Brown also appeared on the documentary, and suggested that Diana and Carolyn lived “very, very similar lives.” Brown explained, “The actual reality of living [with the media firestorm] was something that came with so much pressure and so much ugliness.”
Discussing the array of similarities between the former Princess of Wales and the Kennedys, Brown said, “[John] was like the number one pin-up of the world and, I guess, only Princess Diana comes close in terms of the star power that he carried around.”
According to Brown, during a private lunch with Diana, the royal revealed her hope “that [Prince] William can turn out to be as smart about the press as John Kennedy Jr.'”
“The actual reality of living [with the media firestorm] was something that came with so much pressure and so much ugliness.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The royal biographer also noted, “Diana understood that there was no shucking off of the responsibility. They were the most famous people in the world, so there was very much a parallel.”
As two of the most famous women in the world in the ’90s, Diana and Carolyn were, unfortunately, both forced to navigate some incredibly challenging situations.
