The 29-year-old actress stars as the beloved late wife of John F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a> (portrayed by newcomer Paul Anthony Kelly<\/a>) in the FX series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette<\/a>. She was cast as Carolyn in May<\/a> 2025, and when the first test shots of her and Kelly in character were shared by Ryan Murphy<\/a> in June, just days before production began, they were met with intense criticism.<\/p>\n Pidgeon tells PEOPLE that the backlash “reinforced and reminded me of just how beloved these people are, and people are protective of their story.”<\/p>\n “I don’t think it changed how I approached the role. It didn’t change my impression of who Carolyn was,” she says. “It reminded me of the weight of this responsibility and wanting to do these people justice.”<\/p>\n According to FX, the series, which is inspired by Elizabeth Beller\u2019s book, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy<\/a>, charts the “complex and heartbreaking journey of a couple whose private love became a national obsession” as Carolyn “rose from being a sales assistant to an executive at Calvin Klein, and became a trusted confidante of its eponymous founder,” and “the country watched [JFK Jr.] grow from a boy to a beloved bachelor and media sensation.”<\/p>\n Eric Liebowitz\/FX<\/p>\n Pidgeon says that making the series, which premieres Thursday, Feb. 12 on FX and Hulu, involved “so many new experiences,” and the fast-paced nature of production was a help. “It was so helpful to just not have time to think,” she says. “I think the more I do this, the less time you have to think, sometimes, the better.”<\/p>\n She continues, “And television is so quick \u2014 I think it was a lesson in really trying to trust my instincts and myself and my scene partner. I suppose the learning curve was steep, but we did it.”<\/p>\n Prior to being cast, the Tony-winner says she was “very familiar with many photos” of Carolyn and knew basic facts about her, like her career at Calvin Klein and that she married JFK Jr. “But I learned so much more,” she says.<\/p>\n With playing a real person comes an added level of pressure \u2014 which is compounded when that person is attached to America’s most beloved family \u2014 and Pidgeon was certainly aware of that. “It’s not just on your own inspiration to come up with a character, and there’s a sense of responsibility to approach it with as much truth and integrity as one can,” she says. “There was a pressure, I think, on it and an awareness that you were playing a real person.”<\/p>\n Eric Liebowitz\/FX<\/p>\n The flip side of the pressure was the wealth of resources both she and Kelly, 37, had at their disposal as they prepared to play Carolyn and JFK Jr.<\/p>\n “Luckily, there were a lot of books and interviews done by people who knew them quite well, lots of photos. So there were jumping off points that were incredibly helpful,” Pidgeon says. “That [research] just went on and on throughout our shooting.”<\/p>\n Along with Pidgeon and Kelly, the series also stars Naomi Watts<\/a> as Jackie Kennedy Onassis<\/a>, Grace Gummer<\/a> as Caroline Kennedy<\/a>, Alessandro Nivola<\/a> as Calvin Klein,<\/a> Leila George<\/a> as Kelly Klein<\/a>, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette and Constance Zimmer as Ann Marie Messina<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kurt Iswarienko\/FX<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n JFK Jr. met Carolyn in 1992 and then got married in a top-secret ceremony<\/a> in 1996. The couple died tragically in a plane crash<\/a> three years later.<\/p>\n John, who was 38 at the time, was flying the plane<\/a> \u2014 with both Carolyn, 33, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, 34, as his passengers \u2014 when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on July 16, 1999. They were on their way to Rory Kennedy’s<\/a> wedding in Cape Cod when they hit a thick fog off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.<\/p>\n Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette\u00a0premieres Thursday, Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu.<\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/74f6a10684c32a98742d2a992414ee0c.jpeg\"\/)
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in “Love Story” <\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1518ab03f5c3543484155465e6ef2191.jpeg\"\/)
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette in “Love Story” <\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/5c08d2969d518d136a25d71516e60578.jpeg\"\/)
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in “Love Story” <\/p>\n