Rosanna Arquette is rallying in support of Daryl Hannah after the Splash actress slammed the way she was depicted in the new FX limited series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
“I love Daryl Hannah. She’s a great woman, a great actor, writer, director and activist for the environment for years,” Arquette, 66, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, March 8, alongside a photo of the two posing alongside each other. “She is also an animal whisperer. Her work in the world has been epic. The portrayal of her on the streaming thing is bulls***.”
“Her love with John F Kennedy Jr was real and some of the happiest times John F Kennedy Jr. had — just ask his family,” Arquette continued. “But no one did.”
Dree Hemingway plays Hannah, 65, on what the latter called a “tragedy-exploiting television series” directed and created by Ryan Murphy. The show explores Hannah’s more than five-year relationship with JFK Jr. (played by Paul Anthony Kelly) from 1988 to 1994, prior to him marrying Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon).
Arquette’s After Hours costar Griffin Dunne also publicly defended Hannah after the show’s premiere. “Daryl was treated HORRIBLY but man, can she stick up for herself,” he replied in the comments section of her post. “Her op/ed in the Times was brilliant and should have shamed everyone responsible for her gross depiction.”
Hannah said it was “no accident” that her character came across as “irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate” in her New York Times essay published on Friday, March 6. “Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?”
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette and Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. in ‘Love Story.’ FX / Courtesy of FX via Everett Collection
Hannah went on to shut down theories that she ever used cocaine or “hosted cocaine-fueled parties.”
While addressing her past relationship with JFK Jr., she added, “I have never pressured anyone into marriage.” Furthermore, she noted, “I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial.”
“I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false,” she continued.
Producers Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson previously spoke with Us Weekly about their preparation prior to filming the show.
“You reach out to one person, and then it becomes, ‘Why are you not reaching out to every person?’ We love these characters. We did deep, deep research,” Simpson told Us in February. “We came from a place of love, but if you foreground one person’s personal story and their version of the truth, then you have to foreground everybody’s, and often they’re in conflict.”
“Daryl’s points to John are really what people are sort of missing,” Simpson added. “They are very relevant when she’s saying that not every woman is going to be able to deal with this level of fame. He didn’t understand. And her warnings about that turned out to be true for Carolyn.”
