In September 1996, after spending more than a year working long hours at the George Magazine offices, John F. Kennedy Jr. left cigars and champagne on the desks of his coworkers. According to Esquire, the accompanying note read in part, "I just wanted to let you know while you were all toiling away, I went and got myself married. I had to be a bit sneaky for reasons that by now are obvious."
Kennedy had indeed married his girlfriend, Carolyn Bessette. They met several years earlier in a Calvin Klein store, according to ABC News. Kennedy's assistant RoseMarie Terenzio said that her boss appreciated that his girlfriend, a publicist, was independent. "I think he loved that. She could be his friend, she could listen to his secrets and not judge him," she recalled. "I think ... that was rare for John, to be that comfortable doing that with someone."
They kept their Georgia wedding a secret from the world until after it happened. A photographer named Denis Reggie was on hand to memorialize the event, and he captured what would become an iconic image. "John reached for the hand of Carolyn; she was caught off guard," Reggie recalled to Vanity Fair, which (along with many other outlets) published the photo. "I'm walking backwards in the light rain at dusk, and John does this amazing gesture, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips." A beautiful gesture... and a marriage that would soon unravel.
