John and Jacqueline Kennedy were a good match.
A perfect couple to millions of Americans.
They smiled from the covers of magazines, holding hands and kissing in photos.
They became American’s sweethearts, the happy lovers who everybody was following.
But it wasn’t the same in real life.
We are used to Jackie’s image as a dignified wife, who endured the deaths of both her husbands
and the endless love affairs of President Kennedy.
But biographers claim the opposite.
According to Randy Taraborrelli, Jackie’s mother used to say that the most important
things are power and money.
Janet asked her daughters: “Do you know what the secret to ‘Happily Ever After’ is?”
Before they could answer, she did: “Money and Power.”
When Jackie got engaged to stockbroker John Husted Jr., her mother told her to leave him
right at their engagement party.
The reason was his annual $17 000 income.
So when Jacqueline met John Kennedy, she immediately called off the wedding.
“She was ice cold,” John Husted Jr. would remember.
“Like we never knew each other.”
Randy added that her mother was the one standing behind that decision.
When Jackie was marrying John she was well informed of his affair tendency.
According to Danforth Prince and Darwin Porter, Jackie not only knew about his amours but
had a couple of her own.
As Jackie confessed, family life was at first horrible.
She wasn’t so naive.
Jacqueline told her husband many times that she wasn't fond of his lifestyle.
But Kennedy wasn’t planning on changing his habits after the wedding.
The nights he missed most were those hanging out with friends and having fun with other
women.
In 1957, Jackie decided to revolt.
Once, when John came home at dawn, she was drunk and waiting to pick an argument.
But it soon turned into a fight and Jackie ran out the house in her nightie.
Kennedy ran after her and dragged her back by force and called the paramedics.
They placed her in a private psychiatric facility for a week
The First Lady had three sessions of electroconvulsive therapy with John’s approval.
Jackie called it “the nightmare ride of my life”.
The authors of "Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams" wrote that
she came home depressed, full of suicidal thoughts.
Jackie decided that if her husband would not care about her, there should be another man
who would.
She happened to visit Charlie Feldman, a famous Hollywood producer, when she met William Holden.
But the actor’s wife was around the house.
Holden was dashing and Jackie had a strong desire to take revenge on her husband.
As a result, she stayed at his mansion for the whole week.
It’s also known that Jacqueline had an affair with the French Minister of Culture, André Malraux.
In 1962, being the first lady of the US, she flew to Italy
to spend a few days at the villa of Fiat stakeholder, Gianni Agnelli.
Jackie dared to do that after Marilyn Monroe sang 'Happy Birthday, Mr President' at Kennedy’s birthday reception
In August of 1963, Jacqueline prematurely
gave birth to her son, Patrick.
His lungs were not yet fully developed.
Patrick died 39 hours later.
Despite being absorbed in the election campaign, John tried to spend more time with his kids and wife.
During the hardship, the President never showed his emotions to the public.
But after returning to his private room in hospital, those close to him say that he bemoaned.
Just three month after their son’s death, Jackie and JFK rode in an open Lincoln Continental
Limousine through Dealey Plaza in Dallas.
And there were no more things to argue about, no more things to forgive...
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