Daryl Hannah is not pleased with her portrayal on FX’s “Love Story,” the Ryan Murphy drama about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s storied romance, expressing her frustrations in a scathing New York Times op-ed. (Hannah is portrayed by actress Dree Hemingway, pictured above.)
“I have generally chosen not to respond to media coverage of me,” Hannah writes. “I have long believed that engaging with distortion often amplifies it. But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me. The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident.”
Hannah then refers to a recent Gold Derby interview in which “Love Story” producer Nina Jacobson said, “Given how much we’re rooting for John and Carolyn, Daryl Hannah occupies a space where she’s an adversary to what you want narratively in the story.”
In response to Jacobson’s comments, Hannah says, “Storytelling requires tension. It often requires an obstacle. But a real, living person is not a narrative device. There is also a gendered dimension to this thinking. 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?”
Daryl Hannah says her ‘actions and behaviors’ as shown on Love Story are ‘untrue’
Addressing what she considers to be some of the show’s most egregious misrepresentations, Daryl Hannah says the version of herself that viewers see on “Love Story” is “not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John.”
“The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue,” Hannah writes. “I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s.”
She concludes: “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.”
TVLine reached out to FX, which has no comment at this time.