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[Thisstorycontainsspoilersfrom[Thisstorycontainsspoilersfromlove story, Episode 7, “Obsession.”]
After last week’s episode of love story“The Wedding” John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) and Caroline Bisset Kennedy (Sarah Pidgeon) return from their honeymoon. What should be the happiest time of their lives soon turns miserable.
When they returned to their Tribeca apartment at 20 N. Moore St., photographers swarmed their car, making it immediately clear that life as a newlywed couple would be very different.
John, the son of former President John F. Kennedy, is accustomed to living in the spotlight. He even admits that the scrutiny has intensified since the couple’s marriage. So, in an attempt to smooth things over, John suggests that if they take a few photos and let the photographers take their first shot as a couple, they’ll back off. Except it doesn’t stop. They continue to camp outside the apartment at all times.
As Caroline struggles with constant attention, she confides in one person: her sister Lauren Bisset (Sydney Lemon).
“You should talk to someone,” Lauren tells Caroline, sensing that her sister isn’t handling the attention well.
“I’m talking to you,” Caroline replies.
Lauren and Caroline reportedly became “closer” in real life when Lauren moved to New York and Caroline was dealing with increased media attention.
Caroline fully opens up to Lauren about how the pressures of scrutiny and the lies spread about her in the tabloids have affected her. Earlier in the episode, she attended a meeting about a potential job at Ralph Lauren. But as she tried to leave, photographers were waiting outside, explaining that they would be a constant distraction at her workplace. She eventually realized she couldn’t take the job.
“I feel like for as long as I can remember, I’ve known exactly who I am and what I want and now I feel paralyzed,” Caroline tells Lauren. “I’m terrified of making a wrong move or drawing attention to myself.”
When Lauren asks what John has to say about the situation, Caroline admits there is a disconnect because he has never lost his identity before.
Lauren explains, “You can jump down the street with a smile on your face, and they’ll still find something to write about you because at the end of the day, the couple doesn’t sell newspapers. Every story needs an angle. A protagonist and an antagonist. John is the living embodiment of the hero, which means that…you only have one role to play.”
For Pidgeon and Lemmon, building on-screen chemistry was easy. The pair already knew each other before the show, when they were set to appear in Broadway shows in 2024, just a block away. Pidgeon appeared in the musical anthropomorphicwhich earned her a Tony nomination while Lemmon starred in the play job.
Talk to Hollywood Reporter Ahead of the series premiere, Pidgeon shared how excited she was when she learned that Lemmon had been cast as Lauren.
“That relationship is so important. It was so important to Caroline. So important to the story. It wasn’t just John and Caroline that we lost that day. Lauren was there too and they were incredibly close as brothers. I have a sister, and I know how important that relationship is,” she says. “When I found out that Sydney was going to play Lauren, I was so happy because I already had this feeling of familiarity and friendship with her, and that only grew as we were working together. There was just a baseline that we didn’t even have to work on as actors. It was just there because Sarah and Sydney love each other and trust each other so much already.”
Pidgeon continued, “I’ve since gone over to her house a few times and gone out and drank tea and crawled on the sofa. And when we were all chosen, I got Grace [Gummer] I pause for a while in her yard. It was just the beginning [of last summer] And sunny and beautiful. We all have to hang out. I’m so lucky to have had Sydney all this time. She’s so adorable as Lauren.
Lemon echoed this sentiment, saying thr, “It was amazing to be able to play sisters with someone I so authentically love. She was on Broadway at No. 45, while I was at No. 44. So a lot of homework has been done in order to build that chemistry and that connection that I hope people will experience when they see the show.”
While Caroline was known as a fashion icon who successfully climbed the ranks of Calvin Klein, Lauren was also very accomplished in her own right. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, she spent four years working at Morgan Stanley’s Hong Kong branch and was promoted to vice president while at the firm in New York — details mentioned in the episode.
Lemmon explained the research she did to photograph Lauren.
“I was really lucky, there were a lot of great books that I got, Carole Radziwill’s book, Rosemary’s book [Terenzio] book. “There was so much that gave me such a feeling of fullness in my mind that I was then able to start building character from it,” she says. “I was inspired by existing images. Naturally, many New Yorkers have stories, so I talked to people and did my detective work.”
While Lemon admits she hasn’t talked to anyone who knows Lauren personally, she still collects stories when she can.
“It’s the kind of thing that happens when someone asks: What are you working on?” And you say, “Oh, the JFK Jr. show,” and they say, “Oh, I have to tell you about this time,” and that starts building a gingerbread path in which I put myself into the character.
As the FX series approaches its final two episodes, audiences already know how the story will ultimately end. The pilot episode gave a glimpse of her, opening on July 16, 1999, with Caroline, Lauren, and John.
Lauren was with Carolyn and John when they died in a 1999 plane crash near Martha’s Vineyard. Lauren was 34 years old at the time, while Caroline was 33 years old. They also had another sister, Lisa Bissette, Lauren’s twin, who now lives a private life.
Series creator Connor Haynes previously said THR That it was always important to him to make sure Lauren was honored in the series.
“As someone who has three sisters, who are my best friends, I know how important this relationship is. I knew from the beginning that this was something we all wanted to honor,” he said. “I think the relationship between Sydney and Sarah is one of the most compelling parts of the series, and I really can’t wait for people to see that.”
Executive producer Brad Simpson added: “We want to remind people that Carolyn’s mother lost two daughters that day.”
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love storyNew episodes release every Thursday at 6pm PT/9pm ET on FX/Hulu, and stream on Hulu. Check them all out from The Hollywood Reporter ‘s love storyCoverage hereincluded Our first launch piece is with the cast and crew as well more Interviews with Sarah Pidgeon, Paul Anthony Kelly, Dre Hemingway,Alessandro Nivola, showrunner Connor Haynes, and production designer Alex DiGerlando.
