The decade of the sixties is known mainly for its ideological stances on peace, love, and free will. John F. Kennedy’s presidency had a liberal policy, so it’s not surprising that his personal life was also influenced by more open ideas than those of his predecessors, and, apparently, his wife had no problem with it, except for one particular occasion.
The friendship between the former first lady Jackie Kennedy and the famous singer Carly Simon has been one of the strangest and strongest relationships in the political and artistic environment. On the one hand, there was the free, bohemian, and contentious personality of Carly, on the other hand, the demure figure of Jackie, a conservative and prude woman.
Besides seeing Carly as a true friend and confidant, Jackie saw in her friend the opportunity to project certain freedom she couldn’t show in public. Jackie and Carly met in 1983 through John Kennedy Jr., Jackie and John’s son. In more than a decade of friendship, their relationship became closer and closer to the point that the singer dedicated her song ‘Touched by the Sun’ to Jackie when she passed in 1994.
Referring to this song in October 2019, Carly Simon published Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie, a book where she remembered some anecdotes about the most intimate experiences of this friendship and some secrets that Jackie Kennedy confided to the singer.
Simon described Jackie as a woman who was never concerned about her husband’s infidelities: “In a cheerful, but resigned way, she told me that of course, she knew all that. She just didn’t care so much because she knew Kennedy loved her, more than any of his other affairs.”
However, there was an incident of infidelity that marked a turning point in the Kennedys’ relationship. It happened in 1956, four years before Kennedy was elected president of the United States of America. The couple was expecting the first child, their daughter Arabella, who died before she was born.
At the time of the birth, John Kennedy was on a yacht trip in the Mediterranean with one of his mistresses. Even though he heard about the tragedy, he decided to finish the itinerary of his trip without haste since there was nothing he could do. “He was not there during the birth of his daughter. He was traveling with a mistress while Jackie was in the hospital,” the singer said. The fact that John didn’t even care about her feelings during this traumatic event was something Jackie never forgot nor forgave.
These anecdotes were kept secret by Jackie Kennedy’s discreet personality, who never spoke openly about her life as a couple with her husband or their family problems. In public, she always showed herself as a loyal wife to her husband until the day of his death.
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
Cover photo: Wright State
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