Celebrity News
John F. Kennedy Jr. Talk Show Was Reportedly ‘Taking Shape’ Before His Death: ‘He Was Excited’
John F. Kennedy Jr. had a lot of plans before his untimely death on July 16, 1999, including a reported daytime talk show.
According to a Friday, April 17, report in journalist Rob Shuter’s Naughty But Nice Substack, the son of former president John F. Kennedy was quietly working on a television project, and a former Universal executive seemingly confirmed the venture.
“In truth, we lost more than a TV show when John passed,” Steve Rosenberg, who was once the president of Universal Domestic Television, said, per Naughty But Nice. “A real tragedy — he was taken far too soon.”
One of Shuter’s sources said that the project — which reportedly would have been backed by Universal Television (also behind massive daytime talk shows like Sally and Maury) — “wasn’t a test” and that it was in fact “taking shape.”
“They saw him as a star, not a risk,” the source claimed of JFK Jr., who dabbled in law, politics, acting and journalism before his tragic death.
Another Naughty But Nice source said that there was a “strong belief” that the George magazine founder “could own daytime,” adding: “He had presence, charm and an ease you simply can’t teach.”
“He was excited — genuinely excited,” an insider told Naughty But Nice, who reported that JFK Jr. was allegedly discussing the project the same day he, wife Carolyn Bessette and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a fatal plane crash. “Television fascinated him.”
“He understood that intersection before anyone else,” a source added of JFK Jr. “A talk show would have taken it even further.”
The businessman was 38 when he and his wife, 33 — along with Carolyn’s sister Lauren, 34 — were en route to Martha’s Vineyard Airport in the summer of 1999.
Lauren was to be dropped off at Martha’s Vineyard, while the Kennedys planned to fly to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to attend the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy.
However, the aircraft that JFK Jr. was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard, and all three died in the incident.
