Actor penned scathing essay for the New York Times, criticising show’s portrayal of her and sharing she’s received ‘threatening’ messages since it aired
Daryl Hannah has attacked Ryan Murphy’s smash hit TV series Love Story in an essay for the New York Times.
The much-watched drama, which tells of the romance between John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette, features Hannah as a character, played by Dree Hemingway. Hannah and JFK Jr were in a relationship in the early 1990s.
“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 goes on to quote one of the producers of the show calling her character an adversary in an interview. “Storytelling requires tension,” she writes. “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?”
