Martha Stewart news
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The gist
Martha Stewart said on the RHONY premiere she told JFK Jr. to get a co-pilot days.
The story resurfaced because a new FX series about Kennedy Jr. put the 1999.
Background
Martha Stewart appeared on the Season 16 premiere of "The Real Housewives of New York City" on Sept. 8, 2026, while her longtime makeup artist Daisy Toye, now a cast member, did her makeup. Stewart said she had been watching FX's "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette," which premiered Feb. 12, 2026, and it reminded her of her last conversation with Kennedy Jr. She said they had dinner the Monday before the Friday in 1999 when he died in a plane crash with his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren while he was piloting.
How it unfolded
- 1996Carolyn Bessette called Stewart for culinary and decorating advice, according to a 1996 Los Angeles Times report and later biography accounts.
- Jul 1999Stewart said she was with Kennedy Jr. the Monday before the Friday he died, when he sought her advice on his George magazine troubles and mentioned flying his wife and her sister to a wedding in Martha's Vineyard.
- Feb 12, 2026FX launched "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette," renewing public attention on the couple and the crash.
- Sep 8, 2026On the RHONY Season 16 premiere, Stewart told Daisy Toye she had told Kennedy Jr. to get a co-pilot, saying, "I've thought about that so many times."
Who’s saying what
- Public
- Stewart's remark that she has thought about the co-pilot advice "so many times" and feels sorry was reported as an emotional recollection of a final conversation.
Still unverified
The account of the final conversation and the co-pilot advice comes from Stewart's own recollection on the RHONY premiere; it has not been independently confirmed.