Why are they famous?: Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Saturday 20 September 1997 23:02 BST
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Main Claim: Bagged the world's most eligible batchelor boy. As the wife of America's clown prince JF Kennedy Jr, Carolyn is the Princess Diana of a clamouring wannabe monarchy. Now Carolyn, instead of simply being, is about to sport a sideline and design her own clothing range, christened CBK.

Appearance: An alien Daryl Hannah. Martian ice queen. Carolyn initiated the No Face face - no eyebrows, glassy eyes, a shiver of make-up: the palest tabula rasa on which to project fantasy or a sudden gash of lipstick. With her skinny, angular, space-girl look, striding around in her boot- cuts and platinum sheet of hair, she marries Barbie and androgyne to create a much discused and disconcerting look. Heated "Isn't she beautiful?" "No, she's a dog" debates are a favourite of US dinner parties.

Marriage Blues: Ever since the nuptials, reports have surrounded la Kennedy, 31, of marital strife and even impending separation, not to mention that old chestnut anorexia, plus a miscarriage and general bouts of sulky malaise. Indeed, since the triumphant grin she displayed upon wedding her blow-dried bouffant of a groom, Carolyn has rarely been photographed smiling.

Blonde Ambition: Ambition has been in observed in Ms Bessette from early on. She always was a killer with the men, jealous contemporaries have noted. The privileged daughter of a Connecticut doctor ran into JFK Jr jogging in Central Park. In much misogynist reporting, she was deemed to have "played" him with consummate skill, blowing hot, blowing cold, and generally keeping the best-known playboy of the western world on his toes.

Career Highs: Carolyn is more noted for her courtship triumphs than her career greats. But as former press officer for Calvin Klein and his famed logo, it's only one tiny step for Carolyn to become CBK.

Fame Prospects: Married or divorced, Carolyn's sulky and strenuous avoidance of the lens puts a high value on her image as the uncooperative little ice princess. She frankly doesn't give a damn, and is thus condemned to eternal fame.

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