ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 23, 1996 TAG: 9609230091
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: below
John John is the nation's No. 1 bachelor no more. John F. Kennedy Jr. tied the knot with longtime girlfriend Carolyn Bessette in a top-secret weekend ceremony on a secluded island.
Years of gossip about the man once dubbed ``The Sexiest Man Alive'' ended with a private wedding Saturday on this island along the Georgia coast.
``My cousin John did tie the knot yesterday,'' Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., confirmed Sunday morning at a fund-raiser for congressional candidate Robert Burch in Steubenville, Ohio. Although he gave no details, his spokesman confirmed the bride was Bessette.
Camden County Probate Judge Martin Gillette said his office issued a marriage license to the couple Thursday.
Kennedy has been romantically linked for about five years to Bessette, a Connecticut native who works in public relations for Calvin Klein Ltd. in New York City.
But she was hardly the only woman linked to the dashing playboy who has it all - good looks, money and a link to Camelot.
The 35-year-old son of President John F. Kennedy ended a lengthy relationship with actress Darryl Hannah not long after his mother's funeral in May 1994.
And according to the New York Post, Kennedy, co-founder and editor of George magazine, finally popped the question to Bessette last year after she blew her top over a National Enquirer report that he had an affair with actress Sharon Stone.
In February, the couple was videotaped having a lovers' quarrel in a New York park, talking, fighting, pouting and crying before they eventually made up. The 20-minute spat showed up in television and newspaper accounts.
Last week's issue of New York magazine said the privacy-obsessed Kennedy went ahead with plans for his wedding without even divulging the date or place to relatives.
Even cousin Patrick wasn't invited, said the congressman's spokesman, Larry Berman. ``I think it was, from what we heard, very small.''
But several members of the Kennedy clan were around Cumberland Island Sunday - and they weren't talking.
Kennedy's sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, responded with a thumbs up when a TV crew asked about reports of a wedding.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP/File John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette dineby CNBin 1995 at the National Arts Club in New York. The couple married on
a secluded island along the Georgia coast Saturday.