Lifelong rivalry between Jackie O and her sister
One was married to a US president, the other to a Polish prince but Jacqueline Kennedy and Lee Radziwill spent decades in competition over men and money, according to a new book
HEN Lee’s marriage to first husband, publisher Michael Canfield – rumoured to be the Duke of Kent’s illegitimate brother – was struggling, he turned to Jackie for help. “The best thing,” Jackie advised him, “is to get her some real money.” Lee divorced Canfield.
As family matriarch Janet married a second time, to banking and mining scion Hugh Auchincloss, who confessed that he was impotent and unable to have sex. She married him anyway to secure her daughters’ financial future. “I have sacrificed everything for you girls,” she later told her daughters.
Janet could hardly object when John F Kennedy began courting Jackie: he had a £7million trust fund and £360million family fortune – but was an inveterate womaniser.
“Janet felt that as long as philandering behaviour wasn’t flaunted it was acceptable,” says the author. After all the alcoholic “Black Jack” had enjoyed countless affairs.
But after tying the knot in 1953 Jackie lamented JFK’s flings with Marilyn Monroe, mob moll Judith Exner and others. She considered divorce but Lee said to stay for the security Kennedy provided. “His infidelities troubled her but Jackie’s family mantra was ‘money and power’ and she wasn’t ready to give that up,” says Taraborrelli.
Yet JFK left much to be desired as a husband. When Jackie’s first child Arabella was stillborn at seven months in 1955 Kennedy was holidaying in the Mediterranean. He refused to return home, saying: “What’s done is done.”
Lee’s marriage to Polish prince Stanislaw Radziwill had also dulled and by 1962 she found fresh passion in the arms of Onassis, openly flaunting their affair. He lavished her with jewels and wooed her on his yacht and private Greek island. “Ari is what I deserve,” said Lee.
She longed to marry Onassis but he continued his long-time affair with operatic diva Maria Callas.
When Jackie was devastated by the loss of another child – Patrick, who was born prematurely in 1963 and died after only 39 hours – Lee swept her grieving sister away on a cruise with Onassis. “So this is how kings live,” said an awed Jackie.
Just weeks later Kennedy’s assassination in November sent Jackie spiralling into depression, booze and pills. She confessed that she was suicidal, prompting Lee to flush all Jackie’s medications down the toilet.
The grieving First Lady found consolation in the arms of handsome architect Jack Warnecke – the man designing Kennedy’s memorial. Warnecke pulled over to the roadside on one trip so that they could have wild sex in the car. “Jackie had such style and grace we forget that she was a passionate woman with a strong sex drive,” says Taraborrelli. Their two-year romance was headed for the altar – until Jackie learned Warnecke was £465,000 in debt.
Despite his relationship with Lee, Onassis wooed Jackie behind her back. “He completely swept her off his feet, just as he had done to Lee years earlier.”
When Lee, who was invited to join Onassis on his yacht in the Mediterranean, found him cosied up to Jackie, JFK’s widow grasped her sister’s arm with both hands and told her: “I need this.”
KNOWING Jackie’s struggles with depression and drugs, Lee accepted defeat. “It had become a matter of life or death for my sister. She needed him more than I did.”
Jackie negotiated a wedding pay day from Onassis: £2.15million, plus £700,000 each for her children Caroline and John Jr. “He felt he’d conquered the Queen of Camelot and saw her as a great acquisition,” says Taraborrelli. But Onassis continued his affair with Callas. “Jackie once again found herself in a marriage with a cheater.”
Yet the marriage endured for six years until Onassis’s death in 1975 aged 69. After a bitter legal battle Jackie accepted an £18.3million pay-off from her husband’s £360million estate, plus £180,000 a year. Lee got nothing in his will.
Janet died in 1989 and her daughters grew more distant until Jackie was diagnosed with nonHodgkins lymphoma in 1993. Within months she died aged 64.
We will never know if Jackie died believing that Lee – now aged 84 and living in New York – loved her but her last will and testament speak volumes, leaving Lee nothing but a few crushing words.
“I have made no provision in this my will for my sister Lee B Radziwill, for whom I have great affection,” Jackie wrote, “because I have already done so during my lifetime.”
To Order Jackie, Janet & Lee by J Randy Taraborrelli (St Martin’s Press, £22.99) call the Express Bookshop with your card details on 01872 562310. Alternatively send a cheque or postal order made payable to The Express Bookshop to: Jackie Offer, PO Box 200, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 4WJ or visit expressbookshop.com UK delivery is free.