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Martha Stewart Reveals Warning She Gave John F. Kennedy Jr. Before Fatal Flight
Martha Stewart says she warned John F. Kennedy Jr. about flying without a copilot in the days leading up to his death.
Stewart, 85, made the revelation on the premiere of The Real Housewives of New York City Season 16 which aired on Tuesday, September 8.
Speaking with RHONY newcomer and makeup artist Daisy Toye, Stewart said, “I was with John-John the Monday before the Friday when they died. He called me. I was running Martha Stewart Living Magazine. He called me and he said he’s in trouble.”
John wanted advice about his political lifestyle magazine, George.
The pair then met up and “had a very nice dinner” where talk turned to their weekend plans.
“He said, ‘Oh, we’re going to a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard. And I’m taking my wife and her sister,'” Stewart recalled. “And I said, ‘Well, who’s flying?’ He said, ‘I’m flying.’ I said, ‘You have a copilot, right?’ And he said, ‘No, I don’t need a copilot’… I’ve thought about that so many times that I told him to get a copilot. Ugh, I feel sorry.”
John died on July 16, 1999, at age 38 when the plane he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. His wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, 33, and her sister Lauren Bessette, 34, were also killed.
The trio had departed from Essex County Airport in Caldwell, New Jersey, aboard John’s Piper Saratoga. They planned to stop at Martha’s Vineyard to drop off Lauren before John and Carolyn continued to Hyannis Port for his cousin Rory Kennedy‘s wedding.
The National Transportation Safety Board later determined that the probable cause of the crash was John’s failure to maintain control of the plane during a nighttime descent over water, with spatial disorientation cited as a factor.
The tragedy and John’s relationship with Carolyn were revisited earlier this year in the Hulu series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, which aired after filming on the current season of The Real Housewives of New York City had wrapped.
