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July 17, 1999
Web posted at: 6:19 p.m. EDT (2219 GMT)

In this story: The good son A bachelor settles down A reputation largely untarnished RELATED STORIES, SITES

(CNN) -- Throughout his 38 years, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. has lived a life of glamour and pain, success and failure.

As the heir to Camelot, his moves have been monitored to distraction by paparazzi and fans. He embodies the "Kennedy mystique" -- young, rich, beautiful and seemingly invulnerable.

Born just 17 days after his father, John F. Kennedy, was elected president of the United States, he captured the American mood as a toddler by poignantly saluting his father's casket. As an adult, he also failed the New York bar exam twice; started his own successful political magazine; dated a handful of Hollywood celebrities, including Madonna; and was once named "sexiest man alive" by People magazine.

The boy became known to the nation as "John-John," a name erroneously bestowed on him by a reporter who misheard a conversation. Videotape showing Kennedy on his third birthday, dressed in a blue coat and shorts for his father's funeral and saluting the casket outside St. Matthew's Cathedral, has been shown repeatedly over the last 35 years as a symbol of the nation's grief over the assassination.

He is the only surviving son of the slain president. A brother, Patrick, was born on August 7, 1963, but died two days later.

The good son

After the assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy moved her children to Manhattan, where she raised John Jr. and older sister Caroline even after her marriage to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

The 3-year-old "John-John" salutes his father's coffin in famous black-and-white film footage from November 1963

While Kennedy was close to his cousins, Mrs. Onassis kept her children somewhat apart from the rest of the family. Unlike other family members, the young Kennedy never entered politics, although he was constantly questioned about a future in the political arena.

He showed some talent as an actor, performing in several plays. But any hopes of a career in acting ended when his mother turned thumbs down.

Kennedy graduated from Brown University and New York University Law School. He later joined the New York district attorney's office as an assistant prosecutor, then quit to start the glossy political magazine George, which debuted in 1995. The publication's subtitle: "not politics as usual."

The magazine has kept Kennedy in the limelight, and allowed him to do a bit of reporting. He interviewed ex-Alabama Gov. George Wallace, among others.

A bachelor settles down

As a young adult, Kennedy was often seen throwing a Frisbee in Central Park or roller skating through Tribeca. After his mother died on May 19, 1994, JFK Jr. was photographed roller-blading to her apartment.

Throughout his bachelor years, Kennedy's love life made headlines. He was photographed often with his girlfriend of five years, actress Daryl Hannah. Other former flames included Madonna, Brooke Shields, Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker and numerous models.

He was one of the world's most eligible men, having been named "sexiest man alive" by People magazine in 1988 and played a supporting, if unseen, role in an episode of the popular television comedy "Seinfeld:" In the episode, a character has lustful thoughts about Kennedy after catching a glimpse of him in public.

But in 1996, Kennedy retired from the romantic playing field by marrying his tall, blond girlfriend, Carolyn Bessette, then a public relations executive for Calvin Klein. The couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony on a remote island off the Georgia coast.

A reputation largely untarnished

His own reputation has remained largely untarnished by the reports and rumors of scandalous behavior by his Kennedy uncles and cousins -- and, posthumously, his own father.

"It's hard for me to talk about a legacy or a mystique," Kennedy said in 1993. "It's my family. The fact that there have been difficulties and hardships, or obstacles, makes us closer."

But in a 1997 piece in George, he described his cousins Joe and Michael -- sons of the late Robert Kennedy -- as "poster boys for bad behavior."

Joe Kennedy's ex-wife wrote a book criticizing him for asking the Roman Catholic church for an annulment after years of marriage. And his brother Michael, who died in a New Year's Eve 1997 skiing accident, had drawn negative publicity for an alleged affair with his family's underage baby sitter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report, written by Betsy Robertson.