Martha Stewart has revealed an eerie warning she issued to John F. Kennedy Jr. just days before his untimely death in a 1999 plane crash. Stewart, 85, shared the anecdote during the premiere of The Real Housewives of New York City, recounting a conversation with the late president's son.
JFK Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette were killed when the light aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard. He was 38 at the time of the accident.
Stewart recalled that JFK Jr. called her for advice about his political lifestyle magazine, George, shortly before the crash. During their dinner, she asked him about his weekend plans.
"We’re going to a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard, and I’m taking my wife and her sister," Stewart recalled JFK Jr. saying. When she inquired who would be flying, he confirmed it would be him. Stewart then asked, "You have a co-pilot, right?"
According to Stewart, JFK Jr. responded, "No, I don’t need a co-pilot." She expressed lingering regret over the exchange, stating, "I’ve thought about that so many times that I told him to get a co-pilot. I feel sorry."
The couple were en route to Cape Cod for the wedding of Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey when the fatal crash occurred. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation concluded that the probable cause of the crash was the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane due to spatial disorientation during a night descent over water. Factors cited included haze and the dark night conditions.
The wreckage was discovered five days after the flight, and the bodies were recovered by Navy divers. Autopsies confirmed that the victims died upon impact.
Their romance and lives were recently explored in Ryan Murphy's FX series "Love Story," which focused on JFK Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy's relationship. Bessette, who remained a private figure and never gave interviews, married JFK Jr. in 1996.