The Other Man - by Michael Bergin (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Michael Bergin's account of the years he and Carolyn Bessette shared--revisiting the years dramatized in FX's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

Would she be alive today? Would we be together? Would we have been happy?

Before she was Mrs. John F. Kennedy Jr. -- before the wedding dress, the cameras, the mythology -- Carolyn Bessette was a woman of remarkable presence. Independent, stylish, and far more complex than the tabloids ever allowed her to be.

She was also, for a time, deeply in love with someone other than America's most eligible bachelor.

Michael Bergin was a small-town kid from Connecticut who came to New York with nothing and became one of the most recognizable faces in the world. When he and Carolyn found each other in 1992, it was immediate and intense -- a connection neither of them could fully let go of, even as their lives pulled them in different directions. Then John Kennedy walked in.

But this is not a story that ends with a wedding.

In The Other Man, Bergin breaks his silence on one of the most talked-about relationships of the 1990s, offering an intimate glimpse into the private Carolyn so few people were permitted to see -- her warmth, her restlessness, her contradictions -- and the passion the two of them shared long after the world had written its own version of her story.

Honest, tender, and at times devastating, The Other Man is a testament to the pull of a love that doesn't follow the script -- and a portrait of a woman who deserved to be known on her own terms.

From the Back Cover

The international supermodel and actor details his rise to fame in the fashion world and reveals for the first time the truth about his stormy, passionate, and now famous relationship with Carolyn Bessette.

This is the story of a small-town kid who moved to the big city, fell in love with a beautiful, mysterious woman, and found himself in competition with the most eligible bachelor in the world, John F. Kennedy Jr.

Now, for the first time, Michael Bergin reveals the truth behind a life lived in the limelight and a relationship shrouded in secrecy. From his early days growing up in a small blue-collar Connecticut town, to his meteoric rise as fashion icon and television star, to the passion he shared with the enigmatic and complex Carolyn Bessette, this is an inside look at the world of beauty, power, and celebrity.

In 1992, Michael and Carolyn met in a bar in New York City. She was unlike any woman he had ever known-sophisticated, successful, with bewitching charm and grace. An intensely passionate relationship was born. Not long after, Michael landed the coveted Calvin Klein underwear campaign, and his career took off. The future looked bright, and Carolyn and Michael seemed destined for a long and happy life together.

But it was not to be. Four years later Michael was an international fashion icon and Carolyn was Mrs. John F. Kennedy Jr.-however, the story doesn't end there. This is the truth about their lives, a tale full of warmth, humour, heartbreak, and tragedy.

Above all, The Other Man is a testament to the enduring power of love and a story about the painful choices we make with our all-too-human hearts.