The many affairs of John F. Kennedy: Behind the president’s ‘womanising’ reputation
JFK Jr #JFKJr
When John F. Kennedy was elected US president in 1961, he was only 43 years old –– the youngest president in history. He brought a fresh, youthful energy to the White House, and with that came a lot of glamour and raucous parties.
But while JFK built a public image of himself as a family man, married to Jackie Kennedy with two kids, in reality he was a massive womaniser. While married he had affairs with multiple women, from Hollywood starlets to White House interns.
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It was pretty common knowledge at the time that JFK was sleeping with many women, even while married to Jackie. Apparently, she accepted them because she knew Kennedy would always come back to her.
Kennedy allegedly used Secret Service to help him smuggle women in and out of the White House to meet him.
According to the NY Post, he used to say to people, “If I don’t have sex every day, I get a headache.”
Who did JFK have an affair with?
Here are some of the most well-known women John F. Kennedy is rumoured to have had affairs with:
Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood actress. Their affair allegedly only lasted for one weekend –– more on that later.
Mimi Alford, a White House intern who detailed their 18-month affair in her 2012 memoir Once Upon a Secret: My Affair With John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath. She was just 19 at the time, and only a few days into her job when she says JFK seduced her and slept with her in his wife’s bedroom.
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Blaze Starr, a celebrated stripper who, in 1989, told People she’d had a brief affair with JFK before he was elected president. She claimed they met at the strip club where she worked. She described him as “wild”, adding, “He knew exactly what he was doing with girls, so it didn’t take him long”.
Judith Campbell Exner, who worked as an informant between the Mafia and the White House. She alleges she aborted Kennedy’s child in the 1960s after falling pregnant during a two-year affair. “Jack was reckless, so reckless,” she said of the president.
Priscilla Wear and Jill Cohen, White House secretaries known as Fiddle and Faddle. More on them later.
Gunilla Von Post, a Swedish socialite who claims to have had an affair with JFK –– they met in France, three weeks before he was due to marry Jackie.
Mary Pinchot Meyer, who was married to a CIA agent and frequently visited the White House. She was shot dead a year after JFK’s assassination, though her murder was never resolved.
Ellen Rometsch, a 27-year-old German prostitute who was rumoured to have been deported because of the information she had about the President’s exploits.
What is JFK’s relationship history? 
Kennedy only had one wife, Jackie Kennedy Onassis (nee Bouvier). They met at a dinner party when he was a congressman, and married in 1953 and stayed together until his assassination in 1963.
The pair had four kids –– Arabella, who was stillborn, Caroline, born in 1957, John Jr., born in 1960 (17 days after his father was elected). Their fourth child, Patrick, died two days after he was born.
How did JFK and Jackie meet?
Jackie and JFK were in similar social circles, and were formally introduced at a dinner party by a mutual friend. Jackie has said she was drawn to his physical appearance, wit and wealth.
The pair met in 1952, when she was 23 years old. They married the following year.
What happened with JFK and Marilyn Monroe? 
There are a lot of rumours about JFK’s illicit affair with actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, though nothing’s been confirmed. She was named as one of Kennedy’s mistresses by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in his book The Dark Side of Camelot.
They met at a dinner party in 1962, and Kennedy invited her to a party at Bing Crosby’s house. Apparently the affair only lasted for a weekend, but Monroe became obsessed with him and wanted the relationship to continue. She wanted to take over Jackie’s position as First Lady, allegedly even calling Jackie to tell her so.
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There were also rumours Monroe was involved with the president’s brother, Bobby Kennedy.
When Monroe died of an overdose in 1962 –– which was ruled a suicide –– there were conspiracy theories that the Kennedy family was involved in her death.
Fiddle and Faddle are the nicknames of Priscilla Wear and Jill Cohen, two White House secretaries who were hired to be at the president’s beck and call.
According to many sources, they were hired to accompany the president on business trips abroad. Secret service invented their nicknames to hide the affair from Jackie Kennedy.
However, it’s clear Jackie was aware of the women’s real roles. At one point, while giving a tour of the White House to a French journalist, when she passed Priscilla Wear she remarked: “This is the girl who supposedly is sleeping with my husband”.
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