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JFK's secret love life revealed: The tale of Joan Lundberg, who was 'impregnated' by former US president
A new biography has claimed that former US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had an affair with a flight attendant while he was married to Jackie. He met Joan Lundberg, who was working for Frontier Airlines and as a cocktail waitress, in August 1956 in California. They soon started an affair, and JFK got her pregnant, just months before Jackie gave birth to his daughter read more
US President John F Kennedy's personal life has come into the limelight. Photo by John F Kennedy Library Foundation / AFP
An upcoming book has made sensational claims about former United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK). The new biography, JFK: Public, Private, Secret by J Randy Taraborrelli, has claimed that the Democrat leader got a young flight attendant pregnant while he was married to Jacqueline Kennedy, better known as Jackie.
The stunning claim has brought the personal life of the 35th president of the US to the spotlight. According to the book, Jackie knew about her husband's affair but did not know about his lover's pregnancy.
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Let's take a closer look.
JFK sparks affair with flight attendant
John Kennedy met Joan Lundberg, a young flight attendant, in August 1956 in California. She was working for Frontier Airlines and as a cocktail waitress, according to the biography by Taraborrelli.
JFK, a 39-year-old senator from Massachusetts , asked Joan at a dive bar what she was going to play on the jukebox, according to an excerpt from the book, shared with People magazine.
''What are you gonna play?' he asked her. 'I was thinking Elvis Presley, but what would you like to hear?' she asked. He said he wanted to hear something 'so I can concentrate on you.''
When JFK asked Joan, a 23-year-old single mother of two, where she was living, the woman replied, 'trailer court close by'.
''What the hell's a trailer court?' he asked. She laughed and answered, 'You don't want to know.''
Days after meeting Joan, JFK discovered that his wife, Jackie, had given birth to their stillborn daughter, Arabella.
JFK was back in Los Angeles (LA) in early September and invited Joan to a dinner party at his sister's home. Around midnight, he took the flight attendant to a motor court where they checked in as 'Mr and Mrs Robert Thompson.'
''The sex that night was 'wild,' claimed Joan. The next morning over breakfast, he unburdened himself. His fears, his insecurities. It was as if she was so removed from his circle, he could share anything,'' People cited the excerpt as saying.
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JFK described his relationship with Jackie as 'an arranged marriage', saying it was 'fine. Not great, but okay.'
Former United States President John F Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy watch the first of the 1962 America's Cup races aboard the USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr, off Newport, Rhode Island, in this handout image taken on September 15, 1962. File Photo/Reuters/John F Kennedy Presidential Library
As per the biography, Jackie questioned JFK about 'Trailer Park Joan' when he returned to her in Newport, where she was recuperating at Hammersmith Farm.
JFK continued his affair with Joan even after his wife found out. He used to fly her to meet him and covered her expenses. By 1957, JFK was being considered a presidential candidate.
Taraborrelli's book also carries excerpts from Joan's unpublished memoir, which her family shared with him.
''She told me, 'I never worry about trouble when I'm with Jack because I pass for his sister, Pat, all the time,' ' Joan's sister, Linda Lydon, said. Joan later recalled that she and Jack got along well, 'aside from normal lovers' tiffs between two high-spirited people.' They often discussed his political career, with him starting off sentences with, 'When I'm president . . .''
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JFK gets Joan Lundberg pregnant
Two years after they first met, Joan called JFK to tell him about her pregnancy. The news came just months after the birth of Kennedys' daughter, Caroline.
'Joan would recall that her news about the baby was 'like a knife to Jack's heart.' While it was a shock, Joan wrote that they shouldn't have been so surprised: 'I didn't like wearing a diaphragm, and Jack wouldn't wear a rubber,'' she wrote.
'Jack couldn't help but wonder if Joan had purposely planned the pregnancy given that she'd seen his devotion to Jackie after Caroline's birth. He also wondered if he was really the father, and Joan assured him he was. When he asked her how she felt about the pregnancy, she said she loved the two children she was raising on her own and knew she'd also love any child she and Jack brought into the world. He didn't know how to respond,' the excerpt stated.
Later, during a phone call, JFK told Joan he would mail her $400, telling her, 'you'll know what to do' — an apparent reference to an abortion.
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''Being a politician is who I am,' he told her. 'Politics is all I know. If you take that away . . .' His voice trailed off. Before she could respond, he disconnected the line,'' as per the excerpt from JFK: Public, Private, Secret.
When she got the envelope a week later, it reportedly contained no money. The biography mentioned this made JFK 'positively unhinged'.
'Joan later wrote: 'My God! You had never heard anybody use expletives so much in the whole history of Washington.' Jack was very clear; he didn't want Joan to have the baby. He wired more money that same day, and she took care of things a day after that. She was angry and disappointed, but also realistic.'
'When Jack called Joan to check on her, she told him, 'I'm going to need to put some distance between us.' He understood. 'I owe you so much,' he told her. 'One thing I want to say to you, Kennedy,' she told him. 'You love Caroline, and I know that, but I'm somebody's daughter, too. Remember that the next time you treat a woman the way you've treated me.''
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As per the book, Jackie never came to know about Joan's abortion.
Taraborrelli told People that Joan was 'a big revelation' to him, saying she acted as the former US president's 'therapist in many ways.'
With inputs from agencies
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