Synopses & Reviews
Working Girl meets What Remains, the behind-the-scenes story of an unlikely friendship between America’s favorite First Son, John F. Kennedy Jr. and his personal assistant, a blue-collar girl from the Bronx.To everyone else, John F. Kennedy Jr. may have been American royalty, but to RoseMarie Terenzio he was an entitled nuisance—and she wasn’t afraid to let him know it. RoseMarie was his personal assistant, his publicist, and one of his closest confidantes during the last five years of his life. Here she bravely recounts her own Fairy Tale Interrupted, describing the heartwarming relationship that developed between a blue-collar girl from the Bronx and a veritable prince.
After John and Carolyn’s tragic, untimely deaths on July 16, 1999, RoseMarie’s whole world came crashing down around her, along with her hopes for the future. It took more than a decade before she felt ready to tell her story that is at once a moving tribute and a very real picture of her friend and employer.
Many books have sought to capture John F. Kennedy Jr.’s life. None has been as intimate or as honest as Fairy Tale Interrupted, a true portrait of the man behind the icon—patient, protective, surprisingly goofy, occasionally thoughtless and self-involved, yet capable of extraordinary generosity and kindness. She reveals how John and Carolyn handled media attention, the reality of life behind the scenes at George magazine, and how she dealt with the ultra-secretive planning of John and Carolyn’s wedding on Cumberland Island—and the heartbreak of their deaths.
Fairy Tale Interrupted is a deeply loving story and a fascinating adventure, filled with warmth, humor, insight, and five years’ worth of unforgettable memories.
Review
“A window into the time a president’s son tried to make it in New York publishing, in the final giddy years before the Internet changed everything.”
—The Washington Post
“Terenzio doesn’t dwell any longer than necessary on Kennedy’s death . . . but she was in his apartment that night and has a story to tell.”
—The Boston Globe
“Amazing revelations. . . . Working Girl meets What Remains in this behind-the-scenes story.”
—Good Reads
“No one is better at observing the affairs of a magazine than the boss’s assistant: with sprezzatura to spare, Terenzio delivers tantalizing accounts of staff cattiness and celebrity dealings. . . . A case study of the fascinating relationship between the often unsentimental executive who requests the impossible and the loyal, fiercely protective assistant.”
—Macleans
“Candid. . . . Terenzio deftly reconstructs the wonderfully addictive yet strange and high-pressure world in which she worked. . . . She chronicles her time with Kennedy within the glorious but often brutal bubble that encircled his world, and what he taught her about living.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A memoir of the late nineties, and an era gone by. . . . A suitably emotional ending, an up-close-and-personal account.”
—Celebrity Books
“Fairy Tale Interrupted joins a long list of books about one of America’s most tragic families. It’s probably one of the most personal and heartfelt narratives. . . . It makes Kennedy more human and shows a lovable side that should be regarded as sweet tribute to his memory.”
—Austin American-Statesman
Review
“Captivating … told with style and grace.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Working Girl meets What Remains, this is the behind-the-scenes story of an unlikely friendship between America's favorite First Son, John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his personal assistant, a blue-collar girl from the Bronx.
The Kennedys have captured the American imagination for fifty years, and the public's enduring fascination with Camelot continues to this day. Now, former personal assistant and dear friend of JFK, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, RoseMarie Terenzio has waited for more than a decade to share her unique, intimate, and extraordinary perspective of life behind the Kennedy curtain.
Upon first meeting, RoseMarie was not immediately impressed with JFK, Jr. In an awkward yet comedic encounter, she walked into her office to find that John had begun dismissively boxing up her personal belongings and moving them to a smaller office, including her prized, autographed Howard Stern photo. As she gave him a piece of her mind, people stood around gaping that she would dare speak to JFK, Jr. that way. But John loved her moxie and eventually asked her to become his personal assistant and publicist--and years later she would become one of his closest confidantes, as well as Carolyn's. For five years RoseMarie witnessed John's dating, politics, his marriage to Carolyn, and his untimely death. In her memoir, she blends her own story of a young woman who rose from an embattled childhood to follow her dream with amazing revelations about the man who has been the subject of unparalleled attention, sensationalism, adoration, and speculation. Offering readers a rare access to the epicenter of American royalty, this funny, moving, and truthful work is a breath of fresh air in the legacy of writing about the Kennedys.
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Synopsis
Don't miss the New York Times bestselling, behind-the-scenes story of an unlikely friendship between America's favorite First Son, John F. Kennedy Jr. and his personal assistant, a blue-collar girl from the Bronx. Featured in the documentary I Am JFK Jr.
From the moment RoseMarie Terenzio unleashed her Italian temper on the entitled nuisance commandeering her office in a downtown New York PR firm, an unlikely friendship bloomed between the blue-collar girl from the Bronx and John F. Kennedy Jr.
Many books have sought to capture John F. Kennedy Jr.'s life. None has been as intimate or as honest as Fairy Tale Interrupted. Recalling the adventure of working as his executive assistant for five years, RoseMarie portrays the man behind the icon--patient, protective, surprisingly goofy, occasionally thoughtless and self-involved, yet capable of extraordinary generosity and kindness. She reveals how he dealt with dating, politics, and the paparazzi, and describes life behind the scenes at George magazine. Captured here are her memories of Carolyn Bessette, how she orchestrated the ultra-secretive planning of John and Carolyn's wedding on Cumberland Island--and the heartbreak of their deaths on July 16, 1999, after which RoseMarie's whole world came crashing down around her. Only now does she feel she can tell her story in a book that stands as "a fitting personal tribute to a unique boss . . . deliriously fun and entertaining" (Kirkus Reviews).
Synopsis
Working Girl meets
What Remains, the behind-the-scenes story of an unlikely friendship between America’s favorite First Son, John F. Kennedy Jr. and his personal assistant, a blue-collar girl from the Bronx.
From the moment RoseMarie Terenzio unleashed her Italian temper on the entitled nuisance commandeering her office in a downtown New York PR firm, an unlikely friendship bloomed between the blue-collar girl from the Bronx and John F. Kennedy Jr.
Many books have sought to capture John F. Kennedy Jr.’s life. None has been as intimate or as honest as Fairy Tale Interrupted. Recalling the adventure of working as his executive assistant for five years, RoseMarie portrays the man behind the icon—patient, protective, surprisingly goofy, occasionally thoughtless and self-involved, yet capable of extraordinary generosity and kindness. She reveals how he dealt with dating, politics, and the paparazzi, and describes life behind the scenes at George magazine. Captured here are her memories of Carolyn Bessette, how she orchestrated the ultra-secretive planning of John and Carolyn’s wedding on Cumberland Island—and the heartbreak of their deaths on July 16, 1999, after which RoseMarie’s whole world came crashing down around her. Only now does she feel she can tell her story in a book that stands as “a fitting personal tribute to a unique boss . . . deliriously fun and entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews).
About the Author
RoseMarie Terenzio was John F. Kennedy Jr.’s executive assistant from 1994 until his death in 1999. The founder of RMT PR Management, a public relations and talent management firm in New York City, she served on the board of Reaching Up, a nonprofit organization founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. in 1998. Visit her websites: FairyTaleInterrupted.com and RMTPRManagement.com.