Review of “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret” by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Jackie: Public, Private, Secret
by J. Randy Taraborrelli
528 pages
St. Martin’s Press
Published: July 2023

Released this past summer, J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography of Jackie Kennedy is detailed, revealing and, in the end, utterly absorbing. Taraborrelli is a biographer and a former journalist whose best-known books include biographies of Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Cher and the Kennedy family.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) was an American socialite, cultural icon and the 35th first lady of the United States. Her first husband (John F. Kennedy) was assassinated in 1963, leaving her with enduring feelings of trauma and regret. Her marriage to Greek business tycoon Aristotle Onassis lasted just seven years (until his death in 1975) and proved more contentious than harmonious. And from 1980 until her own death she maintained a close, stable relationship with businessman Maurice Templesman.

The product of hundreds of interviews conducted over multiple decades, Taraborrelli’s biography of Jackie Kennedy is surprisingly intimate and incredibly revealing. But it is a personal, behind-the-scenes dissection of her life, not a biography that reviews world events from her perspective, studies the Kennedy presidency from her time as first lady or describes the Kennedy assassination in any detail. In these areas the narrative has surprisingly little to say.

But what is revealed, while sometimes risque or even tabloidesque, paints an uncommonly full portrait of the otherwise elusive Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Her relationships with her parents, siblings, step-siblings, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and companions all seem to find a home in this 439-page narrative.

Taraborrelli provides robust introductions to the biography’s most important supporting characters including Jackie’s parents, Jack Warnecke (a long-time companion) and Aristotle and Artemis Onassis (her second husband and sister-in-law, respectively). And no one will fail to be engrossed by the ongoing commentary relating to Jackie’s post-assassination breakdown and her subsequent relationship with Aristotle Onassis.

Also noteworthy are the author’s observations relating to John Kennedy’s numerous affairs (and Jackie’s ability to cope with the philandering), her tumultuous relationship with her sister, personal accounts of the hours leading up to JFK’s burial, and a riveting review of of William Manchester’s quest to author the definitive account of the JFK assassination. By the book’s end it seems as though there is little of Jackie’s persona which has escaped the author’s attention.

But Taraborrelli’s biography of Jackie Kennedy Onassis is not without its share of hazards. Readers seeking a scholarly, intellectual biography of this compelling public figure may find the biography too gossipy and, at times, tawdry. Its failure to more deeply consider Jackie’s views and perspectives on a variety of topics is also disappointing. The most jarring issue, however, may be its propensity, during the first one-third of the book, to bounce around the timeline.

Readers already acquainted with Jackie have little to fear. But those new to her story may find this frustrating and confusing. In one moment JFK is being inaugurated; just two pages later, the future president is being introduced. Two pages later, Jackie’s mother and second husband are meeting her first fiancé (later dumped in favor of Kennedy). And so it goes – until JFK’s burial when the narrative proceeds in a more conventional fashion…and becomes nearly impossible to put down.

Overall, J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography of Jackie Kennedy Onassis is difficult to rate given its non-traditional nature. “Jackie” is excellent at exploring the “non-public” side of her life and innermost thoughts…but makes little effort to integrate her into the broader world around her. Deeply-researched, well-sourced and dramatically written, most readers will find it captivating to the end. But no one is likely to walk away feeling they absorbed new, consequential history.

Overall rating: 3¾ stars