In a careless moment, he slipped his phone number into a matchbox, and five days later, she called him. "I thought of torturing you a bit," replied the executive. This is how Bergin recounted the beginning of their relationship in the book The Other Man: John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette, and Me (2004).
"Carolyn was way out of my league. Men wanted her, women wanted to be her, and I had her," he reflected in those pages. Their first separation came in September 1992, as Bergin was trying to make a name for himself as a model.
Once again, fate played in his favor when he was hired to pose as a lifeguard in a skimpy swimsuit at the presentation of Kelly Klein's book Swimming Pools, Calvin's wife. As expected, Carolyn played her role as a publicist perfectly. She greeted him politely. Shortly after, John Kennedy Jr. made his appearance, with whom the attractive blonde was rumored to be involved.
In his biography, Bergin recounts that Bessette followed him home to tell him that Jackie Kennedy Onassis's son "is not my type. He's not for me. I'm not interested in him or the life he leads." A statement that contrasts with Maureen Callahan's version in her book Don't Ask. The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed (Ed. Esfera de los Libros), where she labels Carolyn as a social climber who carefully orchestrated her encounters with John because she wanted to seduce the prince of Camelot to marry him.
After Mark Wahlberg's departure as Calvin Klein's underwear model, Michael Bergin's luck turned as he quickly took his place. He was becoming one of the most famous hunks in the industry.
In October 1993, Michael and Carolyn went through one of the worst times in their on-off relationship as she became pregnant but claimed she couldn't have a child and had an abortion. "She didn't feel ready," the model confessed in interviews two decades ago.
While Bergin successfully flaunted his physique in briefs on the giant billboards in Times Square, the seemingly fragile Carolyn Bessette tried to nurture her relationship with John John, who at that time was seeing actress Daryl Hannah. Jackie did not approve of her son's actions as she wanted a woman worthy of their name.
Carolyn vehemently denied having a romance with John, claiming she felt nothing for him, but the model wasn't entirely convinced. However, in the summer of 1994, everything blew up when photographs emerged of the late US president's son with the Calvin Klein publicist on a boat off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, where Jackie had her summer estate.
As expected, Bergin felt hurt. Despite the ups and downs, he still loved Bessette, but she had already made her choice. At that moment, he realized they had been a trio.
The final surprise came when in September 1996, Carolyn and John John secretly married. Far from being an idyllic marriage, the couple had serious cohabitation issues, and even paparazzi captured their fights on the street.
Far from the flame between Bergin and Bessette fading away, as the saying goes, where there's smoke, there's fire, the model continued to see the executive in secret. In fact, as Michael Bergin asserted, his girlfriend became pregnant again, but once more decided to have an abortion.
The former model turned real estate agent claimed that Carolyn stayed in his apartment for eleven days while John John was rafting in Ireland. If it hadn't been for the tragic deaths of the Kennedy-Bessette couple in a plane crash in July 1999, who knows what could have happened between Michael and Carolyn.
Carolyn's past as a Calvin Klein publicist resurfaces with the successful miniseries Love Story: John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette, premiered in our country by Disney +.
After this terrible tragedy, Michael began a relationship with makeup artist Joy Tilk, whom he married in 2004. They have two children together, Jesse (26) and Alana (22). He currently continues his real estate business in Beverly Hills.