In 1996, Kennedy married Carolyn Bessette, a publicity director for Calvin Klein Ltd., in a secret, publicity-evading ceremony off the coast of Georgia. Forty people attended the ceremony.

Their relationship was closely followed by the tabloid press, and upon marrying Kennedy, Bessette kept a low public profile.

''She's a very private woman,'' Kennedy told USA Today in 1998. ''It's like you go from having a life you've built on your own terms and all of a sudden it's being snatched away from you.''

Kennedy and Bessette in 1997.