Book details JFK Jr problems

The couple's glamorous image allegedly belied marital problems

The marriage between John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette was on the rocks, amid problems with drug use and suspicions of infidelity at the time they died, a new book claims.

The book "The Kennedy Curse," by biographer Edward Klein, alleges that the couple were already sleeping in separate rooms and that Kennedy was considering divorcing his wife of three years.

Excerpts of the book which appear in the August issue of Vanity Fair blow apart the image of America's golden couple - painting instead a picture of a volatile, cocaine-using wife and an estranged, paranoid husband.

The pair were killed on 16 July 1999, along with Bessette's sister Lauren, when the single-engine plane Kennedy was piloting crashed into the sea near Martha's Vineyard.

I want to have kids but whenever I raise the subject with Carolyn, she turns away and refuses to have sex with me Quote recounted by friend of Kennedy

As the only son of assassinated President John F Kennedy, JFK Jr was the subject of worldwide attention for all of his life.

His good looks and wealth made him the crown prince of the Kennedy clan.

Bessette, as his wife, exuded the kind of smooth East Coast glamour that charmed the nation when the pair married in a small ceremony in Georgia in September 1996.

Cocaine use

Through a series of interviews with friends, the majority of them unnamed, the book claims that in reality Bessette was a heavy drugs user, leading an active social life that placed her at odds with her husband.

According to fashion industry friends of Bessette's quoted in the book, Kennedy caught his wife snorting lines of cocaine with friends at the couple's New York apartment.

"You're a cokehead," Kennedy screamed at his wife.

According the book the drug use was not an isolated incident.

From a young age Kennedy lived in the public eye

A staff member from Kennedy's political magazine, George, recounted an incident at a dinner in which Bessette made numerous trips to the bathroom, returning to the table with white powder rings around her nose.

"We went from bar to bar, and she wanted to come over to my apartment, but I said no, because I knew it would be an all-nighter," the friend said.

Carolyn also took anti-depressants and was a "heavy user of street drugs", Mr Klein writes.

Adultery fears

The couple's problems were exacerbated by suspicions of adultery, the book claims. Each was paranoid that the other was still sleeping with ex-partners.

Notably Kennedy was fearful that Bessette had revived a relationship with Calvin Klein model and former Baywatch actor Michael Bergin.

According to Mr Klein, Bergin and Bessette continued an affair even after she had moved in with Kennedy, although the relationship was halted when she married.

Mr Bergin told Mr Klein that Bessette would turn violent in quarrels - a claim which is also made in regard to her relationship with Kennedy.

We've become like total strangers. I've had it with her. It's got to stop, otherwise we're headed for divorce Quote recounted by Kennedy friend

Kennedy, the book says, told friends that he felt trapped in an "abusive" relationship.

Bessette is said to have had trouble dealing with the public scrutiny that accompanied her relationship with Kennedy and was prone to fits of depression and long periods of crying.

There were also claims that the pair differed on whether to raise a family:

"I want to have kids but whenever I raise the subject with Carolyn, she turns away and refuses to have sex with me," Kennedy told one friend.

Kennedy was so anxious to have children that he had even picked out the name Flynn for the son he dreamed of one day having, Mr Klein said.

Counselling failure

The couple are said to have tried marriage counselling for four months in 1999, but Bessette reportedly stormed out when the subject of her drug use was broached and she began sleeping in a separate bed.

According to the book, just two days before the couple were killed, Kennedy confessed to a friend that the marriage was foundering.

Their deaths plunged the nation into mourning

"We've become like total strangers. I've had it with her. It's got to stop, otherwise we're headed for divorce," Kennedy told the friend in a telephone call.

However, any decision on their future was cruelly set aside by their untimely deaths.

The book reports that there was even friction on the day that they died. Kennedy and Lauren had arrived at the airport in New Jersey while it was still light, but Carolyn delayed the trip until it was dark because she was having a her toenails painted.

The book quotes a hair colourist named Colin Lively as saying he saw Bessette order a pedicurist to apply her toenail polish three times until it was the right shade of violet that she wanted.

When Kennedy called to try to hurry her up she reportedly snapped impatiently at him saying:

"The more times you call me, the longer it's going to take."

When the group eventually took off it was nearly dark and it is believed that the inexperienced pilot lost sight of the horizon and subsequently lost control of the plane, killing all on board.