IRISH AMERICAN President John F Kennedy was allegedly with one of his mistresses when his wife, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, gave birth to one of his children.
That’s according to musician Carly Simon, who made the astonishing claims during an interview to promote her new book Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie.
Best known for hits like You’re So Vain and the James Bond theme Nobody Does It Better, Simon met Kennedy’s widow back in 1983 during a trip to Martha’s Vineyard.
Simon, who was 38 at the time, struck up an immediate rapport with Jackie, despite 16-year age difference between the two women.
Describing the former First Lady as “the mother I never had” the new book sees Simon share precious personal details from their friendship.
Chief among these was the fact Jackie was apparently “unbothered” by JFK’s many alleged affairs.
“In a cheerful but resigned way she told me that of course she knew about them. She just didn’t mind their presence as much as she might have, because she knew he [Kennedy] loved her much, much more than any of his dalliances," Simon writes in the book.
Pressed on the subject of Jackie O’s stance on Kennedy’s reported extra-marital activities during an interview with the Today Show, Simon offered up this latest revelation.
"I think that some of the things had more effect on her," he said.
"For instance, his not being there for the birth of a child. For his being off with a mistress while she was in the hospital. There are various things that he did that, by comparison, must have hurt more.”
The veracity of Simon’s claims is difficult to ascertain.
Kennedy was present for the births of his three children Caroline, John Jr. and Patrick, who died when he was an infant.
However, reports suggest he was not present for the birth of a fourth, stillborn child, in 1956.
It was alleged that Kennedy was on a yacht in the Mediterranean at the time of the birth.