Book resurfaces rumor that Joe Kennedy paid Jackie an eye-popping amount of money to stay with JFK
Book resurfaces rumor that Joe Kennedy paid Jackie an eye-popping amount of money to stay with JFK
Marina WattsWed, November 11, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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Jackie Kennedy and John F. Kennedy at the Pan American Union Building in Washington, D.C., in April 1961Credit: Abbie Rowe/PhotoQuest/Getty IKey Points -
JFK’s dad Joe Kennedy allegedly paid Jackie Kennedy to stay married to the president.
“For him, this was a matter of far greater importance than a failing marriage,” Laurence Leamer writes in his latest book.
Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
A decades-old rumor has resurfaced about John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy’s marriage.
In Laurence Leamer’s latest book Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy, readers look back at the former president’s alleged affairs and romances.
During his marriage to Jackie, whom he met in 1952 and wed the following year, there was an eyebrow-raising rumor that JFK’s dad, Kennedy family patriarch Joe, had paid her an eye-popping amount of money to stay with the president amid his philandering.
“There were rumors—whispered in the corridors of power and influence—that Mr. Kennedy paid Jackie a million dollars to stay with Jack,” Leamer writes.
John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy in November 1962Credit: Getty
“Whether or not this happened, Jack’s father had lengthy talks with Jackie. For him, this was a matter of far greater importance than a failing marriage.”
“It was about his son becoming president of the United States . . . and he knew Jack could not achieve that as a divorced man,” Leamer adds. JFK was elected to the highest office in the country in 1960, and his father was keenly aware of the optics it could involve.
“Jackie resigned herself to continuing the marriage. She had been deeply in love when she married Jack and ready to devote herself to her husband,” Leamer writes.
“Unfortunately, the relationship had come to sometimes resemble an arranged marriage, with Jackie dutifully performing her marital responsibilities. At other times, however, everything was wonderful.”
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John F. Kennedy at a press conference in January 1963Credit: National Archive/Newsmakers/Getty
The rumor was also reported by J. Randy Taraborrelli in the 2023 book JFK: Public, Private, Secret. Taraborrelli writes that after Jackie heard about an affair JFK was having, she hired an attorney to represent her for a potential divorce.
When Joe heard about it, he got lunch with Jackie to try and make things right.
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“Joe told Jackie that if she agreed to stay in the marriage he could give her the freedom to do whatever she liked. He would offer her $100,000 upon the birth of her and Jack’s first child,” he writes, adding that she accepted the offer but would need to face the alleged affairs interfering with their marriage.
‘Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy’Credit: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams by authors Danforth Prince and Darwin Porter also makes the claim about Joe’s seven-figure offer. “There is danger facing you as a divorced Catholic woman,” he allegedly told Jackie, per their book. “I suggest you put divorce out of your mind.”
Jackie allegedly told Joe she would want $20 million “if he brings home any venereal disease” from his alleged affairs.
“She wasn’t happy at all married to JFK,” the book adds. “She agreed to stay married as long as Jack’s affairs stayed private but he was constantly humiliating her. Their happy marriage like Jackie’s ancestry and the modern-day Camelot was a myth.”
Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
on Entertainment Weekly
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