Tapes Jackie Onassis recorded with historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy are set to be released sooner than expected thanks to an agreement approved by her daughter. Jackie originally planned for the recordings to be made public 50 years after her death, but Caroline Kennedy will reportedly allow their airing early in exchange for ABC’s dropping of its Katie Holmes-led miniseries about the Kennedy family, the Daily Mail reports. Among the topics discussed, according to the Mail, are Jackie’s retaliation affairs with the movie star William Holden and the founder of Fiat, Gianni Agnelli, to get back at JFK for fooling around with a 19-year-old White House intern. Jackie also voices her suspicions about Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson’s role in her husband’s assassination. An ABC exec calls the tapes “explosive,” which is more than can be said of a Katie Holmes performance.
Update: ABC says things aren’t quite so exciting. See their full statement after the jump.
An ABC spokesman confirms the tapes will be heard next month, but insists they’re far less prurient than the Mail teased:
“The tabloid reports about the content of the tapes are totally erroneous. ABC News isn’t releasing any content from those tapes until mid-September at which point it will be clear how off base these reports are. The actual content of the tapes provide unique and important insight into our recent past from one of the most fascinating and influential First Ladies in American history.”
Explosive Jackie O tapes ‘reveal how she believed Lyndon B Johnson killed JFK and had affair with movie star’ [Daily Mail UK]
