JFK’s mistresses recall their ‘irresistible’ and ‘solicitous’ affairs with the president in new book
JFK’s mistresses recall their ‘irresistible’ and ‘solicitous’ affairs with the president in new book
Marina WattsTue, October 20, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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John F. Kennedy; ‘Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy’ by Laurence LeamerCredit: NY Daily News Archive via Getty; G.P. Putnam's SonsKey Points -
John F. Kennedy’s mistresses didn’t hold back recalling their affairs with the president.
Laurence Leamer’s book dissects the alleged affairs JFK had before and while he was in office.
Ladies Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
The lovers of John F. Kennedy have a lot to say about their affairs with the president.
Laurence Leamer’s new book, Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy, reexamines the trysts and romances throughout JFK’s life. From affairs with White House interns to socialites, JFK used his charm and good looks to seduce many.
“He was a brilliant politician but a troubled man and the sex and the drugs were one way he tried to live beyond his endless and serious health problems,” Leamer told Entertainment Weekly’s sister publication, PEOPLE, about the president, alluding to the medical maladies JFK faced throughout his life.
In turn, “sex was JFK’s way of defying his endless ailments, and he became a sex addict.” Here’s what his past mistresses had to say about becoming involved with the president.
John F. Kennedy at the White HouseCredit: Bettmann/Getty
White House intern Mimi Beardsley was 19 when she began her job working for JFK’s administration in 1962. “The president led Beardsley into the First Lady’s bedroom. For Kennedy foreplay was a tedious waste of time. He began to undress Beardsley,” writes Leamer of one particular incident.
“Before she knew what was happening, the president had penetrated her and was putting on his pants. Beardsley lay on the bed in pain. Much of it was because it was her first time. The president turned toward her, showing concern.”
“When he became more tender and solicitous, more aware of me...I actually felt close to him,” said Beardsley, who lost her virginity to the president, per Leamer’s book.
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Helen Chavchavadze, a “brunette divorcée” he met in 1959, continued her affair with JFK throughout his presidency, “despite her qualms,” writes Leamer. “I was never someone who had extramarital affairs,” she said. “It was not my style, but it was irresistible with Jack.”
“It may have looked like beautiful convertibles and women and sophistication, but it was the shadow destroying the self.”
Chavchavadze eventually suffered a nervous breakdown in 1963. “She partly blamed her illness on what she called ‘the conspiracy of silence,’ the secret she could share with no one and the fear that she was being watched. Her paranoia was likely not paranoia at all,” Leamer writes.
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Diana de Vegh, who met JFK when she was 20 years old in 1958, became involved with the president during his time in the White House. One night when home with her boyfriend, novelist Billy Lee Brammer, JFK called for her.
When asked whether the sex was good enough for her to keep coming back, de Vegh said, “My heavens, no. Maybe it was once, just after the first time. But no—I can’t recall a time when one of our lovemaking sessions didn’t leave me, at one point or another, either in hysterics or tears or both.”
As for why she carried on with the affair with the middle-aged politician, de Vegh credited “fascination.”
“Perhaps there’s even some of that grisly business of simply wanting to be close to power, or history, or influence...I want either to stay close to this thing—to really see what’s going on, to feel his infuriating, masterful presence at all times. Either that or to disengage entirely.”
Gunilla von Post in the 1950sCredit: IBL/Shutterstock
Gunilla von Post was a Swedish socialite who JFK met while in France, weeks before he married Jackie Kennedy in 1953, and kept in touch with for years after. She made a blush-worthy admission about his lovemaking. “He made love ‘with his hands, with his marvelous, healthy Irish skin, with his mouth—with everything,’” Leamer writes von Post recalling of JFK.
Jackie’s pregnancy was “an agonizing shock,” for von Post when JFK told her about it. She asked if their affair was over, and he said, “Don’t think that.”
“I have to have a life, and a future. I want my own family,” von Post told him, “I do, too,” JFK responded, adding, “I hope a baby will help. But I can’t feel about my wife the way I do about you.” This was the first time JFK had mentioned Jackie to him.
“Despite the pregnancy, he wanted his affair with von Post to continue. To help convince her, he said that she meant more to him than Jackie ever would. That may have been true, but she realized for the first time that their affair could not go on,” Leamer writes.
‘Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy’ by Laurence LeamerCredit: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Judith Exner, who was having affairs with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana and Los Angeles mob boss John Rosselli, was also involved with JFK. Before their dangerous affair ended, Exner and JFK had met at the New York Plaza Hotel for what she called “a wonderful night of lovemaking.”
Ladies Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
on Entertainment Weekly
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