Naomi Watts ignites divisive debate with Jackie Kennedy portrayal in Love Story

Naomi Watts’s portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the debut season of Ryan Murphy’s new anthology series, Love Story, has sparked heated debate among viewers, with some arguing her performance leaves much to be desired while others are touting it as Emmy-worthy.

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette, which premiered its first three episodes Thursday on Hulu and Disney+, centers on the whirlwind romance and high-profile relationship between the attorney and his publicist wife before their tragic deaths in 1999. It features Paul Anthony Kelly as JFK Jr., Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, and Watts as former First Lady Jackie Kennedy.

Watts, slated to appear in all eight episodes, left critics and viewers in stark disagreement over her vocal impressions of the former first lady.

The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan declared Watts’s performance and vocal impressions were “truly terrible” in a two-star review.

Others shared opinions similar to Mangan’s. “The series’ biggest disappointment was Naomi Watts. She did a horrible Jackie Kennedy. Very bad. I had to look away,” one person wrote on X, with a second adding that it was “unsettling.”

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“I’m here for Naomi Watts doing an awful Jackie Kennedy impression on Love Story,” a third said, as a fourth insisted: “I need a minute to adjust to Naomi Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy.”

However, others said that her casting was not what they expected but still argued, “I think it could work.”

Lacy Baugher Milas of the AV Club found it to be “another outstanding performance” from the Mulholland Drive star.

“I think Naomi Watts is a very good Jackie Kennedy,” someone else opined on X. “I really enjoy her interpretation.”

“Naomi Watts is EATING these Jackie Kennedy monologues,” a second echoed, while a third added: “Naomi Watts sounds just like his mother. The comparison stops there but she has the voice down sure.”

A fourth went as far as to predict that she “could secure her 1st win for playing the iconic Jackie Kennedy (Love Story). This could be her 1st (!) major award across ALL mediums.”

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This marks the fourth collaboration between Watts, 57, and Murphy. The British actor has previously starred in his 2022 Netflix thriller The Watcher, his limited 2024 series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and his latest, heavily derided legal drama All’s Fair.

The nine-episode limited series has faced controversy and backlash from many people, who feel Murphy’s dramatized adaptation of JFK Jr. and Bessette’s highly publicized relationship and their untimely deaths in a horrific plane crash is disrespectful.

JFK Jr.’s nephew, Jack Schlossberg, initially slammed the series in a statement, saying: “Lately, my news feed has been filled with pictures of my uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., a great man. For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with the new show being made about him, the answer is no, and there’s really not much we can do.”

Schlossberg then added his concern that Murphy was “profiting off of it in a grotesque way.”

Murphy responded to Schlossberg’s comment at the time by saying, “I thought it was an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you really don’t remember.”

The first three episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette are now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. New episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays through March 26.