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Judith Campbell Exner, the Los Angeles socialite whose affair with President John F. Kennedy embroiled her in decades of vilification as the first to shatter the Camelot myth, has died.
- Early Life
- Marriage and Family
- John F. Kennedy
- Memoir
- Later Accounts
- In Popular Culture
- Further Reading
She was born Judith Eileen Katherine Immoor in Fort Lee, New Jersey; Her parents were Frederick Immoor, an architect of German descent, and Katherine (née Shea), who was of Irish descent. When she was a child, her family moved to southern California, where she grew up in Pacific Palisades. With her father a successful architect, she was raised in t...
In 1952, at the age of 18, Judith married actor William Campbell; they divorced in 1958. Exner was not the first or only party to claim she had a relationship with President John Kennedy. An FBI investigation into JFK’s assassination and certain mob dealings uncovered Exner’s name and brought them to expose her to the nation. She described the circ...
According to Michael O'Brien of the Washington Monthly, on February 7, 1960, Frank Sinatra and Campbell were in Las Vegas, where Sinatra introduced her to John F. Kennedy, then a senator from Massachusetts and presidential candidate. In her 1977 memoir, she said that she became one of JFK's mistresses for a period of about two years, frequently vis...
In 1977, Exner published Judith Exner: My Story. In her memoir, she said that her relationship with Kennedy was entirely personal. She also said that Frank Sinatra later introduced her to Sam Giancana, with whom she also became intimate. She said that Giancana never asked her for any information related to Kennedy. She also said that John Roselliwa...
In a 1988 interview with Kitty Kelley of People magazine, Exner told a very different story about Giancana and Kennedy. She said that she had lied to the Church Committee and in her memoir out of fear of Mafia retaliation. She said Kennedy had asked her to contact Giancana, and she helped set up a meeting between them during the 1960 presidential e...
Exner's memoir was adapted as a made-for-TV movie, Power and Beauty (2002), directed by Susan Seidelman, in which she was played by Natasha Henstridge. Material was added from accounts published after her 1977 memoir. In the Series 7 episode of Red Dwarf "Tikka to Ride" Exner is alluded to when, in an alternate timeline, it's discovered that she ha...
Safire, William (March 12, 1990). "Essay – A Bittersweet Ending". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 13, 2016.Hirshey, Gerri (April 1, 1990). "The Last Act of Judith Exner". Vanity Fair. Retrieved September 9, 2020.Morrison, Patt (March 1, 1998). "Judith Exner and the End of Innocence". The LA Times. Retrieved September 9, 2020.[dead link]Safire, William (October 4, 1999). "Essay – The President's Friend". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 13, 2016.Sep 26, 1999 · Judith Campbell Exner, the bombshell-dropping reputed lover of former President John F. Kennedy and Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, has died of breast cancer. Exner, 65, battled the disease for...
Sep 27, 1999 · Judith Campbell Exner, who asserted in a 1988 interview in People magazine that she had been having an affair with John F. Kennedy when he was elected President, died late Friday at the City of...
Sep 19, 2017 · Judith Exner famously had a 2½-year affair with JFK, ending in 1962 – just one year before his assassination in Dallas.
Sep 26, 1999 · Judith Campbell Exner, who claimed she was the mistress of President John F. Kennedy and that she delivered messages from him to Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana, has died of breast cancer. She...
Nov 21, 2013 · The three gunshots fired in Dallas 50 years ago meant a presidential legacy unfulfilled — and a personal life unresolved. The sorry mess of sexual exploits that President John F. Kennedy left ...