Who Is Daryl Hannah's Ex, Jackson Browne? Inside Their Infamous Love Triangle After Meeting JFK Jr.

Daryl Hannah has returned to the headlines for her long-talked-about romance with John F. Kennedy Jr., the scion of the legendary Camelot dynasty of America. The 65-year-old actress has strongly condemned her "wrongful" portrayal in Ryan Murphy's limited FX miniseries, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette. With each new episode, Kennedy and Hannah's relationship is gaining more attention, forcing the actress to finally break her decades-long silence in a scathing new essay published on The New York Times.

Long before she married musician Neil Young, Daryl Hannah was a much-talked-about name, not only for her romantic entanglement with Kennedy, but also for her long-term romance with singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. Did you know that the two romances actually overlapped, and all three names got entangled in an infamous love triangle? Here's all about Daryl Hannah's relationship with Jackson Browne, and their tabloid-fodder entanglement with the political heir.

Inside Daryl Hannah and Jackson Browne's decade-long relationship

The drama unfolded during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Hannah’s long relationship with Browne overlapped with her on-again, off-again romance with Kennedy Jr. Hannah met the American singer-songwriter in the early 1980s and soon began dating. The two first met at a concert in Chicago, where Browne famously invited the then-young actress onstage. 

Daryl Hannah and Jackson Browne's relationship lasted nearly a decade, from around 1980 to the early 1990s. They were often seen together in Browne's concerts and other public events, and the actress had also played a huge role in raising the singer's children, Ethan Browne, from his first wife, Phyllis Major, and Ryan Browne, from his second wife, Lynne Sweeney. Hannah once said in a 1998 interview:

“We were a family. I helped him bring up his two children and his nephew.”

While they did remain together for almost a decade, the romance was far from smooth. Hannah often hinted that their relationship had its fair share of difficult moments, reflecting in a 1999 interview with Gear Magazine, "let’s just say I’ve let my lovers treat me a lot worse than I’ve let my friends treat me." 

Meeting John F. Kennedy Jr.

In 1988, something unusual happened that neither Hannah nor Browne had anticipated. That year, the actress's stepdad, legendary music executive Jerry Wexler, introduced her to John F. Kennedy Jr. at her aunt Lee Radziwill's wedding. Kennedy Jr., who had long been famously labelled the World's Most Eligible Bachelor, was freshly named People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."

Soon after their meeting, JFK Jr. took Hannah on a widely photographed date in New York City, and it made headlines all over America's political and entertainment circles. Their famous night reportedly included stops at several bars and clubs. While paparazzi documented the duo's entire evening in detail, both were still involved with their respective partners.

At that time, Hannah was living with browne in a shared house in Los Angeles, and the Kennedy heir was linked to his long-time girlfriend, Christina Haag. Close sources revealed that despite his long-term romance, Kennedy Jr. had quickly developed strong feelings for the Roxanne star. 

Jackson Browne, Daryl Hannah, and John F. Kennedy Jr.'s complicated love triangle

Between 1988 and 1992, Hannah, Browne, and Kennedy Jr. got entangled in a rather complicated love triangle, even though Browne had strongly denied the actress's involvement with the political scion. Hannah and Kennedy Jr. dated on and off for several years, but the Boulevard singer remained a lingering presence in her life. 

In later interviews, people close to Daryl Hannah noted that her romance with Kennedy Jr. often created tension in her relationship with Browne. After disagreements with Kennedy Jr., Hannah would sometimes return to Los Angeles, where she would reconnect with the singer, and the cycle reportedly frustrated Kennedy, who struggled with the complicated dynamic.

The love triangle played out in one of the most dramatic ways when, during the summer of 1989, both Kennedy Jr. and Browne visited Hannah's set while she was filming the comedy Crazy People. The two lovers, however, didn't cross paths as they visited the set at different times.

How was Daryl Hannah's relationship with JFK Jr., and how did the love triangle end?

Hannah and Kennedy Jr.'s romance reportedly began in the late 1980s, and they stayed together for more than five years. Despite the complications involving Jackson Browne, the duo frequently reunited. Friends recalled passionate moments between the pair, with sightings of them holding hands, dancing together at nightclubs, and spending time at parties across New York.

But the relationship was also marked by emotional ups and downs. In early 1992, the two were photographed arguing in New York during a particularly tense moment. Witnesses reportedly heard Kennedy Jr. asking Hannah why she had come back to him if she still planned to return to Browne.

The triangle ultimately came to a dramatic end later in 1992 after a serious argument between Hannah and Browne at their California home. Police were reportedly called to the property, and Hannah later sought medical treatment following the altercation. Kennedy Jr. flew to Los Angeles shortly afterward to support Hannah and brought her back to New York, where their relationship briefly intensified. If reports are to be believed, around the late 1990s, the duo started facing issues and eventually parted ways in 1994. 

Life after the infamous love triangle

In the years that followed, JFK Jr. fell in love with the renowned Calvin Klein publicist, Carolyn Bessette, and they secretly married in 1996. However, their tumultuous love story ended in a tragic plane crash in 1999, when both Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn were killed near Martha's Vineyard. Meanwhile, Daryl Hannah found lasting love in legendary musician Neil Young. The two married in 2018 and have remained together ever since. Now 65, Hannah continues to work in film and environmental activism. However, the actress now largely keeps her personal life out of the spotlight.

But decades later, the complicated romance involving Hannah, Browne, and Kennedy Jr. remains one of the most intriguing celebrity love triangles of its era. 

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