All The Men Jackie Kennedy Dated Before And After JFK

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In 1952, photographer and journalist Jacqueline "Jackie" Lee Bouvier became acquainted with Senator John F. Kennedy, and he was exactly the kind of man her family would approve of; smart, successful, and handsome. The two quickly fell for one another and became engaged in June 1953. Just days before they announced their engagement, the Saturday Evening Post released an article about JFK, stating, "Many women have hopefully concluded that Kennedy needs looking after. In their opinion, he is, as a young millionaire senator, just about the most eligible bachelor in the United States." However, Jackie had already staked her claim on the young senator, and they married in September of the same year.

The Kennedys' relationship was national news, and when JFK announced his run for the presidency, his supportive wife was by his side. In 1961, following a successful candidacy, Jackie Kennedy moved into the White House and became both the First Lady of the United States and the woman every housewife aspired to be. She was a classy style icon with a devotion to the arts, and she had the most famous man in the country on her arm.

This is how most people remember Jackie Kennedy. However, only a decade of her life was spent with JFK before he was assassinated, and there were certainly other men in her life who made an impact. Here are all the men Jackie Kennedy dated before — and after — JFK.

Jackie Kennedy may have had a soft spot for guys named John, because her second serious relationship was with John Husted Jr, and she nearly married him before she met JFK. Husted was a Wall Street stockbroker who had graduated from Yale and had connections in high places, so he seemed like a safe bet to settle down with. However, her mother, Janet Bouvier was skeptical of Husted's ability to provide for Jackie, as he told Vanity Fair in 1999. "Her mother deemed me no great catch. Janet asked me how much money I was making, and I told her $17,000 ... Consequently, she was vehemently opposed to the match."

Jackie's family was known to value success and protect themselves financially whenever possible, and for Janet, it was of huge importance that her daughters chose their spouses carefully. Author J. Randy Taraborrelli gave further explanation to People about the events that transpired following Janet's discovery of Husted's salary. "Janet told her 'That was less money than your father made when I married him,'" Taraborrelli recounted. Janet reportedly told her daughter to leave Husted at their engagement party, which she did, by dropping the engagement ring into his jacket pocket.

While they seemed like the perfect couple at first, it's long been rumored that John F. Kennedy was far from a faithful husband to Jackie Kennedy. JFK allegedly had several affairs, including his most infamous affair with the iconic Marilyn Monroe, as well as ones with several of his female White House staff members. However, Jackie wasn't exactly Miss Fidelity herself— she reportedly indulged in her fair share of side romances during her marriage to the 35th president.

Not long after Monroe performed "Happy Birthday Mr. President," which sparked conjecture around JFK's fidelity, Jackie reportedly had a brief affair at her home in Virginia with André Malraux, a French art theorist and the author of "La Condition Humaine." The pair had previously established a friendship when the Kennedys visited Paris together in 1961, and because Jackie had spent time there in college, spoke French fluently, and was passionate about French art and history, she and Malraux had a lot in common. Letitia Baldridge, Jackie's social secretary, noted (via Vanity Fair) that, "She listened to him and wrote to him. Malraux was her prize." Jackie had such influence over Malraux that he agreed to send the priceless Mona Lisa to be displayed in Washington, D.C., temporarily, because she wished to share French art with America.

As Jackie Kennedy was planning John F. Kennedy's memorial following his death, she fell into her next relationship with an architect named John "Jack" Warnecke. They had met previously in 1962 when he was commissioned to save some of the historical buildings in Washington, D.C., but they reunited when Jackie asked Warnecke to design JFK's grave at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 2018, author of "Jackie, Janet and Lee," J. Randy Taraborrelli, told People, "Jack felt that Jackie desperately wanted to land somewhere and she cared for him and he provided a safe haven away from the nightmares and the PTSD that she was still experiencing over Jack [Kennedy] and Bobby." He added that it was unlikely the two would have ever gotten married, although they did discuss it in 1966 while on vacation together. "I don't think it was as serious for her as it was for him," Taraborrelli surmised.

Jackie's goals for her romantic life hadn't changed much since she was a girl, and a man's financial security was still a prominent factor for her. Unfortunately for Warnecke, while he had a steady job as an architect, he was $650,000 in debt. After reportedly sharing his money woes with Jackie, she distanced herself and, according to Taraborrelli, she told her mother about the situation. Janet Auchincloss told her daughter, "This is not the man for you," and Jackie's relationship with Warnecke ended shortly thereafter. But it wasn't long before JFK's widow set her sights on someone new.

After Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Jackie Kennedy had lost two lovers and two Kennedys, and she began to rely on the company of Edward "Teddy" Moore Kennedy. He was the youngest of JFK's brothers and, like Bobby, was married with children at the time their alleged affair began.

Writers Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince released "Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams" in 2014, in which they stated, "Teddy stood by Jackie through one crisis after another, becoming the one man in her life she could depend on." The youngest Kennedy brother had even told JFK's assistant David Powers, "I've always been in love with Jackie, right from the beginning." It was reported that Teddy was envious of the relationship Bobby had with Jackie and that he even married his wife Joan because she had a likeness to her.

Before Bobby's death, Jackie had allegedly told writer Truman Capote of the love triangle she found herself in, claiming, "I'm in love with two men at the same time, both Bobby and Teddy." Eventually, she learned that Teddy was having other affairs, so she allegedly began seeing the man who would become her next husband behind his back.

The Kennedy brothers weren't the only family to have romantic partners in common — Jackie Kennedy's second husband, Aristotle Onassis, was actually her sister Lee's ex-boyfriend. Jackie first met the Greek business magnate in 1963 when Lee invited her on a cruise with Onassis. However, as a source told Harper's Bazaar, "I think when Lee looks back on this trip she believes it was the second biggest mistake she ever made."

Five years later, Onassis was single and had invited Jackie on a cruise where they began to plan their future together. According to a friend of his who was also on the boat, "There were no endearments or touching or anything like that. I was absolutely convinced that nothing had gone on while we were there. I think in the afternoons they spent an hour or two together and they were sort of working out some sort of agreement." Onassis ended up proposing to Jackie on the trip and, given his fortune, security team, and willingness to protect her, she agreed. Still, she kept the news from her family until right before the wedding. In fact, Onassis had been the one to break the news of their engagement to her sister Lee.

However, Jackie's second marriage was less than ideal, and the couple had little in common. He eventually died in 1975, and the widow has since been endearingly referred to as "Jackie O."