Caroline Kennedy Will ‘Make Sure’ Her Grandchildren Remember Their Mother Tatiana Schlossberg

Caroline Kennedy has been through many tragedies since the assassination of her father, President John F. Kennedy, when she was just 5 years old. And now, she’s mourning her daughter Tatiana Schlossberg.

“When you think about the losses Caroline has suffered, it was only John that had suffered the same — and then she lost John,” Kennedy historian Steven M. Gillon told People in a story published on Tuesday, January 6, referring to John F. Kennedy Jr.’s death in a 1999 plane crash.

Caroline’s uncle, Robert F. Kennedy, was also assassinated five years after her father’s death, while her little brother, Patrick, passed away two days after his 1963 birth. Two cousins and several other members of the extended family also died prematurely. She lost her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, to lung cancer at age 64 in 1994.

“For Caroline, it’s a series of horrible personal tragedies that lead up to what may be the hardest of them all,” Gillon added to the outlet.

In her November 2025 essay published in The New Yorker, Schlossberg revealed she had been battling acute myeloid leukemia and a rare mutation called Inversion 3.

“Now I have added a new tragedy to [my mother’s] life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it,” she wrote.

Schlossberg was diagnosed shortly after giving birth to her second child, daughter Josie, in May 2024 and died on December 30 at age 35. In addition to Josie, Schlossberg shared 3-year-old son Edwin with her husband, George Moran.

“Caroline has to do the same thing her mother did with her and John, in raising those kids,” a Kennedy family friend told People. “To make sure they remember their mom — and she has the playbook.”

Gillon added, “Tatiana’s son is the same age that John was when he lost his dad. Tragically, history is repeating itself.”