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It's a wedding that has made headlines around the world: the marriage of Jackie Kennedy and the Greek billionaire Greek Aristotle Onassis. But behind the scenes, JFK's widow was "a bit nervous," her longtime assistant and nanny, Kathy McKeon, told PEOPLE on the couple's fiftieth wedding anniversary.
Exactly half a century ago, on October 20, 1968, Jackie married Aristotle Onassis, becoming "Jackie O" – and one of the richest and most glamorous women in the world – overnight .
McKeon, whose 2017 memoir Jackie's Girl recounts her time working for the former first lady and cares for her children, Caroline and John, remembers the little details regarding the day of Jackie's second marriage.
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Jackie spoke to McKeon about the surprise wedding barely 72 hours in advance. After helping Caroline and John prepare for the trip, McKeon told her chef that she had nothing to wear during the trip. Jackie gave him a white coat, which McKeon later recognized as one of them having been photographed. Unfortunately, it's not going well. "I was a little too chubby," says McKeon, who later donated it.
When the family arrived in Greece, McKeon remembers that Onassis had squeezed blue beads of worry by rubbing them back and forth as he greeted them.
McKeon and his family took a private helicopter to Athens that landed on the deck of the sumptuous Christina, owned by Onassis. "I was a little nervous because it was my first time in a helicopter," she says. "When I saw that we were going down to the water, John assured me that everything would be fine. And that we were going to land on the yacht and not in the water. "
Jackie Kennedy and JFK
National Archives / Newsmakers
McKeon was in the room while Jackie dressed for the ceremony. She brought him the jewelry and make-up requested and watched a hairdresser and makeup artist work their magic. Still, the former first lady was a little nervous, says McKeon.
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Once on the island of Skorpios owned by Onassis, they took golf carts to the small private church, which was too crowded for McKeon to enter, so she waited in the hallway with the Secret Service.
Jackie Kennedy and JFK Jr.
Cecil Stoughton / LIFE / Getty Images Collection
During their marriage, life was largely dictated by Onassis' busy travel schedule, says McKeon. He would stay in New York about two weeks at a time, where they would receive exceptional guests, including Frank Sinatra, before flying to Paris or another city.
In the end, the marriage lasted only six and a half years. Onassis died in March 1975 from respiratory failure, but the couple had problems in the months leading up to the event. Onassis' son, Alexander, died at the age of 24 in 1973 in a plane crash, which deeply affected his father and severely strained his relationship with his wife.
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Difficulties followed when Jackie's former brother-in-law, Ted Kennedy, negotiated more money for Jackie following the death of Onassis, which created a lot of tension between Jackie and Christina, Ari's daughter and her surviving heir. Christina died in 1988 from a heart attack at 37 years old.
Jackie Kennedy and Ari Onassis
Ron Gallela / Wire picture
The end was not happy. But for that moment, the day of her marriage with Onassis, Jackie Kennedy finally felt safe after the tragedy of JFK's assassination.
