John was anxious about this press conference; he'd never done anything like it. Up to that point, almost certainly the largest assemblage of reporters he'd ever had to address had come the morning after his mother's death, and no one would have thought of asking him a tough question that day. Now there was no reason for the press to hold back. Here was an opportunity hundreds of reporters had been waiting for—the chance to ask John F. Kennedy, Jr., questions about his personal life. Our nightmare scenario was that no one would ask a single question about George.

To prepare, John had gotten coaching from image consultant Michael Sheehan, who had worked with Bill Clinton, and Paul Begala, a Clinton spin doctor who'd also advised John's uncle Ted. Sheehan and Begala had spent hours drilling John on potentially embarrassing questions. "Why did you fail the bar exam—are you stupid, or just lazy" "Is it true about you and Sharon Stone" "Who's your new girlfriend, anyway" "Madonna has an article in your first issue—did you have to sleep with her to get her to write it"

"Together they cooked up some answers…."