That JFK. Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Fight in the Park Got Way Too Real While Filming Love Story

The latest episode of Love Story features that very public JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette fight in the park. Not only does the scene ratchet up the couple’s very complicated romance, but it also cements just how in love they were. By the end of the episode, a tearful Carolyn accepts John’s proposal—which she didn’t quite turn down, but also didn’t say “yes” when he first proposed—and it seems the couple was finally in a good place with a healthy level of communication.

The episode, titled “Battery Park,” recreated nearly frame-for-frame the actual JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette fight that took place in February 1996, eight months before their September nuptials. It’s almost hard to believe the couple—especially press-shy Carolyn—would have let such a public display of emotion play out in a New York City park, but the incident did happen. It was not just captured in photographs, but on video as well.

“They were used to paparazzi following them, but they didn’t realize there was a couple that was following them with a video camera inside a van hidden,” executive producer Brad Simpson tells Glamour. “It was one of the first viral videos. It went everywhere. They just didn’t realize they were being filmed.”

Executive producer Nina Jacobson, who is also producing partners with Simpson, knows it’s shocking for today’s smart phone-addicted audience to fully understand. “Today you would obviously know that if there’s a spectacle, people are going to film you,” she says. “It’s tabloid fodder that ricochets around the world. I’d say we’re used to that kind of thing now, but we really weren’t back then.”

Even though the fight was filmed—complete with Carolyn running after John, grabbing his shirt, and nearly tackling him—it was almost impossible to hear what was being said amongst all the shouting (not to mention the noise that comes from being outside in New York City). Kim Rosenstock, who wrote this episode of Love Story, had the framework of what the emotions were based on, but still had to come up with the substance of the fight. (FWIW, we do know that John played coy and basically denied the engagement rumors during his George magazine debut in a September 1995 news conference, which came a couple months after he reportedly proposed.)

“We knew they pulled the rings off at one point, and that she tackles him,” Simpson says. “We know at one point they’re on the park benches, and they’re moping. We know that they’re crying. We know that he’s screaming at her. So now you’ve got to fill that in.”