Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's longtime colorist and confidant, Brad Johns, reveals in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE the story behind her pre-wedding hair crisis. On the eve of her secret 1996 wedding to John F. Kennedy Jr., a frantic Carolyn asked Johns to dye her signature blonde hair jet black.
"I've never seen her that nervous," Johns recalls of her demeanor. He describes her as frantic, saying she insisted, "No, this is different! Let's just dye something totally different, like maybe black to look different than I looked before." Johns believes her desire for a drastic change stemmed from wedding jitters: "Because she was a nervous wreck. And she thought... If you change your hair color, you're not the person who's nervous looking in the mirror, you're someone else."
Johns, who considered her a close friend, refused to ruin his work, joking he wouldn't make her look like "Morticia" Addams. He ultimately calmed her down and instead made her hair a bit blonder for the ceremony. He remained unaware of the wedding itself, though he sensed a major event. Their relationship and this iconic moment are part of Johns's memoir and are now featured in the FX and Hulu series 'American Love Story'.