Caroline Kennedy holds back tears as she reflects on daughter’s ‘too-short’ life

Caroline Kennedy has been reduced to tears recalling the death of her daughter Tatiana Schlossberg, 35, from cancer.

Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award ceremony, Kennedy – the daughter of late US president John F. Kennedy – acknowledged Schlossberg’s in-laws, Garrett and Mary Moran. They are the parents of the late environmental journalist’s husband, George Moran.

“This year, we even have new family members here,” Caroline said, “I am so happy to welcome Emma Shriver and Garrett and Mary Moran.”

She went on to detail the work her late daughter had done with the JFK Library Foundation, appearing to tear up in the process.

“Most of all, we remember Tatiana, who served on the board of this library and represented everything my parents stood for in her beautiful, amazing and too-short life.”

Schlossberg died in December, just one month after going public with her terminal cancer diagnosis in a heartbreaking essay for The New Yorker.

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Her acute myeloid leukemia was discovered in 2024 after she had welcomed her second child, when her doctor noticed an imbalance in her white blood cell count.

Schlossberg’s death was another cruel blow for Kennedy, 68, who has endured the loss of numerous family members in her lifetime.

Her daughter acknowledged this in her essay, writing, “For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry.

“Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

The news of Tatiana’s death was shared by the JFK Library Foundation at the time, on behalf of her extended family.

“Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the statement read.

Kennedy has previously endured the loss of her father, mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, brother John F. Kennedy, Jr., sister-in-law Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and uncle Robert F. Kennedy.

The former US ambassador to Australia has rarely spoken about the loss of her father.

However, in a 2017 video for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library marking the 100th anniversary of JFK’s birth, she said, “I have thought about him and missed him every day of my life.”