Were JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy Separated When They Died? The Truth About Their Rocky Final Days (Exclusive)

Rumors swirled about whether JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy were going to get divorced. A new book takes a closer look

Twenty-five years after the plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and her sister Lauren, questions linger about what was going on in the couple’s marriage, especially in the weeks and days leading up to their tragic death on July 16, 1999.

A new book, JFK Jr: An Intimate Oral Biography  by RoseMarie Terenzio, who was John’s assistant and close friend, and Liz McNeil, editor-at-large at PEOPLE, exclusively excerpted in this week’s issue, reveals the intense pressures both John and Carolyn were facing in their final days.

Related: JFK Jr.'s Close Friends Share Intimate, Never-Before-Told Stories in Revealing Book Excerpt (Exclusive)

For more on JFK Jr., pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

The two were dealing with the impending death of John’s closest cousin, Anthony Radziwill, who was battling cancer, John’s fight to find new financing for his struggling political magazine George er and Carolyn's difficulties adjusting to a life in a global spotlight. The press attention was something John had lived with his entire life and had grown used to — but Carolyn found it invasive and, at times, even frightening.

Although accounts vary, John spent at least one night that last week at the Stanhope Hotel, not far from the Upper East Side neighborhood where he, his sister Caroline and their mom, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, had once lived. There, he saw his former girlfriend Julie Baker, whom he had dated starting in 1989 and into the early '90s.

“I spoke to John the last time, the night before he passed," Baker says in the book. "There is a rumor going around that I was with him at the Stanhope that night. This is not true ... I did, however, grab a quick lunch with him (which we often did) at the Stanhope a few days before the accident.”

Related: JFK Jr.’s Shocking Plane Crash Death at 38: What Really Happened When the Plane Went Down (Exclusive)

John’s close friend Sasha Chermayeff also tells the authors it had been a challenging time for the couple, who had wed in a fairytale ceremony on Sept. 21, 1996.

“They [John and Carolyn] were spiting each other,” says Chermayeff. “Maybe Carolyn was trying to make him worry [by not coming home] so then he did it the next night. He was not with her the last two nights.”

Still, during that summer of 1999, John and Carolyn had been looking for a second home away from the city, checking out real estate in Snedens Landing, N.Y., a peaceful enclave 19 miles north of Manhattan, where John could kayak. And while it had been a difficult week, Carolyn decided at the last minute to fly with John to Hyannis Port, Mass. for the July 17 wedding of his cousin, Rory.

As biographer Steve Gillon wrote, quoting a close friend of John's in America’s Reluctant Prince, “If anyone says they knew what was going to happen in that relationship, they’re lying. John and Carolyn didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer , from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil is on sale July 16, and available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.