CAROLINE KENNEDY BREAKS DOWN DURING EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE TO HER DAUGHTER CQ💔

Caroline Kennedy; Tatiana Schlossberg.Credit: 

Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty; Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Caroline Kennedy held back tears while honoring Tatiana Schlossberg this weekend.

The one-time ambassador and daughter of the former president fought back tears when she spoke about her late daughter during the annual John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award ceremony on Sunday, May 31.

These were her first public comments about Tatiana since she died in December at 35 after a terminal cancer diagnosis.

“Politics is a family endeavor and I am so grateful to the members of my family who are here tonight and whose support over many years has kept my father’s spirit alive and made this institution a living memorial,” Kennedy said during her opening remarks, calling out Tatiana’s in-laws, Garrett and Mary Moran, along with Sargent Shriver’s granddaughter Emma Shriver for making an appearance at the awards ceremony.

Kennedy then mentioned her daughter and became emotional while commending her work. “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,” she said as her voice cracked, overcome with emotion.

The audience applauded Kennedy for about 20 seconds before she carried on with her speech.

This year’s Profile in Courage Award honored the people of the Twin Cities of Minnesota and former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who each pushed back against the Trump administration in different ways.

The JFK Library Foundation announced Tatiana’s death on Dec. 30, a year and a half after she had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024 following the birth of her second child. The cancer became a mutation called Inversion 3, which made it a terminal diagnosis. “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning,” the foundation wrote on Instagram. “She will always be in our hearts.”

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Before she died, Tatiana penned about a heart-wrenching essay for The New Yorker, sharing her terminal diagnosis and how it affected her family.

“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,” she wrote. “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.”

Tatiana’s brother Jack Schlossberg previously spoke about her death, telling Vanity Fair in May, “I don’t think I’ll ever process it… The world will never be the same for me, not only since she passed away, but since she was diagnosed with cancer about two years ago.”

“She was my best friend. We could finish each other’s sentences,” Jack added. “I miss her all the time. Every day I think about her.”