Tucker Tooley Entertainment has acquired the television rights to a pair of books about First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, with plans to develop them into a limited series.
Variety has exclusively learned that the company has acquired the rights to the books “”Jackie: Public, Private, Secret” and “Jackie, Janet and Lee,” both written by J. Randy Taraborrelli. The former dives into many never-before-told details on Onassis’s life, while the other is a biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, her mother Janet Lee Auchincloss and her sister Princess Lee Radziwill, published by St. Martin’s Press.
“Jackie Onassis is one of the most iconic, timeless and multifaceted women of the twentieth century,” Tooley said. “Randy’s extraordinary access and meticulous reporting give two talented actresses an incredible vehicle to bring Onassis and her mother, Janet, to life. We are excited to connect a whole new generation of viewers to Camelot.”
Tooley will produce alongside Greg Renker, Gregoire Gensollen and Christian Parent of Tucker Tooley Entertainment. Taraborrelli will produce and write the pilot.
“In previous accounts of her life, Jackie has always been seen through the lens of her famous parents-in-law, the Kennedys,” Taraborelli said. “But in my two books she is finally seen through the eyes of her own family members, the Bouviers and the Auchinclosses. This is a Jackie the public never knew as she struggles with lifelong PTSD over her husband’s murder, while also becoming her mother’s primary caregiver during her battle with Alzheimer’s. I am so excited to bring these compelling new Jackie stories to television for the first time with my producing partners, Tucker, Greg, Gregoire and Christian.”
Tucker Tooley Entertainment is a film and television financing and production company. Founded by Tooley and Renker, their projects include “The Deliverance” on Netflix as well as “Den of Thieves” and the upcoming sequel, “Concrete Cowboy” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”
Taraborrelli is a Kennedy historian with seventeen New York Times bestsellers to his name. Five of them are about the Kennedys. He has also written books about contemporary figures such as Madonna, Beyonce, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and the Hiltons. He is represented by Judy Coppage of The Coppage Company and Laurie Megery of Myman Greenspan.
This is the latest announced television project about the Kennedy family. Variety previously reported that Netflix is developing a limited series about JFK with Eric Roth attached to write.