Taylor Swift Wrote a Love Song Inspired by Ethel Kennedy's Romance with Robert F. Kennedy

Mar. 15, 2025

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Getty

The pop star explained how she ended up writing a song about the Kennedys in a2012 interview withThe Wall Street Journal, saying, “I get a lot of style inspiration from the 1960s, so I’ll go and look at black and white pictures, and look at [photos from the] ’50s and ’60s, and I came across this picture of these two kids dancing at a dance.”

“It immediately made me think of like how much fun they must have had that night. It was back in the late ’40s,” continued Swift, who was dating Ethel’s grandsonConor Kennedyat the time. “I ended up reading underneath that it was Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. … So I just kind of wrote that song from that place, not really knowing how they met or anything like that.”

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In the song, Swift tells the story of teenagers meeting, falling in love and dancing the night away like they were “made of starlight.”

In real life, the couple did get married in 1950 andhad 11 children, creating the largest branch of theKennedy family tree.

Swift toldWSJthat before “Starlight” was publicly released, Ethel’s youngest daughter,Rory Kennedy, came to one of her shows. “I told [Rory] about the song,” Swift recalled, “and she was like, ‘You have to meet my mom. She would love to meet you.’ "

Ethel’s married life was cut short when RFK was assassinated in 1968 while running for president. She never remarried, and previously told PEOPLE that she relied heavily on her faith to get through the pain.

“I didn’t think how I would survive,” she said. “I knew it would happen but I didn’t know how.”

She outlived two of her own children. Her sonDavid Kennedydied of a drug overdose in 1984 in Palm Beach, Fla. Her sonMichael Kennedydied in 1997, when he skied into a tree while playing touch football in Aspen, Colo.

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On Aug. 1, 2019, she lost her granddaughterSaoirse Kennedydue to an accidental drug overdose. And in the spring of 2020, her granddaughterMaeve Kennedy Townsend McKeanand great-grandsonGideon McKeanwere found dead after they went missing while canoeing days earlier.

Ethel Kennedy attends the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 20, 2012.Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images

Ethel’s children shared a statement on Oct. 10, revealing that their family matriarch had died days after she suffered a stroke.

“Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly,” the statement read.

It continued: “She was a devout Catholic and daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing that she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy; her children David and Michael; her daughter-in-law Mary; her grandchildren Maeve and Saoirse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie.”

source: people.com