Inside private life JFK and Jackie O’s granddaughter: environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg

The American public has been wildly fascinated with the Kennedy’s for decades – and when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a trip to Dallas, Texas, in 1963, it fueled the world’s intrigue with the prominent and political family.

That’s why it comes as no surprise that there is so much interest surrounding JFK’s three grandchildren – Rose, Tatiana, and Jack Schlossberg, the kids of the late President and his wife, former First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ only surviving child, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, 64, and her husband, artist Edwin Schlossberg, 77.

While Rose, 34, opted for a career in Hollywood, working as a producer on a series of TV shows, the family’s long-standing involvement in the top echelons of US politics seems destined to continue, courtesy of the other members of the youngest generation, with handsome Harvard Law graduate Jack, 29, now pursuing his own political ambitions and Yale University alumni Tatiana, 32, launching a successful career as an environmental journalist – a topic her grandfather was also passionate about.

JFK was the first president to warn the country about climate change back in 1962, stating at the time, ‘I don’t think there is anything that could occupy our attention with more distinction than trying to preserve for those who come after us this beautiful country we have inherited.’

And that’s something that his granddaughter Tatiana has dedicated her life to fighting for. After graduating from college in 2012 and receiving her master’s degree two years later, the now-32-year-old became a writer for the New York Times, often sharing passionate pieces in which she went to war with fast fashion, big brands, and oil companies – and highlighted the negative impacts that they have on nature.

The environmental warrior has also written her own book on the subject, and she has continuously credited her grandpa with instilling the passion inside of her; while she was never able to meet the politician – since he was shot and killed years before she was born – Tatiana said she was able to ‘connect with him’ through his past speeches and the lessons that he passed down through her mother. 

And while she has not wavered in her determination to change the world, Tatiana has admitted that growing up in one of the most famous families in the country, often referred to as America’s royals, was not easy for her, since it brought a lot of unwanted attention and scrutiny.

From her childhood in the spotlight and how she ‘studied’ her grandfather’s ‘life’ to help fuel her love of activism to her impressive achievements in the field and in her personal life, here’s everything you need to know about JFK and Jackie O’s middle grandchild, Tatiana. 

Inside Tatiana’s childhood: How she balanced growing up in the spotlight and formed a close bond with her grandpa despite never meeting him

Tatiana was born on May 5, 1990, in New York City. During her early years, her grandma Jackie lived only a few blocks away from her and her family, so it’s been said that she spent a lot of time them.

She would often visit her grandchildren, and take little Tatiana, and her older sister Rose, on outings to Central Park before she passed away from cancer in 1994, when Tatiana was three.

And while she never got to meet her grandfather, she told Vanity Fair in 2019 that reading his speeches helped inspire her to want to make a difference in the world.

‘I think his speeches are incredibly powerful,’ she said. ‘The speech at Rice University about wanting to put a man on the moon is very inspiring to me, and the speech at American University about the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. 

‘He talks about the environment – not in terms of climate change, but as an environmental issue of their time, which was nuclear war. 

‘He says something like, “We all breathe the same air, we live on the same small planet, and we all cherish our children’s future.” That’s stuck with me as I’ve tried to do this work for myself.

‘My grandparents, both of them, from what I understand, because I didn’t really know them, loved history and reading about history.

‘And that’s kind of how I’ve connected with them, by studying them and their time, but also the eras and patterns that fascinated them, and imagining where we would disagree. That’s an important way for me personally to connect with my family legacy.’

She also spoke out about the impact JFK had on her in 2013, while giving a moving speech about him during a memorial for him in England.

‘We have come here today to honor his memory – as this monument does so well – but today is a difficult day because it is a reminder of a moment of profound sadness for my family, for America and for the world,’ she said.

‘For me, my grandfather lives in my imagination, in his words, and in the lessons he has left with us. Throughout my life, I have been able to connect with him through the study of history, both by studying his life and by studying the eras and patterns that fascinated him.’

Tatiana attended the pricey Brearley School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan during her teen years, where the tuition is currently $60,000 a year,

Notable alumnae of the private institution include Téa Leoni, Kyra Sedgwick, Alexandra Daddario, Eva Chen, and her mother; she later transferred to The Trinity School, where she graduated from in 2008. 

Growing up a Kennedy certainly had its perks – but it also had its downsides, as Tatiana opened up about the pressures she faced from a young age due to unwanted attention while speaking to Vogue in 2019.

‘People are always trying to call me out on my behavior,’ she admitted. But she insisted that it hadn’t brought her down, adding, ‘But it’s really great. I love going to parties.’

A look at Tatiana’s college years: How she transformed her love for writing and the environment into an impressive career

After high school, Tatiana attended Yale University, where she wrote for the Yale Herald – and she soon fell in love with journalism.

She even received recognition for her work at Yale, earning the Charles A. Ryskamp Travel Grant award for a research project that she did, which ‘explored the communities that grew out of the relationship between runaway slaves and coastal New England Native American tribes, particularly on Martha’s Vineyard in the nineteenth century.’

She graduated from the Ivy League school in 2012, and went on to receive a masters in American history from the University of Oxford in 2014.

While Tatiana told Vogue that she ‘learned about climate change’ years earlier, she explained that her true passion for it started during graduate school.

‘I had learned about climate change in school but it always felt like this big, abstract problem,’ she explained. ‘Then when I was in graduate school getting my masters in American History, I read a lot of environmental history. 

‘Being able to think about the environment as connected to other social, historical and economic forces, was really interesting. 

‘And to look at it on this long time scale, as opposed to what’s happening right now. Or geologic time, which I can’t really my wrap my head around.’

A breakdown of Tatiana’s life after college: How she worked her way up to become an award-winning journalist and published author

After college, Tatiana launched her journalism career with an internship at The Martha Vineyard Gazette in Edgartown, Massachusetts, before moving on to become a municipal reporter at The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 

She then got a reporter position at the New York Times, where she worked for a number of years, focusing her writing on science, climate change, and environmental dangers; she has also penned pieces for The Atlantic, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and The Boston Globe throughout her career.

While Tatiana admitted to Vogue that she considered other professions, like becoming an environmental lawyer or stepping into politics, she explained that being a journalist was the best fit for her – especially because many of her relatives also had a knack for writing.

‘Journalism is what I think I’m good at. It’s important for people to contribute in the ways they can,’ she told Vogue. ‘I don’t think I have the patience to be an environmental lawyer. I think that’s truly a thankless job. 

‘Politics can be a noble profession, and it has been in the past. I respect all the people who go into politics and make change and do what is right. I don’t think that’s my particular way of contributing. 

‘I do come from a family of politicians, but I also come from a family of writers: my mom and my dad are writers. My grandmother was a journalist. She had a column, the Inquiring Camera Girl, for a Washington paper. 

‘And I know my grandfather had thought about being a reporter, or of owning a paper. He also was a writer and won the Pulitzer Prize.’

In 2019, Tatiana published her own book, called Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, which is about ‘the unseen environmental and climate impacts of the Internet and technology, food, fashion and fuel;’ it went on to win the 2020 Rachel Carson Environment Book award.

While discussing the book with Vogue, she explained that she wrote it because she ‘wants people to understand the seriousness and scope of the problem.’

‘But I don’t want people to feel total despair,’ she added. ‘I want people to feel they can do things. They may not be easy things, but the possibility of change exists.

‘I wanted the book to be accessible. Just because this subject is important doesn’t mean it can’t be interesting and fun to learn about.

‘That’s a problem for climate journalism: It’s always so serious and scary. And it is. But we also have to find a way to live with it. So I wanted to make it like: this is part of your life. How can we learn about it in a way that doesn’t make us want to crawl into a hole?

‘I don’t want people to walk away from this and feel bad about everything they’re doing. I tried really hard not to be preachy.

‘I’m certainly not better than anybody else. It has changed my behavior in that I think really differently when I go to the grocery store. 

‘I make a much bigger effort to go to the farmer’s market. I don’t ever take a plastic produce bag at the grocery store. I really like to keep the clothes I have and wear them out. I offset my travel when I fly.’

Throughout the tome, Tatiana came down hard on the fashion industry, particularly, big brands who expend natural resources to produce clothes in mass amounts.

‘I fundamentally believe that companies should be more transparent about what they’re doing. It’s not fair to the consumer to expect them to evaluate these different supply chains,’ she stated to Vogue. 

‘There are responsible brands: I think Stella McCartney does amazing things and is really committed. The problem with anything is scale. 

‘How do you feed the appetite of seven billion people? Not everybody’s buying Stella McCartney, but they have to wear something … it’s easier to cut beef out of your diet than to not get the new pair of sneakers you need.’ 

A glimpse of Tatiana’s love life: How she found her soulmate and became a mother

On the romance front, Tatiana began dating fellow Yale classmate George Moran, who is now a doctor, in college, and the two tied the knot at the Kennedy family’s 377-acre estate in Martha’s Vineyard on September 9, 2017, during an intimate ceremony only attended by her close friends and family. 

According to the New York Times, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick officiated their wedding; among the guests at the wedding were Caroline’s cousin, Maria Shriver, and her daughter, Katherine.

Tatiana wore a simple, white wedding dress with a high neck, a lace bodice, and a long train that suited her tall and slender figure for the nuptials; the gown was reminiscent of one worn by Tatiana’s mother, Caroline, years earlier, when she married her husband, Edwin, in 1986.

In April 2022, Tatiana’s brother, Jack, confirmed that she had given birth to a baby boy, named Edwin after Tatiana’s father, during an appearance on the Today show.

‘I have a nephew… His name is Edwin, but I like to call him Jack,’ he said, adding of his sister and new nephew, ‘[I visit] all the time. I can’t get away from them. I love them.’ 

He also said his mother is ‘so into’ being a grandmother. 

The couple currently live in New York City with their young son; Tatiana no longer works for the New York Times, as her last story for the outlet was published back in December. 

She doesn’t use any social media so it’s unclear what she’s doing at the moment, but her husband, George, is a urology resident at Columbia University.

She previously told Vanity Fair that her husband’s work has inspired her in many ways. She gushed: ‘My husband is a doctor, and hearing about what he does every day really puts things in perspective for me. 

‘I am trying to take things and help people over the long term, but he’s doing it every single day, real life-and-death decisions.

‘It’s amazing, because he’s so busy all day long that he’ll never look at his phone, so he has no idea what’s happening in the world. 

‘Which is sad but also incredibly refreshing, because not only does he not know about some dumb thing that’s happening on Twitter, but he’s living in a universe where you don’t have to be looking every day at some horrible thing that’s happening.’

She also called him ‘incredibly supportive and encouraging’ to People magazine.

‘Especially when I’m frustrated and take it out on him,’ she joked.