How Jackie Kennedy’s Cousins Became America’s Most Famous Recluses

Big Edie saw herself not as a victim of her circumstances, but as a misunderstood artist. She believed her life’s setbacks were the price of pursuing authenticity in a world that valued conformity. Whether singing at parties barefoot or refusing to leave Grey Gardens despite its decline, she approached life as a stage for her expression.

That self-image often clashed with how others saw her — eccentric, impractical, and stubborn. Yet it allowed her to frame even the family’s hardships as part of a creative journey. To Big Edie, art and life were inseparable, no matter the cost.