Caroline Kennedy has lived a private life despite her famous name, but now that she’s declared her interest in New York’s Senate seat, she’s learning about the difficulties that come with being a public person.

“In this case, this is somebody who is a high-profile person but has also been a private person. It’s really difficult. High-profile people have to give up notions of privacy relatively quickly,” said Trevor Neilson, president of the Global Philanthropy Group and adviser to people like actress and activist Angelina Jolie and U2 front man Bono.

When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) accepted President-elect Obama’s offer for the secretary of State spot, Kennedy’s name made many shortlists of potential candidates. But she did not show much enthusiasm for the job.

When the Kennedy Center Honors taped in Washington on Dec. 14, she avoided press interviews.

But a few weeks later she announced her interest in the position. And now Kennedy, who has maintained a private life despite her public family, has to deal with those dreaded institutions of New York politics — the Times, the Post and the Daily News.

She tried to demonstrate her sincerity for the job with an upstate listening tour, which the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle called a “drive-by visit.” Kennedy pointedly avoided reporters’ questions during her time there.

“She’s having a rough time. She was really mishandled,” said New York publicist Ken Sunshine, who represents politically active celebrities like Ben Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Sunshine noted Kennedy’s initial reluctance to talk to the press and said: “She should have done interviews” right away.

“She needed to engage the New York press corps aggressively,” he said. “Nobody knew what she stood for.”

Kennedy and her team quickly arranged sit-downs with the top New York media outlets, but those interviews resulted in more criticism.

Several pundits noted her interview with The New York Times seemed contentious and underscored her disregard for the press.

When the Times posted the 8,500-word transcript of the interview online, one section in particular attracted attention. The Times reporters asked Kennedy, “for the sake of storytelling,” if she could talk about how she made her decision and informed her husband, Edwin Schlossberg.

“Have you guys ever thought about writing for, like, a woman’s magazine or something?” she said.

She also noted: “I thought you were the crack political team here.”

Part of Kennedy’s problem could be the result of over-handling.