Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has allegedly compared his current wife, Cheryl Hines, to his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy.
In RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise, author and investigative journalist Isabel Vincent claims Kennedy, 72, “seems to have drifted away from” Hines, 60, and “no longer desires to spend much time with her.”
“Kennedy spends a lot of time in private conversations comparing Hines unfavorably to Mary,” alleged the book, which was released on Tuesday, April 14. (Publisher William Morrow wrote that Vincent had “exclusive access to RFK Jr.’s personal diaries, candid interviews and previously unreleased material” for the book.)
Kennedy and Hines tied the knot in 2014, two years after Richardson died. Kennedy had been married to Richardson since 1994. The pair shared children Conor Kennedy, Kyra Kennedy, Aidan Kennedy and William “Finn” Kennedy. (Kennedy also has two children, Robert “Bobby” Kennedy III and Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, from his marriage to Emily Black.)
A source told Vincent that RFK Jr. has talked about Richardson’s “beauty, her razor-sharp intellect, her sense of humor, her elegance, her grace … there is no doubt that she was the greatest love of his life.”
RFK Jr. and Richardson’s marriage reportedly had ups and downs, with alleged affairs and him making comments about her weight. The pair were allegedly both in a 12-step program and Richardson struggled with sobriety. Vincent wrote that “much” of Richardson’s depression “stemmed from Kennedy’s increasing philandering.”
Vincent quoted one person allegedly close to Richardson as saying, “He definitely gaslit her and told her that she was crazy and that her accusations about other women were fantasies. … She was innocent and naive, but she drank, which was classic in the sense of being in pain a lot of the time.”
“It’s not clear when Mary became aware that Kennedy was a serial cheater, but she clearly resented his behavior even as she was determined to be a good Kennedy wife,” Vincent wrote.
RFK Jr. ultimately filed for divorce from Richardson in 2010. Before the divorce was finalized, Richardson died by suicide in 2012.
“I know Bobby well enough to know that Mary’s suicide is a weight he will carry for the rest of his life. That’s going to haunt him,” a former close friend said, according to Vincent.
RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise is out now.
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