Rosie O’Donnell accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “defiling” his family’s legacy for aligning with President Donald Trump.
“That man is a lunatic; his own family says so,” O’Donnell, 64, told Variety in an interview published on Thursday. “He tried to get on Kamala Harris’ campaign first, and when she said, ‘No, thank you,’ he went over to Trump. What kind of self-respect or dignity does he have to do that?”
She went on, “To defile the legacy of his family and that family name is sickening, and turns my stomach. I think he’s a very dangerous, very selfish, very uneducated man who’s gotten away with so much privilege that he doesn’t even know what to do with himself.”
As a longtime critic of Trump, 80, O’Donnell took particular issue with Kennedy’s characterization of a supposed autism “epidemic” in the U.S. During a 2025 press conference, the Health and Human Services Secretary, 72, suggested that “autism destroys families” and called the condition an “individual tragedy as well.”
“[Some with severe autism] regressed … into autism when they were 2 years old,” he claimed. “And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
He went on, “Most cases [of autism] now are severe. Twenty-five percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet-trained, and have other stereotypical features.”
Many medical experts have taken issue with RFK’s stance on autism while O’Donnell — whose 13-year-old child Clay was diagnosed as autistic at age 2 — accused the politician of making the autism community feel “valueless.”
“[He says] such horrible things,” she said. “It’s a community that I’m a member of, and have tremendous respect for. Parents of autistic children have helped me in my journey as a parent of an autistic child. There were things occurring, like full sentences at 10 months old, that never occurred with my other children, so I knew we were onto something.”
O’Donnell continued, “I wanted to talk about the joy of my child and how brilliant this child is, as well as some of the challenges. I didn’t want it to be the story of the ‘tragedy of autism,’ because if you’re ready to be a parent, you’re ready to accept whatever you child comes with; and if you’re not ready to accept whatever your child comes with, don’t be a parent. I wanted to show autism in a different way than it’s portrayed, and I feel strongly about standing up for my most vulnerable child.”
The former View cohost noted that she “never” really hung around RFK Jr. during his years as a mainstream environmental lawyer.
“But I did play poker with [Kennedy’s wife] Cheryl Hines a lot,” she revealed.
Reminded that Larry David initially played matchmaker for his Curb Your Enthusiasm costar Hines, 60, and Kennedy, O’Donnell quipped, “I’m sure it’s a moment [David] regrets.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the United States Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
While David has never outright said he regretted setting up the couple, the comedian spoke out in 2023 when Kennedy told the New York Times that he felt “a lot of support and love” from Hines’ friends.
“Yes love and support, but I’m not ‘supporting’ him,” David, 79, insisted at the time.
In December 2025, Hines confirmed she was estranged from David in light of her husband joining the Trump administration as Health and Human Services Secretary in January 2025.
“I think he’s mad,” Hines told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports of David. “Because Bobby’s in the administration.”
