Cheryl Hines Rewrites The Story Of How RFK Jr.'s Presidential Run Impacted The Kennedy Family

It certainly seems like being a member of the Kennedy family would set you up for a career in politics. Yet, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made his foray into politics, some fellow Kennedys weren't quite as supportive as we might have expected. His late mother, Ethel Kennedy, was reportedly among the many family members who were not in favor of RFK Jr.'s 2023 announcement that he would be running for president. Yet, in a recent interview, RFK Jr.'s wife, Cheryl Hines, is telling a different story about her mother-in-law's opinion of the controversial presidential run.

In an October 7 "CBS Mornings" interview, Hines opened up about how Ethel reacted to news that RFK Jr. was pursuing politics like so many Kennedys before him. "Bobby told her that he was running for president, and she told him she was proud of him and then asked, 'Who of the siblings are working on your campaign?'" Hines explained. She added, "... He said that they're not working on it and some are opposing him. And she was very surprised." It's clear that Hines was upset by RFK Jr.'s family members opposing his presidential run, but she doesn't include Ethel in that group. "I always thought the Kennedy family, one of their virtues was that family came first, and I admired that," Hines explained, noting, "So when some of his family decided to — there's no other way to say it — attack him publicly, it was disappointing."

Plenty of Kennedy family members slammed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential hopes. And, while Cheryl Hines is telling a different story now, at the time, it seemed that Ethel Kennedy was one of them. Amidst many Kennedys' dismay at RFK Jr.'s hopes to become president, one insider told New York magazine, "The one who was brokenhearted — and the family won't talk about it, but I saw it up close — was Ethel." In fact, news that RFK Jr. was running as a Democrat against then-President Joe Biden prompted Ethel to reach out to the president. She reportedly apologized to him for her son's choice to run.

Of course, RFK Jr.'s hopes to become a Democratic president were dashed. He, instead, firmly planted himself in the MAGA world, becoming the secretary of health and human services under Donald Trump. When RFK Jr. chose to drop out of the race and subsequently endorse Trump, his siblings, who had opposed his run, put out a statement in which they called their brother's newfound support of Trump, "a sad ending to a sad story, per People.