RFK Jr.'s Presidential Run Lost Cheryl Hines One Of Her Closest Friends

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s run for president and his subsequent support for Donald Trump caused friction within the Kennedy family. It turns out that it also caused relationship problems when it came to his wife, actor Cheryl Hines. Her friendship with comedian Tig Notaro ended over Kennedy's controversial takes and his eventual position in the Trump administration as the secretary of Health and Human Services.

The two were friends before Hines married Kennedy in 2014, and the world got a glimpse of their friendship via their beloved podcast, "Tig and Cheryl: True Story," in which the two watched and discussed documentaries. Hines and Notaro cracked each other (and the audience) up with their random stories, and they clearly had a lot of love for each other. However, Notaro's last podcast appearance with Hines was in 2023, and she spilled the beans on what went down between them and what made her need to step away while appearing on the podcast "Breaking Bread with Tom Papa."

In a conversation with Papa in October 2025, Notaro talked about the end of the podcast and why her friendship with Hines changed. "Cheryl was one of my favorite friends to be ridiculous with," Notaro said. "We made each other laugh so hard." But then in April 2023, Kennedy announced that he was running for president, and that was the beginning of the end for Notaro. She explained that his beliefs, which had once been for her "like a gnat on the arm years ago ... were getting further into the spotlight." She didn't spell out exactly which beliefs she found most objectionable, but Kennedy has some controversial opinions on a range of health topics, including vaccines and abortion.

Tig Notaro explained to Tom Papa that Cheryl Hines had tried to get her to keep more of an "open mind" about the situation, but that was a no go. "Cheryl wanted me to hear Bobby out and that he had these good ideas," Notaro said, "And I was like, I can't, I can't, I can't. I just didn't trust it. And then he endorsed [Donald] Trump and it just got hard." Notaro rather diplomatically finished her discussion of the whole situation by saying, "Where it has led ... it's not my world ... It's a hard pass."

While understandable, the breakup is still sad, especially when one looks back at the friends in action. Notaro was a guest host on "The Ellen Show" in 2022, using the opportunity to bring Hines on the show. They talked about how they met after one of Notaro's stand-up comedy shows, and Hines' first husband Paul Young became Notaro's manager. They were also so close that, on one of the live streams for their popular podcast, Notaro let Hines cut her hair, and the two of them leg wrestled on the show.

In a 2024 interview with Cracked, Notaro talked about how much she still loved Hines even if they're not as close as they once were. Friendship breakups are hard, and it sounds like Notaro just needed to distance herself from Hines for her own wellbeing. Perhaps there will be a day when the two reunite, but considering Hines seems to have doubled down on supporting Kennedy and his work in the Trump administration, that may not come anytime soon.