Rose Kennedy Schlossberg Has Suffered Some Tragic Losses

The list of tragedies surrounding women in the Kennedy family sadly expanded on December 30, 2025, when Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, died at the age of 35. The granddaughter of John F. Kennedy had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024. Her passing is, of course, a blow to her family, including her older sister Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, JFK's eldest grandchild.

Despite (or perhaps because of) her famous family, Rose has largely stayed out of the spotlight and off of social media. So it makes sense that the only public response she has given about her sister's death has been in an Instagram post from the JFK Library Foundation: "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts."

Aside from obviously never getting to meet her grandfather, JFK, Rose also endured the death of her grandmother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in May 1994, when Rose was almost six. She and her siblings were mentioned in Ted Kennedy's eulogy for Jackie. He talked about the joy that the grandkids brought to Jackie, noting that she took the girls for ice cream and that they called her "Grand Jackie." 

Just a couple of months later, young Rose lost her uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., to a plane crash. JFK Jr. was reportedly close with Rose and her siblings, making his death especially significant for her. Many other members of the Kennedy family have passed away since then, including Michael Kennedy, Mary Richardson Kennedy, Kara Kennedy, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, and Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean.

Rose Kennedy Schlossberg has also been battling the veritable erasure of parts of her family's legacy. Rose is an emeritus trustee for The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, which Donald Trump added his name to in December 2025, months after naming himself its chairman.

While Rose wasn't one of the Kennedy family members who spoke out publicly against Trump's actions, we know that she has a fondness for the performing arts center. She introduced the world to The REACH, an expansion of the Kennedy Center, in 2019, and she said, "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts wasn't just named for him. It was named for his belief in the power of art ... my grandfather reached across the aisle, across racial divides, and to the moon" (via The Kennedy Center).

There's also the demolition of the Rose Garden. In the 1960s, the Kennedys had the Rose Garden renovated at the White House, and Rose's mother, Caroline Kennedy, played there as a child. The Rose Garden has now been made into a patio, and again, while we haven't heard directly from Rose, our guess is that she isn't too happy with it.

Rose may also be unhappy with the decisions of Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been denounced by members of the Kennedy family, and who Tatiana Schlossberg called out in a powerful essay written for The New Yorker shortly before her death. Clearly, the death of beloved family members is the real tragedy for Rose, but it must be hard to see a family legacy being chipped away while also grieving the loss of a loved one.