The Kennedy Family Reacts To Tatiana Schlossberg's Tragic Death

In a tragic end to the year, Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy and granddaughter of John F. Kennedy, died on December 30, 2025. Only 35 years old, the journalist and environmental activist leaves behind husband George Moran, son Edwin, daughter Josephine, and a grieving family facing yet another heartache in a generations-long series of tragedies. Schlossberg had recently published an essay in The New Yorker, "A Battle with My Blood," detailing the health issues she had been quietly fighting for more than a year. Hours after giving birth to Josie in May 2024, Schlossberg was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Despite chemotherapy and stem cell transplants from her sister, Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, the cancer returned and was considered incurable. 

On behalf of her devastated immediate family, the JFK Library Foundation posted an announcement on Instagram: "Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts. George, Edwin and Josephine Moran, Ed, Caroline, Jack, Rose and Rory." Bobby Shriver, another member of the extended family, reposted Tatiana's essay on X, formerly Twitter, and wrote, "Sad to repost this & yet hope many will read & share."

Sad to repost this & yet hope many will read & share. https://t.co/NfNqYQ1eD4

— Bobby Shriver (@bobbyshriver) December 30, 2025

Bobby's brother, Maria Shriver, broke her holiday social media hiatus to share her own message about her "sweet, beloved" cousin: "I cannot make sense of this," Shriver wrote in part on Instagram. "I cannot make any sense of it at all. None. Zero." Shriver sent love and praise to Schlossberg's mother, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, and urged followers to read Tatiana's essay. 

"May we all hold Tatiana's family in our collective embrace not just today, but in the days ahead, and may each of you who read this know how lucky you are to be alive right now," Shriver concluded. "Please pause and honor your life. It truly is such a gift."

At the time of this writing, no other members of the Kennedy family had commented on the death of Tatiana Schlossberg (seen above at far left in a 2013 photo with siblings Jack and Rose Schlossberg and their parents, Edwin and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg). One particular relative may be feeling some mixed emotions as he processes the loss.

Tatiana was an outspoken critic of her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose feud with his family is getting increasingly messier. In her New Yorker essay, she called RFK Jr.'s presidential run "an embarrassment" and his appointment as secretary of the federal Department of Health & Human Services still worse. "I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby, in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position, despite never having worked in medicine, public health, or the government," she wrote.

Tatiana worried about what her cousin's funding cuts to medical research would mean for her own health and that of others. As an immunocompromised cancer patient, she pointed out that Kennedy's dim view of vaccines could put people like her at risk. Even an anticoagulant drug she was given for postpartum bleeding may soon be unavailable for other women, since it is used as part of a nonsurgical abortion procedure, which RFK Jr. has asked the FDA to review. 

The death of his cousin isn't likely to change RFK Jr.'s position on medical issues. Still, knowing all too well what it is to lose a loved one at such a young age, he surely shares his family's sorrow nonetheless. His boss, Donald Trump, on the other hand, spent the hours after Tatiana's death reposting older articles to Truth Social about his name being added to the Kennedy Center. He also reposted comments from people on X, formerly Twitter, claiming he "saved" the institution while criticizing the Kennedy family.