Mary Kennedy Was 'Completely Shattered' When Her Teen Daughter Moved in with RFK Jr.'s New Girlfriend Cheryl Hines, Book Claims

Joseph Konig, Liz McNeilTue, April 14, 2026 at 4:41 PM UTC

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RFK Jr.'s second wife Mary Richardson Kennedy and third wife Cheryl HinesCredit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty; FilmMagic/FilmMagic for HBO/Max -

RFK Jr.'s estranged wife Mary Richardson Kennedy was “completely shattered” in 2011 when her only daughter moved across the country to live with Bobby’s then-girlfriend, Cheryl Hines, according to the new biography RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise

As Mary's divorce from Bobby played out, her four kids were "swept up" by Hines, a source told the book's author, Isabel Vincent

“She didn't deal with it well," Vincent tells PEOPLE of Mary, who died by suicide in her New York home in 2012

As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. navigated a divorce from his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, the kids they shared were already growing close to his new girlfriend, Cheryl Hines, according to the just-released biography RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise, which examines the collapse of Mary's marriage to Bobby and the struggles leading up to her suicide in May 2012.

Investigative reporter Isabel Vincent — who wrote the book based on dozens of sources and Bobby's own private diaries — spoke with a friend of Mary who said she was left "completely shattered" in 2011 when her only daughter, Kyra, moved across the country at 16 years old to live with Hines.

“The thing that was most troubling to her was losing access to the children, was just being barred from the children,” Vincent tells PEOPLE. “That was the worst thing. That was her greatest fear.”

As the divorce negotiations played out and Mary sought treatment for addiction, Bobby and Hines' relationship became increasingly public and increasingly involved Mary’s children, the biography says. A source who was close to Mary told Vincent that Mary's kids "were just swept up by" Hines after she entered the picture.

Hines boasted on social media about bonding with Mary's youngest son, then-10-year-old Aidan, over football — tweets that were deleted after Mary’s death, Vincent writes.

In Hines' own 2025 memoir after 11 years of marriage to Bobby, the Curb Your Enthusiasm actress described the “special friendship” she developed with Kyra and how, in the fall of 2011, Bobby asked if his daughter could move in with Hines while she attended a school in Los Angeles. "I loved Kyra and was happy to take her in," Hines wrote.

“[Mary] didn't deal with it well," Vincent tells PEOPLE. "My source said she was very upset about it, particularly when Hines started putting on social media all about how much the kids were bonding with her."

"That really hurt her because she was in a situation where [Bobby] had threatened to take the children away because she had all of these problems with substance abuse and was just going through a very hard time," the author explains. "So that, I was told, was truly devastating.”

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RFK Jr. and wife Cheryl Hines at the RFK Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awards in December 2018Credit: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

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Vincent's book also examines Bobby's infidelities during his nearly 20-year marriage to Mary, as well as Mary's struggles with substance abuse and mental health.

Vincent details how Bobby told the mother of four of his children that he was going to file for divorce on Mother’s Day in 2010. The next day, police were called to the family’s Bedford, N.Y., home twice, and four days after that, Mary was arrested for driving under the influence.

Vincent says a source close to Mary claimed that Bobby used her drinking against her and would complain that it fell on him to help the kids with tasks like homework. He later leaked a 60-page affidavit to a Kennedy biographer outlining Mary’s alleged abuse of him, including one incident in which he claimed she struck him more than 30 times, according to the book.

Mary’s family described Bobby's version of events as “vindictive lies” in a public statement after her death, Vincent notes.

'RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise' by Isabel VincentCredit: William Morrow

RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise by Isabel Vincent was released on Tuesday, April 14, and is available wherever books are sold.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”