What Kerry Kennedy's Relationship With Her Brother RFK Jr. Is Like
Navigating tension between siblings can be challenging enough on its own — add politics to the mix, and the waters grow even muddier. Fewer families are more well-versed in this fact of life than the Kennedys, particularly now as the son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy continues his bid for the 2024 presidential nomination to the chagrin of his brothers and sisters.
Robert Kennedy Jr.'s complicated family dynamics have only been exacerbated by his propensity for pushing controversial conspiracies surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines. While his family members have emphasized their love of Kennedy in their statements of condemnation, they also admit how difficult it is to watch their brother spread misinformation.
Kerry Kennedy, Robert Jr.'s younger sister and the president of the nonprofit organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, distanced herself from her brother in a statement following his presidential bid announcement. "I love my brother Bobby," Kerry wrote on the nonprofit's site. "But I do not share or endorse his opinions on many issues."
Kerry distanced herself from her brother's more controversial opinions
In her statement through Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Kerry Kennedy outlined how the nonprofit organization's purpose is to "hold governments accountable, engage businesses to align with human rights norms, and train the next generation of leaders to become human rights defenders." She specifically cited the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinations, and misinformation via social media as hot-button issues on which she disagrees with Robert Jr.
Trouble between the Kennedy siblings worsened three months later when the New York Post shared a video of presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming COVID-19 targets Black and Caucasian people while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese individuals. "We don't know whether it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential impact," the politician said in the clip.
"I STRONGLY condemn my brother's deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting," Kerry tweeted two days after the New York Post story broke. Kerry and Robert Jr.'s eldest sister, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, eldest brother, Joseph II, and Kathleen's late daughter, Maeve, echoed similar sentiments in a 2019 Politico article in which they said Kennedy "is part of a misinformation campaign that's having heartbreaking — and deadly — consequences."
Kerry argued that her brother didn't share the same values as their father
Unfortunately, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ethnic biowarfare debacle wasn't the last decision hotly contested by his siblings. Kennedy's family hit him where it hurts in response to his switch to an independent candidate in the bid for the 2024 presidency. In another statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, younger sister Kerry (pictured to the right of the late Robert F. Kennedy) didn't hold back her thoughts on the matter.
"The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country," Kerry's statement, which was also signed by Rory, Kathleen (back row, middle), and Hon. Joseph P. Kennedy II (back row, left), read. "Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision, or judgment. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country."
Robert Jr. (middle row, right) denied his siblings' claims in a "Fox and Friends" interview (via Fox News). The independent candidate said that his brother and sisters' statement was incorrect. "In all of the issues that my father believed in and my uncle [former President John F. Kennedy] believed in, if you went down and checked the box, that I would check every box. So, I believe that I'm very much aligned with those things."