Red Flags In RFK Jr. And Cheryl Hines' Relationship

Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s union is undoubtedly among the most troubled Kennedy family marriages. Speaking to The New York Times in 2023, Hines recalled how her close friend and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" co-star, Larry David, introduced her to RFK Jr. when they were all attending a ski trip fundraiser for Waterkeeper Alliance, the non-profit he co-founded. Although she had no intention of actually skiing during their trip, the lawyer coaxed her into it. Hines also stressed that she wasn't aware of his controversial political stances at the time. 

The pair went their separate ways after the weekend and they only struck up a romantic connection in 2011 as both were dealing with the end of their respective marriages. In a chat with Us Weekly at the Riverkeeper Fishermen's Ball in 2014, the TV star revealed the secret to their unlikely relationship: "We share the same values. Family first." Hines added, "We like to have a good time and work hard." The comedian confirmed their engagement during Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night in 2014, and the happy couple tied the knot on August 2 of that same year.

When People asked about her feelings ahead of their big day, Hines gushed, "It feels great because you know you are going to be with the person you really like to be with for a very long time. And that's a great feeling." However, as the years went by, the "Ugly Truth" star's happiness seemingly faded and left her wondering why she hadn't paid more attention to the red flags in the beginning of their relationship.

As it happens, Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s history of alleged infidelities made him out to be a massive, walking red flag. According to the Daily Mail, David Horowitz, a journalist who closely followed the Kennedy family during Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1980, discovered that Robert had cheated on Emily Black, his wife at the time, on several different occasions. "There were women there like moths to the flame. I just know that he was f**king everything in sight even though he was involved with Emily Black, who was just very quiet, just seemed like a nice person," Horowitz stated. 

The politician's first marriage ended after 12 years in 1994. According to the New York Post, his second wife, Mary Richardson, found a diary in their home that provided a record of all the women he had sexual encounters with. The tabloid reported that Richardson once told a friend that he gave the women a number from one to 10 to denote the degree of their sexual acts, with 10 being full intercourse. 

If her deductions were correct, her husband had slept with 16 women out of the 37 that were mentioned. RFK Jr. wrote off the report as false, asserting, "I don't think there is any way you could have a diary or journal of mine from 2001," noting, "I don't have any comment on it. I have no diary from 2001." On the flip side, there were also rumors that Cheryl Hines cheated on her ex-husband with RFK Jr.

In Jerry Oppenheimer's 2015 biography, "RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," he claimed that a guest at Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s wedding was flummoxed by her decision to marry him, per the Daily Beast. The biographer elaborated that the unnamed attendee was wary of RFK Jr.'s many rumored affairs, his public scandals, and controversial political views. "Any woman who gets involved with Bobby does so with her eyes open, or their brains lopped off," Oppenheimer wrote of the politician. "Any woman who thinks they're going to change Bobby is misguided and purposefully ignorant." 

It certainly seems like Hines' pal Larry David also viewed her partner in a similarly skeptical light, at least initially. When the couple sat down for a chat with Graham Bensinger in April 2024, the divisive politician noted that the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator was thrilled when he informed him that he had fallen for Hines. In fact, David couldn't say enough nice things about his dear friend (via YouTube). 

However, when the "Labor Pains" star had the same conversation with him, he warned Hines, "That will never work." When Bensinger inquired if David could have been horsing around, the actor couldn't imagine a scenario in which her friend would have been ecstatic to know she was dating a man with RFK Jr.'s reputation. Weirdly enough, the man himself conceded, "I think he was just giving her good advice."

A few months before Cheryl Hines walked down the aisle with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his alleged 2-year-long affair with Chelsea Chapman Kirwan came to light. According to the New York Daily News, Chelsea was married to Laurence Kirwan when their alleged relationship began and supposedly even urged him to end their prenuptial agreement about a month after she met RFK Jr. However, a source confirmed to the Daily Mail that Hines and the politician's marriage was going ahead as planned, arguing that the affair allegations didn't have "concrete proof" to back them up.  

To make matters worse, about a month before their nuptials, the New York Post reported that RFK Jr.'s phone had a list of 43 women he'd had affairs with, and Chelsea was on there. About a decade later, RFK Jr. found himself at the center of another affair scandal with Olivia Nuzzi. In September 2024, The New York Times reported that Nuzzi, a journalist with New York Magazine, had been put on leave because of her supposed tryst with RFK Jr. In a statement to the Times, the journalist acknowledged that she had a relationship "with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign." 

Still, Nuzzi maintained, "The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict." Shortly after the shocking news broke, Hines ditched her wedding ring at a Milan Fashion Week afterparty, per photos obtained by the Daily Mail. Perhaps somewhat more alarmingly, her husband was nowhere to be seen during the actor's birthday celebrations either.

Robert F Kennedy Jr. has been incredibly vocal about his anti-vax sentiments. However, in June 2022, the short-lived presidential candidate took things too far during a rally by comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. "Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did," RFK Jr. confidently proclaimed (via People). "Today the mechanisms are being put in place so none of us can run and none of us can hide." Shortly afterward, Cheryl Hines labeled RFK Jr.'s rally remarks as "reprehensible" on X, formerly known as Twitter. She also deemed them "insensitive," writing, "The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own." 

The celebrity couple found themselves at odds once again in 2024 after RFK Jr. bowed out of the 2024 presidential race and swiftly endorsed Donald Trump. During a chat with TMZ, the Kennedy family member admitted that his Democratic wife wasn't on board with his support of Trump, but she didn't make a fuss about RFK Jr.'s decision in an attempt to be supportive. It's worth noting that Hines already made her feelings about a Trump and RFK Jr. campaign crystal clear in a January 2024 Variety interview. When they asked both parties how they felt about him becoming the former president's next VP pick, the controversial politician confessed, "I don't think my marriage would survive it," and his wife agreed.

Being married to a man as problematic as Robert F Kennedy Jr. isn't for the faint of heart, which he understands all too well. While speaking to The New York Times in 2023, the outspoken conspiracy theorist shared that he offered to lie and tell the world that he and Cheryl Hines had gone their separate ways as she dealt with the backlash from his offensive remarks about the Holocaust, in particular. "I saw how it was affecting her life and I said to her, 'We should just announce that we are separated,' so that you can have some distance from me," the divisive politician explained. "I felt so desperate about protecting her at a time where my statements and my decisions were impacting her." 

In fact, RFK Jr. revealed that he had even gone so far as to pen a press release that ultimately never saw the light of day. Hines, for her part, never seriously considered the fake separation despite finding her husband's speech disgusting. Since the "Bad Moms Christmas" star remained by his side throughout his doomed campaign and beyond, she had to deal with the public's wrath as well. After RFK Jr. dropped out of the 2024 elections and publicly backed Donald Trump, "Get Out" actor Bradley Whitford took to X to slam Hines for neglecting to speak out against her "lunatic husband" after he endorsed an "adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights."