Tragic Details About RFK Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy has been caught up in some truly bizarre controversies over the years. In 2024, the politician took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a video where he admitted that he had placed a dead bear in Central Park somewhere around 2014. RFK Jr. claimed he witnessed someone run over a cub, and he casually decided to take it home with him to skin and possibly eat.
In 2023, the New York Post shared a video of RFK Jr. saying, "COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese." While he took to X to insist that he hadn't "suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews," he also confusingly tried to defend his statements with a study. Yet though his long list of controversies understandably takes precedence in headlines, his life is also full of tragic details that many people don't know about. From substance use issues to the deaths of family members, RFK Jr. hasn't had an easy life.
He has experienced addiction
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been open about his past drug use. While appearing on the "Shawn Ryan Show" in June 2024, RFK Jr. revealed that his addiction issues started when he was a 15-year-old dealing with the assassination of his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., in 1968. He recalled how it all began when he was hitchhiking home after a party, and a familiar man picked him up and offered him his first taste of LSD. As he was recovering from his 10-hour trip, a group of boys offered him meth.
After that, RFK Jr. started using heroin and cocaine. He stated that his drug use improved the focus and comprehension issues that likely stemmed from undiagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and helped him excel academically. Eventually, though, the drug stopped being as effective, and its appeal started to wear off. Additionally, the environmental lawyer admitted that his addiction made him into somebody he didn't recognize. "It hollows out your whole life," he shared. "You have a one-dimensional life. I was what I would describe as a bundle of appetites that was a full-time job to feed them."
RFK Jr. decided to turn his life around after he was arrested for heroin possession in 1983. In an Instagram video, the divisive politician credited Alcoholics Anonymous with helping him get sober. He also shared that Carl Jung's book "Synchronicity" greatly aided his journey by increasing his faith in God and helping him realize that he could better his life by making small and seemingly insignificant changes.
He has been diagnosed with several rare health issues
Robert F. Kennedy has dealt with plenty of rare health issues, including a parasitic brain worm. According to a May 2024 New York Times report, he experienced memory problems in 2010 that prompted a pal to urge him to see a doctor to rule out a brain tumor. After several tests, medical professionals discovered a dark spot on his brain and later informed him that it "was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."
Although RFK Jr. couldn't be absolutely certain about the type of the parasite or its origins, he believed he contracted it in South Asia. Doctors had told him he didn't need to undergo treatment for the organism, and his cognitive issues eventually settled on their own. Even RFK Jr.'s rare voice is the result of a neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, which causes involuntary muscle spasms in the voice box.
During his 2023 NewsNation interview, the environmentalist revealed that his mighty voice was affected by the condition in 1996 when he was a 42-year-old public speaker. "I feel sorry for the people who have to listen to me," he admitted to the Los Angeles Times in 2024. "My voice doesn't really get tired. It just sounds terrible. But the injury is neurological, so actually the more I use the voice the stronger it tends to get."
His 2024 presidential campaign was an expensive mess
On April 19, 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he was starting his campaign to become the next president of the United States as a member of the Democratic Party (in October, he announced he was running as an independent). Although he had loads of supporters, he still seemed like an unlikely candidate to secure a win against Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Still, he didn't let the dwindling odds stop him from going all out for his campaign. Unfortunately, the financial interest in his crusade had significantly diminished by 2024.
In June 2024, the New York Times reported that RFK Jr.'s campaign account only had $6.4 million in May. Although the operation had raised a little over $10.7 million in April, $8 million of that amount came from RFK Jr.'s running mate, Nicole Shanahan (she reportedly received $1 billion from her divorce from Google co-founder Sergey Brin). Things were looking bleaker in the following months, as Politico reported that in July, the campaign's funds had dwindled to $3.9 million and had a $3.5 million debt.
Given all this, it's unsurprising that RFK Jr. ultimately bowed out of the race at a press conference in August and endorsed Donald Trump. The independent candidate even alluded to his campaign's poor financial status. "I cannot, in good conscience, ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House," he said at a news conference (via CNN).
Several of his close family members have died tragically
On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., was assassinated after securing a win in the California presidential primary. Although the 14-year-old was naturally devastated by his father's unexpected death, his mother, Ethel Kennedy, offered him and his nine siblings a new perspective to keep them going. Speaking to CBS in 2018, RFK Jr. stated that the tragedy of the Kennedy family wasn't too different from the things that everyday American families faced. "My mother always said this after my dad died — 'Everybody takes their licks' and that there's kids in Watts, in Harlem, and in Bed-Stuy who have lost their parents ... They don't have the support system that we had in our family," he said.
When his father's second death anniversary came around, RFK Jr. read out parts of his iconic speeches at a mass, per the New York Times. However, in 2021, Associated Press reported the environmental activist was on board with the idea of Robert Sr.'s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan being released from prison after witnessing his remorse. RFK Jr. also endured the loss of his younger brother, David Kennedy, in 1984, who died at the age of 28 from a drug overdose. At the time, Robert Driscoll, a confidant of David's, told People that Robert Sr.'s death had affected his friend more than the rest of his siblings. RFK Jr. lost another one of his younger siblings, Michael Kennedy, on December 31, 1997, after he died in a skiing accident.
He offered to fake a divorce with Cheryl Hines for a sad reason
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial comments have boded poorly for his wife, Cheryl Hines. While speaking at a rally in 2022, the vaccine skeptic made a deplorable remark by stating that even Jewish people could go to other countries to save their lives during the Holocaust — but people couldn't avoid vaccines in a similar way because of mandates. Needless to say, the comments brought him tons of backlash and even reflected poorly on Hines. Although she took to X to make it clear she was incredibly offended by RFK Jr.'s remarks and didn't stand by his side, it wasn't enough to shield her from the criticism.
Speaking to the New York Times in 2023, the controversial politician admitted that he felt hurt watching his wife deal with the consequences of his actions. "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," he said. "I felt so desperate about protecting her at a time where my statements and my decisions were impacting her." In fact, RFK Jr. even drafted an official statement that never saw the light of day because the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star refused to consider it. Hines admitted that although she gave her husband the green light to run for president, his decision made their lives much harder by increasing public scrutiny of their lives.