Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is no stranger to headlines, but the latest portrait of the current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is especially grim. Investigative reporter Isabel Vincent’s forthcoming biography, RFK, Jr.: The Fall and Rise, claims Kennedy relentlessly mocked his late second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, about her appearance while their 16-year union disintegrated.
A marriage that unraveled in public and private
Kennedy filed for divorce from Richardson in 2010, two years before the 52-year-old designer and environmental activist died by suicide in May 2012. The couple had four children—Conor, Kyra, William and Aidan—ranging today from 24 to 31. Friends tell Vincent that Richardson, who battled depression for years, fought to keep the marriage intact even as her husband’s behavior grew increasingly harsh.
According to an excerpt published by People, Kennedy allegedly “would put his arm around her and criticize her,” calling attention to her weight and telling her she had “squandered her beauty.” One source quoted in the book says Richardson was “terrified of his bullying, especially during the divorce negotiations,” yet “fiercely wanted to remain married.”
William Morrow, the book’s publisher, says Vincent had “exclusive access to RFK Jr.’s personal diaries, candid interviews and previously unreleased material.” The diaries, along with interviews with more than two dozen friends and household employees, form the backbone of Vincent’s account.
What the book says about Kennedy’s private journals
While the full text will not hit shelves until April 14, early copies circulating among reporters describe passages in which Kennedy allegedly recorded his frustration with Richardson’s mental-health struggles. One entry cited by Vincent reads: “I can’t live like this anymore. She won’t get help and she won’t stop drinking.” Another passage reportedly refers to Richardson as “a ghost of the woman I married.”
Vincent writes that Kennedy’s aides urged him to stop writing such visceral thoughts down, fearing they could become evidence in a custody fight. Indeed, once the divorce proceedings began, Richardson’s legal team subpoenaed the diaries. Portions were later sealed by a Westchester County judge at the request of both parties, but Vincent says she obtained unredacted excerpts from a former household staffer.
The book also claims Kennedy kept a separate ledger in which he tracked Richardson’s daily weight fluctuations and compared them with photographs of her from their early courtship in the mid-1990s. A caretaker interviewed by Vincent describes finding the notebook in Kennedy’s study: “It was like a high-school mean-girl scrapbook, except written by a 50-something-year-old man.”
Family reactions and the Kennedy code
Several members of the extended Kennedy clan declined to speak on the record for Vincent’s project, but the author writes that two of Kennedy’s sisters “expressed discomfort” about the way Richardson was treated once the marriage soured. One sibling, who is not named, is quoted as saying, “We’re taught to keep things in-house. But that doesn’t mean we always like what we see.”
Richardson’s friends paint a darker picture. Fashion designer Geoffrey Beene’s former assistant, Lisa Rutherford, tells Vincent that Richardson once arrived at a fittings appointment “shaking and 20 pounds lighter than the month before” after Kennedy allegedly told her she was “an embarrassment to the Kennedy name.” Rutherford adds: “Mary said, ‘It’s the Kennedys or nobody,’ and she meant it. She thought if she could just stay thin and sober, he’d come back.”
Kennedy’s public-relations team has not issued a detailed response to the new allegations. A brief statement provided to People reads: “Mr. Kennedy loved Mary and grieves her death to this day. He will not be commenting further out of respect for their children.”
Why the claims matter now
As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy oversees agencies that handle mental-health parity rules and eating-disorder research grants. Advocates say the reported behavior—if true—raises questions about whether he can impartially lead initiatives aimed at reducing weight stigma and expanding access to behavioral-health care.
Dr. Sarah Lipson, a Boston University public-health professor who studies weight discrimination, told InfluencersWiki: “When a cabinet member is accused of weaponizing body size against a spouse, it undermines credibility on policies meant to protect vulnerable patients.”
Kennedy has publicly supported expanding mental-health services, particularly for young adults. During his Senate confirmation hearings last winter, he cited his own family’s struggles with addiction as motivation for the role. Senators did not ask about the contents of Vincent’s then-unpublished book.
Key takeaways from the biography so far
- Vincent interviewed 67 sources, including 14 former household employees who spoke under condition of anonymity.
- The book claims Kennedy kept two separate sets of diaries—one for “public legacy” and another “private venting” that he stored in a locked drawer.
- Richardson reportedly sought couples therapy in 2008; Kennedy attended only three sessions, according to therapist notes cited by Vincent.
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