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  • Who Is Mary Richardson Kennedy? Trump’s Health Secretary Nominee RFK Jr. Blames Late Wife For His Infidelity: ‘I Was Being Abused at Home’

Who Is Mary Richardson Kennedy? Trump’s Health Secretary Nominee RFK Jr. Blames Late Wife For His Infidelity: ‘I Was Being Abused at Home’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s private recordings of his late wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, paint a picture of a deeply fractured marriage filled with accusations of abuse, addiction, and betrayal. As new revelations emerge, they cast a shadow over his past and his political future.

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Who Is Mary Richardson Kennedy? Trump’s Health Secretary Nominee RFK Jr. Blames Late Wife For His Infidelity: ‘I Was Being Abused at Home’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s private recordings of his late wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, paint a picture of a deeply fractured marriage.


Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly told his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, that she was responsible for his repeated infidelities, according to secret recordings he made of their conversations during their contentious divorce.

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“I want to be in a monogamous relationship. I don’t want to be in a polygamous relationship. I think that’s wrong,” Kennedy stated in a June 2011 recording obtained by Mother Jones.

Richardson, who had discovered a diary listing 37 of Kennedy’s affairs, challenged him, asking, “But then why have you done it for 10 years?”

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Kennedy responded, “I did it because I was being abused at home.”

Secretly Recorded Conversations and Allegations

According to Mother Jones, Kennedy recorded over 60 conversations with Richardson. Some of these recordings were allegedly made while Kennedy was in California, a state that requires both parties to consent to being recorded.

Kennedy used the recordings to compile a 60-page affidavit, accusing Richardson of violent outbursts, excessive drinking, physical abuse, and threatening suicide in front of their children. In response, Richardson prepared a point-by-point rebuttal, claiming Kennedy had been covertly recording phone conversations inside their home. However, she never filed the document in court before her death by suicide in May 2012.

In her rebuttal, Richardson admitted to one instance of losing her temper and hitting Kennedy but denied his allegations that she had spoken about suicide in front of their children. She accused him of waging a “scorched earth” campaign against her.

Mary Richardson Kennedy’s  Counterclaims Against Kennedy

Mary Richardson also made serious accusations against Kennedy in her rebuttal, alleging that he had physically abused her, misused prescription medication, deceived her about the extent of his infidelity, and was an inadequate father. She further claimed he was a “sexual deviant” and a sex addict, stating she had text messages and photos from his phone as evidence of his affairs.

“I have witnessed Bobby’s obsessive-compulsive need to not only beat but annihilate someone he perceives as an adversary,” she wrote. “He re-jiggers the facts, or makes them up, and rushes to tell as many people as he can so that is the version of reality that gets distributed in people’s minds—classic gaslighting.”

Kennedy’s Alleged “Sex Diary” and Infidelity

In September 2013, Kennedy’s personal diary from 2001 was leaked to the New York Post. The nearly 400-page red notebook contained a list of 37 women, with a rating scale of 1 to 10 documenting sexual encounters. On one particular day, Kennedy recorded three separate encounters, rating them as 10, 3, and 2.

The diary also reflected his struggles with what he called his “lust demons.” On days he resisted temptation, he wrote “Victory.” In one entry, he stated, “Despite the terrible things happening in the world, my life is… great. So I’ve been looking for ways to screw it up. I’m like Adam and live in Eden, and I can have everything but the fruit. But the fruit is all I want.”

In another entry, he wrote, “It’s not misogyny. It’s the opposite! I love them too much.”

At the time of the diary’s publication, Kennedy denied its existence, despite New York Post publishing a photograph of it.

Mary Richardson Kennedy’s Struggles and Custody Battle

Richardson’s family has privately maintained that Kennedy’s actions contributed to her mental distress and eventual death, Vanity Fair reported. After Kennedy filed for divorce in 2010, Richardson’s drinking reportedly worsened, and she was arrested twice for driving under the influence within two years.

The Mother Jones recordings highlight how distraught Richardson was over the dissolution of her marriage. By then, Kennedy had begun a relationship with actress Cheryl Hines, whom he later married. The couple was also engaged in a heated custody battle over their four children.

In the recordings, Mary Richardson is heard pleading with Kennedy to finalize a custody agreement and urging him not to allow their 16-year-old son, Conor, to be photographed publicly with Hines. Kennedy, reportedly aware that he was recording the conversations, was more measured in his responses.

Eventually, due to Richardson’s increasingly erratic behavior, Kennedy was awarded custody of their children. Richardson had requested to live in the guest house and retain the Kennedy name—both of which Kennedy refused, according to Vanity Fair. He also attempted to avoid paying her child support, the magazine reported.

Caroline Kennedy’s Opposition to RFK Jr.’s Nomination

The Mother Jones report surfaced just a day after Kennedy’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, publicly opposed his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump.

In a letter to the Senate, Caroline Kennedy—former President John F. Kennedy’s only surviving child—referred to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as “perverse” and a “predator” unfit for public office. She further accused him of being a recovering heroin addict who had “gone on to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life.”

Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

Also Read: Why Is US Health Secretary Pick RFK Jr Facing A Heated Senate Hearing?


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