Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s TV actor wife, Cheryl Hines, and his socialite daughters, Kick and Kyra Kennedy, have long enjoyed their proximity to glamorous, powerful people in Hollywood and the benefits of being part of America’s elite Kennedy family.
Now, the women seem to be basking in their proximity to power in Washington, D.C., even if it means going along with Donald Trump’s MAGA political ideology, which once might have been an anathema to them. The three women proudly stood in the Oval Office Thursday with Donald Trump. They were celebrating the controversial confirmation of Kennedy, their “anti-vaccine” campaigner husband and father, to lead Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 13: U.S. President Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kennedy’s wife Cheryl Hines, his family and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch pose after Kennedy was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Oval Office at the White House on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kennedy, who faced criticism for his past comments on vaccine, was confirmed by the Senate 52 to 48. Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote against him. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Kennedy’s confirmation was unanimously opposed by Senate Democrats, prominent members of the Kennedy family and many top public health experts, due to his long history of trafficking in “innumerable unproven and dangerous conspiracy theories” about vaccines, AIDS, COVID-19 and other health issues, as the Atlantic said. In August, Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy said: “I’m outraged and disgusted by my brother’s gaudy and obscene embrace of Donald Trump.”
It remains to be seen if Kerry Kennedy’s disgust will extend to her sister-in-law and nieces. On Instagram Story later Thursday, Hines declared, “I’m so proud of you, Bobby. #MAHA,” while Kick Kennedy used a lofty Ralph Waldo Emerson quote in an effort to ennoble her father, writing: “If the single man plants himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abides, this huge world will come around to him.”
It didn’t matter to these women that their husband and father also is known to have potential financial conflicts of interest, has spoken about a worm eating part of his brain and bizarrely boasted about dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, as the Atlantic also reported. Moreover, Kennedy’s own “sex diary,” published in 2013, revealed that he was a serial adulterer during his second marriage to Kyra Kennedy’s mother, Mary Richardson, who died by suicide in 2012. He also was accused of sexually assaulting Kyra Kennedy’s 23-year-old babysitter in 1998, as Vanity Fair reported. (In his confirmation hearing, Kennedy denied the allegation and claimed it had been “debunked.”)
More recently, Hines swiftly rejected divorce rumors, prompted by her husband being caught up in a sexting scandal with star political reporter Olivia Nuzzi. The night Trump was elected president, the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star finally shed her persona as a sensibly liberal-minded Hollywood star who once tried to distance herself from her husband’s more extreme positions. Hines radiated happiness, as she played the role of “MAGA wife” while attending Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration and related festivities, including the MAHA Ball. Kick Kennedy also was photographed at the MAHA Ball, looking excited to be at one of the biggest D.C. parties of the year.
Despite Kennedy’s questionable credentials to lead America’s top health agency, his “confirmation is a victory for Trump,” The Atlantic said. It’s “a clear message that Senate Republicans are willing to embrace pseudoscience in their unwavering deference to (Trump). Americans’ health is in Kennedy’s hands.”
Two weeks earlier, John F. Kennedy’s daughter Caroline Kennedy also warned America that her cousin is an attention-seeking, ethically challenged “predator” who has sought to “enrich himself” with his anti-vaccine campaigning at the expense of other people’s health.
But these warnings apparently didn’t matter to Hines or to Kennedy’s daughters, longtime stars of New York fashion and society scenes. “Kickie. I’m so proud of your of your papa. #MAHA,” Hines wrote on Kick Kennedy’s Instagram post. Both Hines and Kick — or Kathleen, named for her legendary great-aunt Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy — sat behind Kennedy as Democrats on the Senate Finance committee grilled him on his ethics and loyalty to Trump.
Cheryl Hines (R) looks on as US Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination to be Health and Human Services Secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 29, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Hines’ willingness to support her husband’s confirmation shouldn’t be that surprising. Among other things, Hines happily accompanied her husband on his infamous 2019 trip to Samoa, where he met with anti-vaccine activists whose policies were seen as playing a role in a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly unvaccinated children.
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s ascendance into top MAGA circles have prompted a flurry of gossip and entertainment stories about his stylish daughters.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 14: Kyra Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. attend Project Angel Food’s Angel Awards Gala at Project Angel Food on September 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images)
The Business Insider found an early Trump family connection to 29-year-old Kyra Kennedy, who has “dabbled in modeling” and whose Instagram shows her frequently attending fashion shows and New York Fashion Week events. After Kyra Kennedy’s formal society debut at a 2013 debutante ball in Paris, she became known around New York City as a member of the “Snap Pack,” a term coined by the New York Times. This group included Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, and was made up of an “uber-rich” group of young people who lived and partied in Manhattan, documenting their fabulous lives on social media, as the New York Times said.
Kick Kennedy has a similarly vague professional resume, despite being a graduate of Stanford University. “Who is Kick Kennedy?” stories initially began circulating in August, after Page Six and other gossip sites reported that the 36-year-old was “spending time” with Ben Affleck, and might even be dating him, amid his high-profile divorce from Jennifer Lopez.
Kick Kennedy also was featured in news reports about her father’s affinity for desecrating animal corpses. Internet sleuths unearthed a 2012 Town and Country profile of her, in which she took part in one of her father’s acts of “extreme environmentalism.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 19: Kick Kennedy (C) attends Inauguration Eve hosted by Uber, X and The Free Press at Cafe Riggs on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)
In 1994, when Kick was 6 and she was vacationing with her family at the Kennedy family’s Cape Cod compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, her father learned that a dead whale had washed up on a nearby beach, Town and Country reported. As part of his “environmentalism,” Kennedy apparently liked to study animal skulls and skeletons. So he rushed out to the beach with a chainsaw and his young daughter in tow. He cut the whale’s head off, secured it to the roof of his minivan with bungee cords and made the five-hour drive back to the family’s home in New York.
“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kick recalled to Town and Country. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”
But neither the Town and Country story, or more recent stories about Kick Kennedy, have provided a very clear picture of what she actually does for a living. Stories mentioned that she, too, did some dabbling, in her case in acting; she once had a small role in Hines’ “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Her IMDB page said she’s an “actor, writer, philanthropist and activist.” Then there’s Well Beings, an environmental and animal welfare nonprofit started by Kick Kennedy’s friend, Hearst family heiress Amanda Hearst. The nonprofits lists her in its “Founders Circle.”
In a Vanity Fair profile of Kennedy, writer Joe Hagan described hanging out with Kick Kennedy at the Kennedy family’s Cape Cod compound in the summer of 2023. At one point Kick Kennedy said she worked at some gallery, while also saying she lived in Los Angeles. She said she initially came to visit her family that summer for a week, but ended up staying for several weeks. “You know how summer on the Cape is,” Hagan noted.
