BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Robert Francis Kennedy Jr is all set to challenge President Joe Biden in the race for the White House. The environmental lawyer, 69, announced his candidature for the Democratic presidential nomination in April, nearly 60 years after his uncle John F Kennedy and his father Robert F Kennedy were assassinated, 5 years apart. He previously gained notoriety for his anti-vaccine views, which sparked new controversy following his appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast. Now, he is trying to downplay this stance in the wake of his run for the US presidency.
RFK Jr’s presidential campaign has brought his personal life back into the spotlight. The anti-vax activist has a lengthy track record of struggles with drug addiction and womanizing behavior. He is currently married to Cheryl Hines who is his third wife. However, before Hines, Kennedy exchanged vows with Mary Richardson, who died by suicide in 2012. Robert and Mary were married for nearly 16 years until they announced their separation in 2010. During their time together, the former couple had four children together, Conor, Finny, Kyra and Aidan.
Who was Mary Richardson Kennedy?
Born in October 1959, Mary was an American interior designer, architect and philanthropist. She attended Brown University and studied architectural design at the Rhode Island School of Design. After graduating, she worked with many prominent businesses including Parrish Hadley Design. In 1998, she co-founded the Food Allergy Initiative, the largest private fund for food allergy research in the United States. Mary was enjoying the heyday of her career when she fell in love with Kennedy, who finalized his divorce from his first wife Emily Ruth Black in 1994.
As per reports, Robert and Mary closely knew each other before getting married due to her friendship with his sister Kerry Kennedy. After getting to know one another for a while, the former couple unexpectedly fell in love after meeting in New York. They tied the knot on a research vessel in the Hudson River on April 15, 1994. Kennedy may have filed for divorce in 2010, but his marriage to Mary was over long before then. Following the divorce, it was revealed that Mary suffered from major mental health issues during her marriage. In 2011, Kennedy recounted her furious behavior in several court filings, where he also accused her of physically abusing him and threatening to kill herself in front of their children.
Mary 'feared for her life'
"Mary's mood vacillated between rage and self-pity. Her behavior often became violent and self-destructive," he wrote in the filings, according to an affidavit obtained by Newsweek. His sister Kerry also painted a similar picture, telling Daily Beast, "Mary's was a classic mental illness." Kerry added that the otherwise warm Mary's mood swings were so intense that they frightened her, but that she avoided calling her out, even when the behavior was particularly worrying. "That was her disease, not who she was as a person, and we all knew it," she said.
Two years after their divorce, a tragedy struck Kennedy's family when Mary killed herself. A housekeeper found her body after she died by suicide at the family's Mount Kisco estate in Westchester County, New York. At that time, a source close to her revealed that before her death, she had been distressed that she would lose custody of her four children to her ex-husband in their divorce battle.
"Mary was terrified that Robert was going to take the kids from her," an insider told RadarOnline, adding, "She was convinced he was building a case against her as an unfit mother and that he would be pursuing full custody." Another anonymous insider told The New York Times that the mother-of-four had left a suicide note, but its contents were not disclosed. As per reports, Mary even confessed to a friend that she "feared for her life" and that Bobby [Robert] had "repeatedly" advised her that she would be "better off dead" and that it would be "so much better" if she killed herself.
