Comedian Cheryl Hines has lifted the lid on how husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s political career—and divisive health care views—have impacted her own life, admitting that they once grew so afraid for their safety that her spouse suggested staging a separation in a bid to stop his critics from attacking her.
Hines, 60, who shot to fame while starring in the hit show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” alongside Larry David, has been under intense scrutiny since her husband announced his presidential bid in 2023.
While his campaign proved unsuccessful, RFK, 71, has since been appointed to a role in President Donald Trump‘s cabinet, where he serves as the 26th secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
His political career has prompted a pivot in Hines’ own life—leading her to move away from their longtime home in Hollywood and into a newly purchased $4.4 million Georgetown townhouse, all while dealing with a furious scandal that erupted over Kennedy’s text conversations with 31-year-old journalist Olivia Nuzzi.
Now, Hines is set to open up about the trials and tribulations that she has dealt with in the past few years in a new memoir, “Unscripted,” in which she will “delve into her personal life,” including her marriage to Kennedy.
Ahead of the book’s Nov. 11 release, the actress and comedian—who wed Kennedy in 2014 after being introduced to him by her longtime co-star David—has shed new light on the devastating fallout from her husband’s political campaign, as well as the furious public criticism of his anti-vaccine stance.
Despite insisting that her husband’s views, which she admits do often conflict with her own, have not caused any kind of rift in their relationship, Hines notes that the same cannot be said of his bond with his own family—several of whom have been outspoken in their criticism of RFK’s policies.
Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, have both openly slammed their relative—with the former going as far as to describe him as a “predator,” a label that Hines has previously admitted made her “angry.”
Speaking to CBS News, Hines has now opened up again about the division between her husband and his family, revealing: “It was hard. I found it to be hard. “I always thought the Kennedy family, one of their virtues was that family came first, and I admired that.
“So when some of his family decided to attack him publicly, it was disappointing.”
Hines noted that even the dynasty’s matriarch, Ethel, who died in October 2024, was shocked that her son was not receiving more support from his siblings.
“Bobby told her that he was running for president, and she told him she was proud of him and then asked, ‘Who of the siblings are working on your campaign?'” Hines recalled. “And he said that they’re not working on it and some are opposing him. And she was very surprised.”
The comedian has also seen several of her own friendships torn apart by her continued support of her husband, admitting that “a few friends” have found it “too difficult emotionally” to remain close to her in light of RFK’s political stance.
She added that she doesn’t know what David felt about Kennedy taking on a role in Trump’s administration but admitted: “Let’s be honest, he can’t love it.”
But, she confessed, it is the furious public outcry against Kennedy that has been the hardest to take, particularly when those critics aim their vitriol in her direction—admitting that it became so bad on one occasion that her husband suggested they fake a marital separation to see if that might quell some of the anger she was facing.
“I didn’t understand what—how that was gonna help,” she said. “But I understood what he was talking about. I appreciated it.”
While much has been made of Hines’ evolution from on-screen comedian to political wife, she insists that she has found several friends in Washington, DC, while noting that her marriage has not been damaged by her husband’s career or his views, even if she doesn’t always agree with them.
“We are really close. I like spending time with him. I love him. I love our family and our kids,” she said. “It’s not always gonna be easy, but we also know not everybody’s gonna like what you’re saying, what you’re doing, and that’s OK, too. It just is OK. That’s life.”
Hines’ latest interview comes two months after she shut down rumors of a serious rift between herself and Kennedy, after multiple reports claimed that she was no longer able to trust him—and that she had even gone as far as to “order” him to move her to Washington, DC, out of fear that his “lust demons” would prompt him to stray from their marriage.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal from inside their Georgetown home, Hines refuted rumors that she had U-turned on a move to DC, but conceded that she was continuing to spend plenty of time in California, where the couple owns an expansive property in Brentwood, which they purchased for $6.6 million in 2021.
While she declined to comment specifically on the allegations that her husband had been sending illicit messages to Nuzzi, Hines insisted that their marriage is not in trouble, stating: “I don’t think there’s any point to going through every rumor and headline to try to defend or explain it.
“Bobby and I talk about everything, so that’s how we move through everything, and we’re really good friends, and we trust each other.”
Hines also discussed the very public—and very ugly—criticism she has faced over her seemingly-unwavering support of her husband, whose work as Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary has sparked furious debate among health experts and voters alike.
While she noted that she does not agree with all of her husband’s beliefs or policies, even admitting that she “sneaks potato chips” when Kennedy is not around, Hines was full of praise for his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, describing herself as being “very connected” to it.
“I feel like everything they’re doing is to be more mindful of what is going into all of it, into food, into drinks, and educating people,” she said. “So there’s nothing that I can think of that I would have been against.”
As for her life in DC, Hines said she and her husband have already made themselves very much at home in their four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom Georgetown property, which Kennedy snapped up in April, paying more than $400,000 under the original $4.85 million asking price.
