Behind every egomaniacal man there is usually a woman, long-suffering and apologetic. Cheryl Hines played that role onscreen as Larry David’s wife in Curb Your Enthusiasm with perfect comedic understatement. In an inversion of the usual saying, history is now repeating itself off-screen—not as farce but as tragedy.
Hines is beloved by Curb fans and her entertainment-industry circles, but her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been testing those bonds of affection in recent months. As if the failed presidential candidate’s conspiracy theories and anti-vaxxer stances weren’t problematic enough for mainstream liberal Hollywood, Kennedy upped the ante with a series of stunning self-owns. Among other things there were revelations about the times he staged an elaborate bear-cub murder scene in Central Park and beheaded a whale, the sexual assault allegation by a former babysitter, and his alliance with Donald Trump, who announced he would add RFK Jr. to his transition team, should he win the presidency. (Kennedy later apologized to the former babysitter by text, though he insisted he had no memory of the incident.) The latest item added to RFK Jr.’s pile of shame is an alleged inappropriate sexting affair with New York journalist Olivia Nuzzi. (A representative for Kennedy said in a statement, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”)
Hines has tried to walk an increasingly difficult line by being a supportive wife. Her name had already been trending sporadically on X as Curb fans tried to come to terms with her situation, sometimes using Curb GIFs or references to express themselves. One of the loudest voices was The West Wing’s Bradley Whitford, who wrote on X, “Hey @CherylHines, way to stay silent while your lunatic husband throws his support behind the adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights.” Hines criticized Trump’s behavior before her husband suspended his campaign and endorsed the former president, but once he did she released an anodyne statement, saying, in part, “I have met some extraordinary people from all parties.” RFK Jr. eventually spoke out on Hines’s behalf, insisting, “She is a lifelong Democrat, and the idea of me supporting Donald Trump…it’s something she would have never imagined, that she never wanted in her life.” (Trump was found liable for sexual abusing, not raping, E. Jean Carroll, though a federal judge later clarified that the jury had indeed determined that Trump raped Carroll, according to a more common definition of rape.)
After the Nuzzi news dropped, media sites began closely parsing Instagram posts and photos for clues to Hines’s current state of mind—and marital status. Leaving a Gucci party in Milan this past weekend, she was photographed apparently without her wedding ring, whereas at her 59th birthday celebration with daughter Catherine Rose Young and stepdaughter Kyra Kennedy, she appeared with wedding ring but left her husband at home. (Hines declined to comment for this story.) Page Six crowed that Hines’s friends had been “mystified” by her decision to marry him, quoting an RFK Jr. friend and biographer saying, “Women have to understand what they’re getting into when they’re with him. You can hate it, you can make excuses for it, you can do whatever you want to do, it doesn’t change the fact that he has a long history of doing certain things.”
All of this leaves the easygoing, previously low-profile Hines in a spot far more awkward than even the most cringeworthy Curb scenes. After she appeared in the final season of the series this year, how will all of this political and personal chaos affect her standing in Hollywood? “It’s been one shit show after another, so that’s not great for anyone’s career,” says one industry observer, after marveling at the string of scandals. “She is well-liked, but Hollywood is very politically polarized at this point. Some of her industry acquaintances have to be avoiding her.”
A veteran movie and television producer takes a different view. “She’s a lovely person, Cheryl, and I don’t think people are really taking it out on her that he’s a weirdo or a Trump person. Everybody thinks he’s nuts, so why should anybody take that out on her—unless they were thinking of dating her?” he says with a chuckle. “I don’t have 100% similar views to anybody that I know. And that’s what America should be in some regard, [a place] where we tolerate each other.” He notes that Hines mostly tried to separate herself from her husband’s beliefs, even if she hasn’t always disavowed them. If anyone in the industry wants to uninvite her to events because of RFK Jr.’s politics or infidelity? “Then I would say to her, ‘Why do you want to go to those things anyway?’”
Hines took an unorthodox route to stardom, leaving behind cosmetology school for a degree in communications and later landing a job playing the stabbing victim in a Universal Studios Florida live version of Psycho. After moving to Los Angeles, she spent years performing with the legendary comedy troupe the Groundlings but not getting much substantial acting work. One day, producer Robert Weide stumbled on Hines in an industry showcase and brought her in to audition for Curb. She has since appeared in a number of other projects, including The Flight Attendant and A Bad Moms Christmas. She also founded an eco-friendly beauty and housewares company called Hines+Young with her daughter Catherine. But she’s yet to announce any post-Curb vehicles.
One Hollywood insider thinks all of this notoriety, painful as it may be, could actually reinvigorate her career. “She’s the center of attention, and people are going to be thinking, Oh, we forgot about her! Why haven’t we cast her in things? She’s the victim in all of this and—I hate to say this—but I find things like this end up helping people’s careers. So if she decides to lean into it, it’s definitely not a career killer. As a wife who’s dealing with all this, she definitely gets my sympathy.”
In fact, the insider says that it reminds her of The Good Wife, in which Julianna Margulies’s character emerges from the shadow of her more powerful husband’s scandal. “She decides to stick by his side for 2.3 seconds, and then she thinks, Nope! I’m gonna push through and have a career of my own. So I’m honestly hoping Cheryl’s team uses this to help her move forward and leave him.”
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