Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. almost faked a marriage separation.
Hines told Fox News while promoting her upcoming book Unscripted, “Some people were very upset that I was even married to Bobby” and “were vocally coming at me,” after Kennedy announced his campaign for president.
“Bobby felt like, ‘You shouldn’t be having to take that, so why don’t we just say we’re separated?’” she recalled.
“It was a very sweet notion, but I didn’t think that was helpful,” she said.
Hines drew sharp criticism from fans and peers alike when she stood by Kennedy’s side during his run, and even more when he withdrew from the race and backed Donald Trump.
The West Wing star Bradley Whitford summed up much of the internet comments aimed at Hines last August when he posted to X, “Way to stay silent while your lunatic husband throws his support behind the adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights. Gutsy. Great example for the kids. Profile in courage.”
Hines’ former friend and podcast co-host Tig Notaro said she “needed to step away” from the friendship as Hines backed her husband. “You’re okaying a particular ride for this country to go on,” Notaro explained.
But backlash from the anti-Trump public wouldn’t have been the only thing that faking a separation would have provided for Hines. Last September, Kennedy was revealed to have been in a sexting relationship with former New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi, whose ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza alleged in court filings that Kennedy told he wanted to “possess,” “control” and “impregnate.” Nuzzi is working on a book about the scandal.
Hines didn’t mention Kennedy’s “personal” relationship with the writer when she praised his “sweet” gesture. She told Fox that rather than fake a separation, “What needed to happen, and what did happen, is we got closer together.”
One way that togetherness has manifested is in Hines’ support for Kennedy’s conspiratorial initiatives, about which she’d previously not commented on from the campaign trail or after Trump selected him as his health secretary.
Hines went to bat for Kennedy’s declarations surrounding pregnant women and Tylenol, as well as his vaccine skepticism, during her appearance on The View last week. Hines, who said she was previously a Democrat but has never been “a political person,” said joining MAGA has been “so interesting.”
“You can’t even imagine some of the stuff that happens,” she said, plugging her book. “For a couple to say, maybe we should just say we’re not with each other anymore and our lives would be easier, it’s like, well, things have gotten to that point.”
She concluded, “That’s pretty dramatic and pretty extreme.”
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