EXCLUSIVE: Tragic Camelot Secret Joan Bennett Kennedy Took to Her Grave
Ted Kennedy forced wife Joan Bennett Kennedy to keep her alcohol addiction a secret.
Oct. 8 2025, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Ted Kennedy refused to let his troubled wife, Joan Bennett Kennedy, join Alcoholics Anonymous, RadarOnline.com can reveal, out of fear over how it would reflect on him and his political career.
The late Senator's first wife died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday, October 8, at the age of 89.
Joan passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 8.
Forced to deal with philandering husband Ted's relentless affairs and abuse, Joan's drinking spiraled out of control. However, the Massachusetts senator forbade her from showing up for A.A. meetings because he feared her story would ruin his political career.
Joan's alcoholism was a closely-guarded secret within the Kennedy family – and Ted made sure it was kept that way.
"Almost everyone in the political community thought Ted had the perfect political wife, the envy of the capital," recalled author Laurence Leamer, who wrote the explosive book The Kennedy Women. "But the Kennedys were desperately worried that Joan's condition would become public knowledge."
Leamer claimed that Joan begged to go to A.A., but Ted wouldn't allow it.
"The Senator – which is how Joan refers to him – wouldn't let his wife get help, though she was in desperate need and pleaded for it, because he wouldn't let anyone know she was an alcoholic," he said. "The family was used to putting up a wall, constructing a sham, living a lie. It's what they always did."
Joan Gives In To Her Addiction
She was Senator Ted's first wife.
Instead of letting Joan get help from A.A., Ted found a priest who was also a psychiatrist to treat her. That way they could be doubly sure he wouldn't say anything.
"I talked to him and all I do is wait until he left and go into my closet and get a bottle of vodka," she once said of her treatment.
Joan admitted she began hitting the bottle harder after Ted's accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969.
"I just didn't care anymore," she said. "I just saw no future. That's when I truly became an alcoholic."
Ted's Fatal Car Crash Scandal
Joan stood by Teddy after his Chappaquiddick tragedy
In July 1969, Ted was involved in a fatal car accident when he drove his vehicle off a narrow bridge in Chappaquiddick Island and into Poucha Pond after leaving a party with passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, whom he claimed he was dropping off at the ferry.
While Ted managed to free himself and swim to safety, Kopechne was trapped in the car and died, though the prominent lawmaker insisted he attempted to rescue her.
Despite the embarrassing optics of the tragic incident, Joan, who was pregnant after suffering two miscarriages, stood by her husband's side when they attended Kopechne's funeral – and again three days later when he pled guilty to fleeing the scene of an accident.
Drinking to 'Numb the Pain'
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Joan turned to drinking to deal with Ted's scandals
Joan confessed in 1978 she began drinking heavily to numb the pain of public scandals, saying: "At times I drank to feel less inhibited, to relax at parties. Other times I drank to block out unhappiness, to drown my sorrows."
She participated in a twelve-step program, though she candidly admitted: "Staying sober is difficult."
Her battle with sobriety was a rollercoaster. She was arrested four times for driving under the influence, the first incident taking place in 1974 and the final in 2000, which prompted her to appoint a guardian and retreat from public life.
Following years of scandal and heartbreak, Joan and Ted separated in 1978 but did not officially divorce until 1982.
