RFK Jr.'s Marriage to Cheryl Hines 'Hanging By a Thread': Couple are 'Drifting' and only '2028 Presidential Run' is Stopping Them from Splitting
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s marriage is 'hanging by a thread' according to the author of a bombshell new book about politician.
April 16 2026, Published 9:14 a.m. ET
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s marriage to wife Cheryl Hines is "hanging by a thread", according to bombshell claims in a new book.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the couple’s relationship, which was rocked by Kennedy's dalliance with journalist Olivia Nuzzi, has yet to recover from his alleged infidelity, says author Isabel Vincent, who tells how the prospect of a 2028 presidential run is the only thing keeping them together.
RFK Jr. And Hines Are 'Drifting'
RFK Jr. and Hines are spending less time together which has impacted their marriage.
She writes: "Only his political career and a possible presidential run in 2028 is keeping him from formally separating from Hines," adding Kennedy 72, has 'drifted away' from 60-year-old wife and no longer spends time with her.
The writer alleges Kennedy’s second wife Mary — mother of four of his six children, who hanged herself in a barn at their Bedford, New York estate in May 2012, two years after he filed for divorce — has now "taken on a kind of saintly status for Kennedy."
She claims that the lawyer-turned-politician now "spends a lot of time in private conversations comparing Hines unfavorably to Mary."
Vincent’s book — RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise — is largely based on three volumes of diaries documenting Kennedy's deepest most personal thoughts from 1999-2001 which were handed to her by a source in 2013, who had obtained them from Mary.
RFK Jr.'s Sex Revelations Exposed
The new book is based on RFK Jr.'s diaries while he was married to second wife Mary.
The diaries detailed Kennedy's extensive infidelity, with lists of the women with whom he claimed to have had sexual encounters – by the end of the year in 2001, the tally was 37. Ten of those he had sex with, ranking them a 10 on his chart - a grading of the level of intimacy.
After gushing over Mary during the early stages of their relationship, their marriage looked bleak in 1999.
Kennedy writes that Mary "is full of anger as usual," describing her as "filled with venom, retribution and vituperation."
Several weeks later he writes: "If we weren't married, she might feel like she had to put some effort into the relationship and perhaps she would take some responsibility for her unhappiness rather than blaming it all on others."
'Our Bed Is An Unfriendly Place'
RFK Jr. detailed the strain of his second marriage in his diaries.
He continues: "Our bed is an unfriendly place. She hates it when I go to bed with her and will never have sex at night. She rarely speaks to me of anything but scheduling."
By September 1999, the domestic disagreements were getting to him, and a 45-year-old Kennedy reflected on how the lessons learnt from his decades-long battles with heroin, cocaine and alcohol were fading.
"I've lost the sense of certitude since the early days of my sobriety when I had all the answers and say God in everything," he wrote. "Now I feel shattered, like nothing has meaning and nothing makes sense."
Ominously, he noted: "My defects are like weeds. You cut them down and they stay down a while. Then they come back. You pour pesticides on them and they come back. You pull them by the roots, they come back. They pop up through the cracks."
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RFK Jr.'s dalliance with Olivia Nuzzi, here with her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza, rocked his marriage to Cheryl Hines.
Hines, whom Kennedy married in 2014, was said to be "heartbroken" when the story of her husband's relationship with Nuzzi was made public, in September 2024.
The Curb Your Enthusiasm star wrote in her own memoir, released last November, of the Nuzzi revelations: "Of course, I hated all of it. The swirl of headlines, rumors, and insinuations was upsetting and overwhelming. I had hit a wall."
However, Contrary to Vincent's allegations, Hines used her memoir to insist that the scandal had only made them stronger, writing: "We went through all of the details about the latest story — what was true and what wasn't.
"Through those soul-searching days, we tightened our ties that bind."
