Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are not the likeliest pair.
Thrust into the spotlight amid Kennedy’s 2024 bid for the presidency, the couple has done their best to keep their personal life out of the public eye. While Americans speculate about how their seemingly different world views mesh, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Hines, 58, and politician Kennedy, 70, have continued to stand by each other.
Kennedy is Hines’ second husband. She and Paul Young were married for eight years until they divorced in 2010. They share daughter Catherine, 20.
Meanwhile Hines is Kennedy’s third wife. He was married to Emily Black from 1982-1994, having son Bobby III, 40, and daughter Kathleen, 36. Kennedy married the late Mary Richardson in 1994 and the two shared four kids, Conor, 30, Kyra, 29, Finn, 26, and Aidan, 23. Kennedy and Richardson separated in 2010.
The son of former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former president John F. Kennedy, RFK Jr., part of America’s most well-known political families, is blazing his own trail. Keep scrolling for their full relationship timeline.
2006
Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David introduced his on-screen wife, Hines, to Kennedy at a ski weekend fundraiser for the Kennedy-founded Waterkeeper Alliance, a network of environmental organizations working to conserve bodies of water around the world.
Hines, who was not planning to ski that weekend, recalled in a 2014 interview that Kennedy ultimately convinced her to.
“I was looking at Larry like, ‘What is happening?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah,’ giving an indication like, ‘That’s Bobby,’ she said, according to People.
Because both were married at this time, the two didn’t reconnect until several years later.
2011
Kennedy and Hines began dating in late 2011 but did not confirm their relationship until the next year. That didn’t stop the public from speculating, however, noting that the two appeared together at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012, then the Riverkeeper’s annual Fisherman’s Ball in April.
April 2014
Kennedy and Hines revealed their engagement at Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night in Phoenix.
“We share the same values. Family first,” Hines gushed to Us around the same time. “We like to have a good time and work hard.”
August 2014
The couple got married at the famed Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. Hollywood stars David, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kevin Nealon and Ed Begley Jr. were among the 300 guests in attendance.
2023
Kennedy revealed he recently tried to orchestrate a fake split between him and Hines in order to take the spotlight off of his wife as he made his own controversial headlines..
“I saw how it was affecting her life and I said to her, ‘We should just announce that we are separated,’ so that you can have some distance from me,” he told The New York Times. “We wouldn’t really be doing anything, we would just — I felt so desperate about protecting her at a time where my statements and my decisions were impacting her.”
Though Kennedy went as far as drafting a press release to announce the split, Hines wouldn’t hear of it.
“I haven’t lost any jobs because of my support for his candidacy,” she told the outlet. “But there was a project I’m involved in where there was a pause for discussion about how his candidacy might affect what we are doing but it has been resolved.”
April 2023
Hines publicly voiced her support for her husband’s candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president.
“My husband, Robert Kennedy Jr., announced today he will be running for President and I support his decision,” Hines said in a statement to People. “He is a fearless leader who understands the needs of the American people and has devoted his life fighting for democracy.”
August 2024
Amid ongoing speculation about the state of their relationship, Hines posted a tenth wedding anniversary memory via her Instagram channel.
“You have given me a life I could’ve never imagined full of love, laughter, joy and adventure. In my darkest hours you bring me light. I love you,” she wrote.
September 2024
New York Magazine placed staff writer Olivia Nuzzi on leave as the outlet investigates a report of a romantic relationship between her and Kennedy. Nuzzi released a statement saying the relationship was “never physical” and Kennedy also denied the relationship.
“Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece,” a rep for Kennedy told NBC News.
