On Wednesday, actor Billy Baldwin took aim at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. again, openly expressing his views about his longtime friend—once more criticizing him for how he allegedly treated his late spouse, Mary Richardson Kennedy.
“Bobby Kennedy was a friend of mine,” Baldwin shared on X Wednesday night, shortly after Kennedy’s confirmation hearing for his nomination as health secretary. “Our friendship didn’t dissolve when he compromised his political integrity for Trump. It concluded when his beautiful wife Mary passed away.” Richardson tragically died by suicide in May 2012.
“If he had safeguarded her during that challenging period, she might still be with us,” Baldwin went on.
“And as his cousin Caroline pointed out, he is a ‘predator,’” he remarked, alluding to a letter from Caroline Kennedy to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, where she labelled her cousin as such and urged the Senate to reject his nomination.
Although Baldwin and Kennedy enjoyed a friendship spanning decades—the two were even photographed together at the 2012 wedding of Baldwin’s elder brother Alec Baldwin to Hilaria Thomas—the Backdraft star recently revealed in a 2024 post on X that their relationship had deteriorated, stating he “completely” disavows and distances himself from Kennedy.
He further criticized the MAHA members for backing Trump’s presidential campaign, calling it “political cowardice” and a “betrayal of the values and traditions of the Kennedy family.”
Wednesday wasn’t Baldwin’s first public remark concerning Kennedy’s relationship with Richardson. In a 2023 post on X, he asserted that if Kennedy had been “half a man,” then Richardson “would still be alive today.”
“This is Mary Richardson Kennedy. Robert Kennedy’s second wife and the mother of four of his six children,” Baldwin wrote during that time, accompanying an old photograph of the couple. “She was a remarkable woman. An exceptional mother, wife, and activist. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us.”
“She shared her tears with me regarding Bobby multiple times at their previous home on Bedford Road, my former residence on Chestnut Ridge Road, at the Canaan Ridge School, and the Saw Mill Club,” Baldwin continued. “If Bobby were half a man, she would still be alive today. The truth will emerge. His campaign will implode in weeks. If these walls could talk.”
On Tuesday, Mother Jones magazine released a shocking report revealing secret recordings Kennedy made of discussions with Richardson throughout their divorce proceedings.
In a June 2011 recording acquired by the outlet, Kennedy could allegedly be heard telling his wife that his infidelities were due to being “abused at home.”
The recordings were reportedly utilized in a 60-page affidavit alleging Richardson’s abuse, excessive drinking, violent outbursts, and threats of suicide in front of their children.
In response, Richardson prepared a detailed rebuttal where she also made numerous accusations against Kennedy. However, following her death, this rebuttal was never submitted in court.
