According to private recordings made during their contentious divorce, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. informed his second wife Mary Richardson Kennedy that his infidelities were largely her fault, having engaged with numerous women.
“I aim to maintain a monogamous relationship. I don’t desire a polygamous connection. I believe it’s wrong,” he expressed in a June 2011 audio clip acquired by Mother Jones.
“But why have you engaged in this behavior for a decade?” Richardson questioned, having discovered a journal detailing 37 instances of her husband’s unfaithfulness.
“I did it because I felt abused at home,” Kennedy responded.
This was merely one of over 60 discussions that Donald Trump’s appointee for secretary of health and human services covertly recorded, according to Mother Jones. Reportedly, at least one such recording was made in California, a state requiring both parties’ consent for recordings, the publication noted.
He seemingly utilized these recordings to craft an extensive 60-page affidavit that accused Richardson of violent behavior, excessive alcohol consumption, physical abuse, and making suicidal threats in front of their children.
In response, Richardson prepared a previously unreported detailed rebuttal, alleging that Kennedy “has been secretly recording our phone calls within my residence,” as reported by Mother Jones. She passed away from suicide in May 2012 without ever submitting the rebuttal in court.
The document indicated that Richardson acknowledged having lost her temper and struck Kennedy once, but she refuted many of his accusations, including any claims that she had spoken about suicide in front of their children. She characterized her husband’s actions as a “scorched earth” campaign against her.
She further claimed that Kennedy had physically mistreated her, misused prescription medication, deceived her about his infidelities, and was an irresponsible father. Additionally, she described him as a “sexual deviant” and a sex addict, stating she had messages and images from his phone concerning his affairs.
“I have seen Bobby’s obsessive-compulsive drive to not only defeat but destroy anyone he sees as an opponent,” she wrote. “He distorts the facts, or fabricates them entirely, and is quick to spread this version of reality to as many people as possible—classic gaslighting.”
Kennedy did not provide a response to multiple inquiries from Mother Jones. The Daily Beast has also reached out to his representatives for their comments.
As per Vanity Fair, Richardson’s family has consistently believed that Kennedy’s actions contributed to her tragic demise. In September 2013, Kennedy’s 2001 “sex diary” was leaked to the New York Post.
In the closing pages of a nearly 400-page red notebook, he documented 37 women and assigned a score from 1 to 10 to various sexual acts they engaged in. Sixteen of these encounters were rated as 10s; on a particular day, he noted a “triple play” with three different encounters scored as 10, 3, and 2.
The diary reflects Kennedy’s inner turmoil regarding his “lust demons,” and on occasions he resisted sexual temptation, he scribbled, “Victory.”
“Despite the troubling state of the world, my life is… wonderful,” he penned in November 2001. “Thus, I’ve been searching for ways to sabotage it. I’m like Adam living in Eden, having everything but the forbidden fruit. Yet, the fruit is all I desire.”
In a prior entry, he stated, “This isn’t about misogyny. It’s quite the opposite! I cherish them too deeply.”
Upon the diary’s release, Kennedy denied its existence—despite the Post publishing a photograph of it. The Kennedys attributed Richardson’s death to her struggles with depression and alcohol. Following Kennedy’s divorce filing in 2010, his wife commenced heavy drinking, resulting in two DUI arrests over two years.
The tapes obtained by Mother Jones reveal Richardson’s extreme distress regarding the dissolution of her marriage, as noted by the magazine. By this time, Kennedy had begun a relationship with actress Cheryl Hines, whom he later married, while the former couple contended over custody of their four children.
In the recordings, Richardson would sometimes lash out at Kennedy, who was reported by Mother Jones as being “more cautious” during these confrontations, aware of the ongoing recording. At one moment, Richardson pleaded with Kennedy to finalize a custody agreement and requested he refrain from allowing their 16-year-old son Conor to be photographed publicly with Hines.
Ultimately, Richardson’s behavior escalated to the point where Kennedy was awarded custody of the children. She had requested to reside in the guest house and retain the Kennedy surname, both of which Kennedy declined, as noted by Vanity Fair. Subsequently, he attempted to evade paying her child support, according to the magazine.
The Mother Jones article surfaced just a day after Kennedy’s cousin Caroline Kennedy condemned him, labeling him “perverse” and a “predator” unfit for the role of the country’s health secretary.
In a letter urging the Senate against confirming her cousin, Caroline Kennedy—former President John F. Kennedy’s last surviving child—claimed he was a recovering heroin addict who had “misrepresented, lied, and cheated his way through life.”
Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearings are set to commence on Wednesday.
