BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Democratic presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr kicked up a new media storm after his recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast which brought his anti-vax stance back to the forefront. The environmental lawyer appeared on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' on Thursday, June 15, and repeated several disproven statements that he had made as head of the anti-vaccine charity, Children's Health Defense.
Kennedy's outspoken anti-vax stance, which he attempted to downplay in the wake of his presidential run, were previously denounced by many, including several of his own family members. "We love Bobby. He is one of the great champions of the environment. However, on vaccines he is wrong,” Kennedy's sister Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, brother Joseph P Kennedy II and niece Maeve Kennedy McKean wrote in an article for Politico. They said he was "complicit in sowing distrust of the science behind vaccines," potentially endangering lives. The family members continued by noting that he had been disseminating “dangerous misinformation” that discourages immunization even as measles spreads throughout the US, according to KFF Health News. Belonging to America's most famous political family, Kennedy has a rather large immediate family.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Townsend is the oldest of Kennedy's siblings. She became the first female lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. However, despite all her achievements, she bears the distinction of being the "first Kennedy to ever lose an election," according to Vanity Fair. In 2010, Townsend was appointed head of the nonprofit, American Bridge, whose goal is to collect money for Democratic politicians and causes. Since 2021, she has served in the United States Department of Labor as an advisor on retirement.
Joseph P Kennedy II
Patrick is a renowned businessman and Democratic politician. In 1972, Kennedy enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, but left early. After a serious vehicle accident in 1973, he went back to school, and in 1976, he earned his bachelor's degree in arts from the University of Massachusetts Boston. From 1987 until 1999, he represented Massachusetts' 8th congressional district as a member of the US House of Representatives. He is currently the chairman of Citizens Energy, a nonprofit energy company that he founded in 1979.
David A Kennedy
David was the fourth child of RFK and was also the boyfriend of Pam Kelley, the woman who was later paralyzed in a car accident caused by his brother, Joseph. David's injuries from the accident caused an opiate dependency that escalated into a heroin addiction. His drug addiction led to his death in 1984 due to an overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida, hotel. Later, an autopsy determined that "cocaine, Demerol, and Mellaril" had been discovered in his body.
Courtney Kennedy Hill
Courtney is the fifth of the 11 children of RFK and Ethel Skakel. Just like her family, she also dipped her toes in politics. Courtney "helped bring environmentally responsible companies into Eastern Europe and served as a U.N. representative there for pediatric aids, taught elementary school, and did fundraising for the R.F.K. Memorial,” according to Vanity Fair. She married twice. First to ABC sports producer Jeffrey Robert and then to Paul Michael Hill. Sadly, she would later be defined by her daughter's death. On August 1, 2019, the then-22-year-old died after an unintentional overdose on the Kennedy estate in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy
Michael was a lawyer, businessman and activist in Massachusetts. He was arrested in 1992 when his relationship with his 14-year-old babysitter came to light. Michael's wife, Victoria, found the two in bed together sometime in 1995, which led to an announcement of the couple's impending divorce. "Kennedy apparently explained the incident as caused by a drinking problem, and promised to undergo treatment," per the Chicago Tribune. He was detained for statutory rape but "prosecutor Jeffrey Locke eventually decided not to press charges.” In 1997, he died in Aspen, Colorado, from injuries sustained after skiing into a tree.
Christopher G Kennedy
Christopher is a businessman, politician, and Chair of Joseph P Kennedy Enterprises, Inc. He served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. He also served as president of Chicago-based commercial property management company Merchandise Mart Properties from April 2011 to April 2012. He ran for governor of Illinois in the Democratic Party primary for the 2018 general election. He is married to Sheila Sinclair-Berner, with whom he shares four children, Katherine Berner, Christopher George, Sarah Louise and Clare Elizabeth.
Max Kennedy
Max is a lawyer and author who wrote two books, ‘Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy’, and ‘Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her’. He was formerly an assistant district attorney in the Philadelphia DA's Office, where he handled felonies and worked in the juvenile crime unit. He is married to Victoria Anne Strauss, and has three children, Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy Jr, Caroline Summer Rose and Noah Isabella Rose.
Douglas Harriman Kennedy
Douglas is a journalist, who serves as a correspondent for Fox News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in 1996 and is based in New York. He was born just a year before his father’s assassination. He graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School and Brown University and began his career as a print journalist with The Nantucket Beacon and later The New York Post. He is married to Molly Elizabeth Stark and has five children.
Rory Kennedy
Rory is the youngest of all siblings and never got a chance to see her father. Born six months after his assassination, she has relied upon her family and the public to fill in the gaps. Rory is an activist and documentary filmmaker, who directed many classics including ‘American Hollow’, ‘Pandemic: Facing AIDS’ and ‘Ghosts of Abu Ghraib’.
