Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has offered to announce that he has separated from his wife, Cheryl Hines, in an effort to shield her from scrutiny for his political statements.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Hines’ first since Kennedy announced her 2024 presidential bid, the actress reiterates that she supports her husband’s political aspirations and understands his growing role in the campaign – noting how his public persona “feels”. different, because it feels like every word is important” and that “people listen in a different way.
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Hines shares that the statement that prompted Kennedy to propose the separation announcement was his comparisons between the Holocaust and CDC chief Anthony Fauci’s efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID.
Shortly after the criticism, Hines took to Twitter and posted a statement“My husband’s opinions do not reflect mine. Although we love each other, we differ on many topical issues… The atrocities that millions of people endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions do not reflect mine. Kennedy later apologized for his remarks.
Kennedy revealed to The New York Times how his statement impacted his wife: “I saw how it affected her life and I said to her, ‘We should just announce that we are separated,’ so you can away from me…. We really wouldn’t do anything, we would just – I felt so desperate to protect her at a time when my statements and decisions were affecting her.
Although Hines never considered this action a possibility, Kennedy revealed that he wrote the press release.
This new profile emerges among Kennedy’s new series of controversial statements, including one in which he spoke out against 5G technology and surveillance and another suggesting that “SSRIs, benzos and other drugs” are responsible for gun violence and school shootings in America. In addition to the aforementioned claims, Kennedy has been publicizing his anti-vaccine views for many years. In 2016, Kennedy founded the World Mercury Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates against vaccines for children.
“I see both sides of the vaccine situation,” Hines says in the new profile. “There’s a side that’s scared if he doesn’t get the vaccine, and there’s the side that’s scared if he gets the vaccine, because he doesn’t know if the vaccine is safe. And I understand that.
“So if Bobby stands up and says, ‘Well, are we sure they’re safe and every vaccine has been tested correctly? That doesn’t seem like too much to ask,” Hines continues. “That seems like the right question to ask.”
While Hines believes people have the right to “make decisions about our bodies with a doctor, not a politician,” she neither confirms nor denies whether her beliefs about vaccines align with her husband’s position.
“I support Bobby and I want to be there for him, and I want him to feel loved and supported by me,” Hines reiterates.
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