Cheryl Hines opened up about her husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential run and how it has impacted her career in Hollywood.
The 57-year-old actress shared her thoughts on Kennedy’s bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination in her first interview since the 69-year-old environmental lawyer announced his candidacy in April. Kennedy has come under fire for his vaccine stance and controversial statements that he made before and after launching his campaign.
In Hines’ interview with the New York Times, she explained her approach to her role in her spouse’s campaign while in a separate interview with the outlet, Kennedy revealed that he proposed an idea to Hines: announcing that the couple had split to separate his wife from his controversies.
“I support Bobby and I want to be there for him, and I want him to feel loved and supported by me,” Hines told the New York Times. “And at the same time, I don’t feel the need to go to every political event, because I do have my own career.”
Cheryl Hines is sharing her thoughts on her husband Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in her first interview since he announced his run. (Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance)
“I think ultimately if I get elected, Cheryl will have played a huge role in that,” Kennedy told the outlet. “She’s an enormous asset to me, and I don’t think we’ve really unveiled her in her true power yet.”
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He continued, “She has a gift that she’s kind of mesmerizing when she’s on TV and she’s talking, because she’s so spontaneous and she has this what I would call a quick, a fast-twitch reflex when it comes to conversation.”
In January, Kennedy, who is a longtime anti-vaccine activist, sparked controversy when he gave a speech in which he drew comparisons between Nazi Germany and the U.S. government’s push for Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
During his speech, Kennedy invoked teenage Holocaust victim Anne Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp after hiding with her family in a secret annex in an Amsterdam house for two years.
“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” Kennedy said at a rally organized by his anti-vaccine nonprofit group Children’s Health Defense.
“I visited, in 1962, East Germany with my father and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped, so it was possible,” he added. “Many died, true, but it was possible.”
“Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run, and none of us can hide.”
Kennedy declared his candidacy for the 2024 Democratic nomination in April. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Kennedy later apologized for his remarks. At the time, Hines took to Twitter to distance herself from her husband’s comments.
“My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own,” the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star wrote. “While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.”
The following day, Hines tweeted, “My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive. The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own.”
In the wake of the backlash, Kennedy told the New York Times that he suggested announcing a fake separation. He told the outlet that “it was a difficult time” for them, and he was worried that his statements were negatively affecting Hines personally and professionally.
The environmental lawyer told the New York Times that he suggested announcing a fake separation from Hines to protect her from receiving backlash for some of his controversial statements. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
“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,” Kennedy said.
He continued, “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.”
Kennedy told the outlet that he even drafted a news release announcing the split. However, the release was never sent, and Hines told that outlet that she never considered Kennedy’s proposal to be an option.
Hines said that she never considered her husband’s proposal to be an option. ( Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
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However, the two-time Emmy Award nominee told the New York Times that she was “upset” with her husband and felt that the way he phrased his comments enabled them to be easily misconstrued.
“It was also frustrating to hear Bobby say things that could so easily be twisted into snippets that misrepresented his meaning and didn’t represent who he is,” she said.
Kennedy told the outlet he feels that many of Hines’ friends have rallied around them, including “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star and creator Larry David. David introduced the couple at a ski event in 2011.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator Larry David said that while he has love and support for Kennedy, he is not supporting his campaign. (Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance)
“I feel a lot of support and love from most of her friends, including Larry,” Kennedy said.
In a text, David told the New York Times, “Yes love and support, but I’m not ‘supporting’ him.”
The “I Can See Your Voice” judge also weighed in on the vaccine debate though she would not comment on whether she shared her husband’s views.
“I see both sides of the vaccine situation,” the “A Bad Mom’s Christmas” star said. “There’s one side that feels scared if they don’t get the vaccine, and there’s the side that feels scared if they do get the vaccine, because they’re not sure if the vaccine is safe. And I understand that.”
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She continued, “So if Bobby is standing up and saying, ‘Well, are we sure that they’re safe and every vaccine has been tested properly?’ That doesn’t seem too much to ask.”
“That seems like the right question to be asking,” Hines added.
Hines said that she won’t be at every one of her husband’s campaign events since she has her own career. (Monica Schipper/WireImage)
Hines told the outlet that school safety and “bodily autonomy” are important issues to her. She said that she believes people should be able to “make decisions about our body with a doctor, not with a politician.”
Meanwhile, Hines said that she is focused on her own projects which include the upcoming Season 12 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm, the third season of “I Can See Your Voice,” the coming-of age-comedy “Popular Theory,” her podcast with Tig Notaro “Tig and Cheryl: True Story” and Hines+Young, the eco-friendly self-care company that she started with her daughter Catherine, 19.
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As for her thoughts on potentially becoming first lady, she said, “I haven’t really spent time in that space, because we’re not there yet.”
When asked how much she has prepared for the campaign trail, Hines told the New York Times, “Every day I learn a lot.”
Hines explained that talking about her husband’s campaign “feels different.”
“It feels like every word is important,” she said. “Before this, really, my world was just about comedy, so I could make light of things. But now I understand people are listening in a different way, and I know that it’s really important to them.”