Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
RFK Jr. At Estranged Wife's Funeral: "I Did Everything I Could To Help Her"
By
Jen Chung
Published May 20, 2012
Modified May 20, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published May 20, 2012
Modified May 20, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday, the funeral of Mary Richardson Kennedy was held in Bedford, NY. The battle over her body, between the Kennedys and Richardsons, was ultimately settled in favor of the Kennedys. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the opportunity to make his case during the eulogy, "I know I did everything I could to help her."
Mary Kennedy hanged herself in a barn on her Mt. Kisco property last Wednesday; she and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had been estranged, with RFK filing for divorce in May 2010, around the time of Mary Kennedy's drunk driving incidents. Her friends blamed RFK's behavior (his alleged cheating and abandonment) for her decline into drinking and depression. They also cited her concern over sharing custody of their four children.
RFK Jr. said in his eulogy, "The day before she died, she called me and said, ‘You know me better than anyone in the world.' She said, ‘I was such a good girl.’ I said, ‘I know you are and you still are.’ She really fought so hard. She had these demons, and she didn’t deserve it."
Kerry Kennedy, RFK's sister, was best friends with Mary Kennedy, since they met at age 15 in boarding school. She told reporters, "Mary suffered from depression. I just think about the story of Michael the Archangel who had to battle the forces of evil, who had to battle Satan, who was trying to enter paradise. And that’s what Mary did her whole life. She was battling those demons and keeping them out of the paradise that was Mary." Inside the church, she remembered, "Let’s just know it’s not her demons, but everything else about Mary that’s important and will always abide. So let’s not remember her for her despair, but take inspiration from the determination she had to heal her woundedness and all of our woundedness."
Still, Mary Kennedy's family had filed a last-minute challenge to block RFK from burying her near the Kennedys' Hyannisport compound, noting that the couple was in the middle of a divorce. But after the funeral, the body was taken to Massachusetts: "On Friday, RFK Jr. bought eight plots at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery, including one for Mary, Maki Monument Co. told The Post."—RFK has two children from his first marriage—"Mary’s grave is positioned in a new row, a short distance from the Kennedy graves."
The Post's Maureen Callahan has a withering takedown of the fabled family and the tragedy of Mary Kennedy's suicide: "Let’s just call it what it is: the natural fallout when you’re a member of a family riddled with entitled, underachieving drunks, drug addicts and adulterers, whose treatment of women is historically deplorable."
Tagged
funeral
kennedys
mary kennedy
mary richardson kennedy
rfk jr
robert f kennedy jr
suicide
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Conductor on NYC subway that dragged man to death may have skipped safety check, source says
The MTA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating how Yaw Boahene was fatally dragged by a subway train in Brooklyn on Monday.
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Oct 2, 2026 at 2:06 p.m. ET
NYPD still searching for man who threw burning substance on victim in East Harlem
The victim suffered severe burns on his face and neck.
By
Ryan Kost
News
NYPD still searching for man who threw burning substance on victim in East Harlem
The victim suffered severe burns on his face and neck.
By
Ryan Kost
Intoxication not a 'license' to rape: Hochul pushes to tighten law amid Cornell scandal
By
Walter Wuthmann
NYC Parks police told a yoga teacher to leash her dog. It got ugly.
By
Samantha Max
Early Addition: There's finally stuff inside the Times Square tower where the ball drops
By
James Ramsay
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .