Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
RFK Jr. Says Wife Punched Him, Ran Over Family Dog, Stole From His Daughter
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 11, 2012
Modified Jun 11, 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 Jun 11, 2012
Modified Jun 11, 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
Nearly a month after her suicide, Newsweek has published an article about the final days of Mary Kennedy, wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And it's not pretty. Kennedy historian Lawrence Leamer got his hands on an affidavit that RFK Jr. filed in September 2011 as part of their divorce proceedings. He had moved out of their Westchester home the year before and claimed, "Mary’s violence and physical abuse toward me began before we were married. Soon after Mary became pregnant with our first son, Mary, in a sudden rage about my continued friendship with [my ex-wife] Emily, hit me in the face with her fist. She was a trained boxer and I got a shiner. Her engagement ring crushed my tear duct causing permanent damage ... Mary asked me to lie to her family about the cause of my shiner."
Mary Kennedy hanged herself in a barn on her Mt. Kisco property on May 16. In 2010, the year the couple separated, she was arrested for drunk driving twice and, once, when RFK tried to take her to the hospital out of concern for her mental state, she ran from the car into the road. While RFK and his sister Kerry Kennedy (who was best friends with Mary since high school) cited her long history of depression and "demons," her friends blamed RFK's behavior (his alleged cheating and abandonment) for her decline into drinking and depression as well as her concern over sharing custody of their four children.
The affidavit, which can you read below, offers tidbits like how Mary Kennedy allegedly killed the family dog by running it over in their driveway.
“On May 26, 2011, Mary ran over and killed the dog, Porcia, in the driveway,” Bobby wrote of an experience after he and Mary had separated. “She had [our youngest son] Aidan call me to tell me. He was disconsolate and crying. I asked to speak to Mom and Mary came on the phone. She said I should come over and spend the night in my old room with the kids who were distraught. She said she intended to kill herself unless I called off the divorce and unless I promised to recommit to the marriage. She promised that if I came over she would stay in her room and wouldn’t see me or harass me."
[When RFK arrived at the house] "She leapt out of her bed and hit me with a roundhouse punch that, had I not blocked it, would have undoubtedly broken my face. Pointing to Aidan, she screamed, ‘You told this child you didn’t love me?’ and hit me again, raining blows down on me as I backed down the hall. She struck me maybe 30 more times or more. I moved slowly backward because she was drunk and unsteady and I didn’t want her to tumble over the banister. She screamed at Aidan as she hit me. ‘He is a demon. He is a demon. He is the most evil kind of man in the world. Everything he does is evil and a fraud. He is a philanderer, an adulterer, a sex addict.’ Aidan was crying. I backed down the back stairs blocking her blows—and dodged out the kitchen door. She pursued me, pummeling and pushing me with her fists all the way."
RFK also mentioned that in 1997, three years after they married, Kick, his daughter from his first marriage (he has two children from his first marriage, four from his marriage with Mary Kennedy), told him, "Daddy, I think Mary is stealing from me," which RFK dismissed, though Kick said, "No, Daddy, Mary hates me." Then a few weeks later, he "found a collection of Kick’s lost items concealed beneath a layer of Mary’s clothing."
RFK admits to having a three-year affair beginning in 2003, but broke it off after his wife threatened suicide. He and Mary Kennedy began their relationship while he was still married to his first wife; a friend says, "Mary, was fooling around with Bobby when he was married to Emily, but that marriage was essentially over. It ended amicably and it was just the right thing to do. But Bobby is a philanderer. Always was, always will be. And Mary knew that."
Apparently Mary Kennedy's psychotherapist told RFK that she had Borderline Personality Disorder and another psychiatrist, Dr. John Gunderson, considered "the father of BPD," who spoke to the couple said it really seemed as if she had BPD, "At the heart of this disorder is a hypersensitivity to other people, such that they can perceive rejection and anger from others when it isn’t there, and when it is there, they react with even more desperation."
Leamer also spoke to Mary Kennedy's housekeeper, who described how she discovered the troubled woman passed out drunk in a plate of congealed food and how she was asked to buy a length of rope, which Mary Kennedy, an architect and designer, claimed was for a sofa. But Internet searches on her computer showed she looked up nooses.
Tagged
abuse
mary kennedy
rfk jr
robert kennedy
robert kennedy jr
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
Why New Yorkers should care about bats beyond spooky season
As Bat Week begins, state wildlife officials urge New Yorkers to protect bats, which play an important role in the environment.
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Oct 25, 2026 at 6:44 p.m. ET
Serbians forced to wait hours to vote at NYC consulate as Balkan nation holds election
Early voting may have kicked off in New York this weekend, but Serbian immigrants seeking to vote had a much tighter window on Sunday.
By
Jill Webb
and
Michael Sol Warren
News
Serbians forced to wait hours to vote at NYC consulate as Balkan nation holds election
Early voting may have kicked off in New York this weekend, but Serbian immigrants seeking to vote had a much tighter window on Sunday.
By
Jill Webb
and
Michael Sol Warren
Retired NYPD detective charged in George Washington Bridge killing out on $1M bail
By
Michael Sol Warren
Suicides decline in NYC, but inequities persist across groups
By
Jill Webb
Cuts to rural healthcare become key issue for upstate votes in race for NY governor
By
Samuel King
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 .