President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he is nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He said in a social media post that Americans have been "crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation" about public health, and RFK Jr. would "Make America Great and Healthy Again!"
"The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!" Trump added.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is married to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' actress Cheryl Hines. The couple crossed paths for the first time in 2006 at a fundraiser for the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental nonprofit that he co-founded. At the time, he was married to Mary Kathleen Richardson and she was married to Paul Young. They reconnected in 2021 when Kennedy and Richardson were separated. They began dating and tied the knot three years later on Aug. 2, 2014. Cheryl Hines shares a daughter, Catherine Rose, with her first husband.
In April 2023, Hines announced that she will be supporting her husband in his presidential aspirations. In September 2024, New York Magazine said that one of its reporters, Olivia Nuzzi, "engaged in a personal relationship" with the former presidential candidate while covering the 2024 presidential campaign. Following this, Hines was seen without her wedding ring, sparking divorce rumors.
Before Hines, RFK Jr. was married twice. He met his first wife, Emily Ruth Black, while studying law at the University of Virginia. They got married in 1982 and divorced in 1994. They share two children: Robert “Bobby" Kennedy III and Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy.
By the time their divorce came through, he was already dating Mary Richardson, an interior designer and philanthropist who co-founded the Food Allergy Initiative, a fund for food allergy research in the United States. They got married in 1994 and filed for divorce in 2010. Richardson died by suicide in 2012. They had four children together – Conor Kennedy, Kyra Kennedy, Aidan Kennedy, and William "Finn" Kennedy.