Cheryl Hines put any family issues aside to share a loving tribute to her mother-in-law, Ethel Kennedy, who died Thursday at 96 following a stroke she suffered last week.
“My mother-in-law, Ethel Kennedy, Bobby’s mother, passed this morning,” the 59-year-old actor wrote on Instagram. “It has been my great honor to have shared laughter and love with Ethel. Her charisma, wisdom and strength will live on with me in every memory of her.”
Hines’ post comes amid speculation that her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is headed for divorce after the former presidential candidate endorsed Donald Trump (who Hines does not support) and engaged in a “personal relationship” with 31-year-old political reporter Olivia Nuzzi.
On Thursday, Hines recalled she and her husband spending “many warm nights” in Massachusetts dining with Ethel as they listened to “stories from her extraordinary life.”
Hines described Ethel as a stylish, humorous woman who “was never too serious except when she needed to be.”
“She will be missed,” Hines concluded. “My love is with the family.”
Ethel married Robert F. Kennedy in 1950 and remained with the Democratic presidential candidate until his 1968 assassination in Los Angeles. The pair had 11 children, including RFK Jr., to whom Hines has been married since 2014.
Hines has kept her feelings private since news of her husband’s alleged indiscretions broke three weeks ago. She has since been spotted in Spain without Kennedy or her wedding ring, though she flashed that ring for photographers to see at a fashion show in Paris late last month.
Within the past week, sources have claimed that Hines and her husband “have barely spoken” since the cheating rumors became public, and that RFK Jr. is “begging” her not to divorce him.
