Cheryl Hines Was 'Disappointed' Donald Trump Won the 2016 Election: He 'Didn't Feel Like a Seasoned Politician'

Cheryl Hines is looking back on how she really felt when Donald Trump won the 2016 election.

In a new interview with NewsNation, the actress — whose husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., later launched his own 2024 presidential run and is now Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services — opened up about her reaction to Trump’s first term and how her perspective shifted over the years.

“Well, that election, I was, and I still am, looking forward to having a female president. That will be very meaningful…. what I had known from Trump was from TV, and it just didn't feel like this was a seasoned politician who, it felt like a lot of, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to expect… I probably, I was disappointed, and I didn't know what to expect. So, yeah, I was probably living in a place of, oh no, what's going to happen? Yeah,” Hines said, explaining her mindset at the time.

She also recalled the pressure that came with meeting Trump for the first time alongside Kennedy. The meeting happened during a tense moment in the 2024 campaign, after a high-profile assassination attempt on Trump.

“It was a very stressful time. For me, and for Bobby, and for the country, and for President Trump. He had just been shot, and he reached out to Bobby that night, which was interesting. And Bobby and I talked and felt like, of course, you should talk to him,” Hines said.

According to Hines, Trump requested a meeting with Kennedy just days before the Republican National Convention. Kennedy traveled to Milwaukee to sit down with him, while Hines flew in to wait for her husband so they could regroup afterward — but their plans changed fast.

“And when I landed, security picked me up and said, 'Ma'am, we're taking you to the meeting.' And I said, 'Oh, what? I don't need to go to the meeting.' They said, 'No, Mr. Kennedy would really like you to go to the meeting.' So I went to the meeting, and it was interesting. It was, like I said, it was a very stressful time," she said.

She added that seeing Trump bandaged after the shooting brought the intensity of the situation into sharp focus.

“And then when the assassination attempt happened to Donald Trump, it was heart-stopping. It felt like, what are we all doing? This is not worth it. Whatever is happening, people are putting themselves out there to run for president and being shot. It just felt so overwhelming to me,” Hines said.

She remembered entering the room and noticing how close the bullet had come.

“When I did go in and meet President Trump, and he had his bandage on, again, when I saw him, you realize how close it came to his temple. And I don't know, the stress. And then the stress that now we're sitting here with President Trump, and now we're talking about the future and what's going to happen. And I think it just was a lot for my nervous system," she recalled.

Hines also admitted she never expected her personal life to become this political.

“No, I asked him when we met. I asked him, you know, if he ever wanted to go into politics, had he ever thought of it. And at the time, he was an environmental attorney. And he said that he didn't have a desire to go into politics. So I was like, great, we're going to get along great,” she explained. “And then he went into politics. Then he decided to run for president. And that I knew, you know, I knew that was going to be a life changer. But I didn't know how, how it would change our lives.”