NEWSCheryl Hines' Ex-Friend Tig Notaro Details 'Very Strange' Falling Out With RFK Jr.'s Wife: 'I Had to Step Away'
Oscar-nominated comedian Tig Notaroshared details about her 'very strange' and painful falling out with ex-bestie Cheryl Hines over RFK Jr.
March 10 2026, Published 12:12 p.m. ET
Longtime friends and former podcast co-hosts Tig Notaro and Cheryl Hines have recently seen their relationship dissolve over political differences surrounding Hines' husband, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Oscar-nominated comedian and the Curb Your Enthusiasm actress, who were famously close for years, ended their friendship in 2023.
Notaro expressed that she "needed to step away" as RFK Jr.'s political platform and controversial beliefs gained momentum.
Tig Notaro Is 'in Denial' Over Cheryl Hines Fallout
Tig Notaro said she needs to let their friendship 'go.'
The final break reportedly occurred after Kennedy endorsed Donald Trump in August 2024. Notaro stated that staying friends felt like "okaying a particular ride for this country to go on.”
“My friendship with Cheryl predated her marriage to Bobby,” Notaro explained of her friend, 60, who married Kennedy, 71, in 2014. “He was in environmental law. And again, other beliefs he had were like a gnat on my arm. But then it started to grow, and Cheryl wanted me to hear Bobby out. … And then he endorsed Trump, and then it just got hard.”
Notaro noted she has "never heard from her again."
“I had to kind of shake myself out of denial that, ‘Oh, she’s gone,’ and, ‘OK, I need to let this go. I need to let it go,’” Notaro, 54, said of Hines on MS NOW’s “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” podcast.
'I Loved Her So Much'
The ex-friends hosted the hit podcast 'Tig and Cheryl: True Story.'
Hines is credited with helping Notaro get her start in Hollywood. After seeing her perform stand-up, Hines personally took Notaro to talent agencies.
From 2020 to 2023, they co-hosted the hit podcast "Tig and Cheryl: True Story," where they reviewed documentaries but were mostly known for their "ridiculous" and "silly" banter.
Notaro departed the podcast in 2023, and it was briefly continued by Hines with comedian and Suits actress Rachael Harris before eventually ending.
“I think that I needed to stop doing the podcast, because it was so ridiculous, it was so stupid — our show — that it was hard to be doing that when he was gaining momentum and speaking,“ the comedian added. “I had to step away, but I loved her so much.”
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Cheryl Hines Has Lost Friends Over Politics
Cheryl Hines is married to RFK Jr.
She said that her former pal’s descent into MAGA became a distraction at her stand-up shows when fans started heckling her about Hines.
“I know it’s a small percentage that pushes back online or yells out at shows, but I was like, ‘Man, this is not my world. I don’t do this. I don’t want to be a part of this.’ And she was like, ‘I understand,’” Notaro told Wallace.
Hines admitted in interviews that she has lost friends who are "so emotional about politics" that her marriage became a dealbreaker. She expressed deep sadness over the ending of their shared podcast.
“When it was feeling a lot for her, there wasn’t much I could do about it other than leave my husband,” Hines told Howie Mandel on his “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast, adding that she had not spoken to Notaro “lately.”
The comedian said the whole thing has been 'strange.'
Notaro told Wallace she would get in touch with Hines, but it eventually became one-sided.
“I realized one day that she doesn’t ever reach out to me anymore. She responds to me, but she doesn’t reach out to me,” Notaro explained.
She recalled thinking, “I need to let this go.”
Though she said she has moved on from the friendship, the comedian told Wallace, “It’s been very strange,” Notaro said, “and I think I’ve moved past the confusion and sadness.”
