NEWSRFK Jr.'s Second Wife Mary Took His Secret Diaries as 'Leverage' Shortly Before Committing Suicide Amid Ugly Divorce, Book Claims
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was married to Mary Richardson Kennedy from 1994 until their separation in 2010.
April 8 2026, Published 3:06 p.m. ET
Mary Richardson Kennedy gave her husband's private diaries to a friend before her death by suicide in 2012.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s late second wife — who was 52 when she ended her life — took them as "insurance" amid their contentious divorce proceedings, according to journalist Isabel Vincent's new book.
"She saw them as some kind of leverage," Isabel said in an interview published on Wednesday, April 8, ahead of the release of RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise.
'I Think You’ll Be Interested in These'
Mary Richardson Kennedy died by suicide at age 52 in May 2012.
The author revealed she found the diaries in a plastic shopping bag on her chair at an Upper East Side Manhattan restaurant back in 2013.
"I think you’ll be interested in these," she was allegedly told.
It had been almost a year since Mary hanged herself from the rafters of a barn on the couple's property in upscale Bedford, N.Y., on May 16, 2012.
The journals were said to be given to Isabel by a source who "knew the family well."
Mary Richardson Kennedy reportedly took RFK Jr.'s diaries as 'insurance' during the couple's divorce.
The entries, which spanned from 1999 to 2001, detailed the Health and Human Services secretary's past drug addiction and struggle with "l--- demons."
"I’ve been given everything that any person could wish for: A beautiful wife and kids and loving family, wealth, education and good health and job I love," Robert wrote in one 2001 entry. "And yet I’m always on the lookout for something I can’t have to wreck it all."
"No matter how much I have, I want more!" the politician, now 72, reportedly said.
'Our Bed Is an Unfriendly Place'
- RFK Jr. Moaned About 'Lust Demons' Amid Thorny Relationship With Second Wife Mary in Secret Diaries: 'I Want More'
- RFK Jr. Was 'Cruel' About Late Second Wife Mary's Weight Before Her Tragic Suicide: 'It Was Ugly'
- RFK Jr.'s Late Second Wife Mary's Haunting Final Days Exposed as Marriage Was Doomed by Addiction, Cheating, Secret Diaries and Suicide
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The architect was found hanging in a barn on the couple's property in Bedford, N.Y.
In another entry, Robert, who welcomed four of his six children with Mary, complained about his lack of s-- with the architect, writing, "Our bed is an unfriendly place."
"She hates it when I go to bed with her, and will never have s-- at night. She rarely speaks to me of anything but scheduling," he detailed.
RFK Jr. reportedly told his wife on Mother’s Day 2010 that he planned to file for divorce. She was subsequently arrested twice for alleged drunk driving incidents.
'He Definitely Gaslit Her'
RFK Jr. shares four children with his late second wife.
"He definitely gaslit her and told her that she was crazy and that her accusations about other women were fantasies," a source close to Mary said. "She was innocent and naive, but she drank, which was classic in the sense of being in pain a lot of the time."
But "the notion that she would stop being a Kennedy was scary to her," another insider said, per Isabel's reporting.
"She was just 200 percent invested in being his wife and living the Kennedy lifestyle," some who treated Mary for depression allegedly shared.
The pair both struggled with addiction.
The pair, who married in 1994, were said to be fighting over money and custody of their children before her death.
They shared William "Finn," 28, Conor, 31, Kyra, 31, and Aidan, 24.
The Kennedy scion went on to marry Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines in 2014.
