Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Cheryl Hines' Relationship Timeline: From Instant Spark to Sexting Scandal and More

Cheryl Hines met Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the first time off the set of Curb Your Enthusiasm after her on-screen husband, Larry David, introduced her to the politician at a ski weekend fundraiser for the Waterkeeper Alliance.

They were still married to other people at the time: Hines to Paul Young and Kennedy Jr. to Mary Kathleen Richardson.

During Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night, the couple confirmed their engagement in an interview with Us Weekly.

"He's going to kill me if I tell you this," said Hines. "The first time we went scuba diving together, he picked up a starfish at the bottom of the ocean, and gave it to me."

In his interview with The New York Times, Kennedy Jr. said he plotted his and his wife's fake split amid his controversies and political career.

"I saw how it was affecting her life and I said to her, ‘We should just announce that we are separated,' so that you can have some distance from me,” said Kennedy Jr. "We wouldn't really be doing anything, we would just — I felt so desperate about protecting her at a time where my statements and my decisions were impacting her.”

On the other hand, Hines noted she had not lost her job just because of her husband but revealed, "There was a project I'm involved in where there was a pause for discussion about how his candidacy might affect what we are do."

The Bart Got a Room star later showed her love and support for Kennedy Jr. after he announced his Democratic nomination for president.

Speaking with Meghan McCain on the January 30 episode of "Meghan McCain Has Entered the Chat," Kennedy Jr. said he never thought his marriage to Hines would survive if he worked for Donald Trump.

"I'm flattered by it, by the attention and the suggestion that it's something people on his staff were interested in," he continued. "I was flattered by the approaches. I don't think it was something that was right for me."

New York Magazine released a statement confirming that its Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi "acknowledged to the magazine's editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign." Status cited people familiar with the matter, saying that the reporting subject is Kennedy Jr.

"Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign," the statement continued. "An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias. She is currently on leave from the magazine, and the magazine is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers' trust."

Nuzzi also issued her own statement to Status, detailing that "some communication" turned personal earlier this year.

She continued, "During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I've disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”

Meanwhile, a source close to Kennedy Jr.'s camp told the New York Post that the reporter pursued Kennedy Jr. via text after she became "obsessed" with the politician following an interview in California. Nuzzi's representatives denied the claims.

Following the revelations about the sexting scandal, Hines was spotted at Milan Fashion Week sans her wedding ring. A few days later, she was pictured wearing the band again while attending a Paris Fashion Week party with her daughter.