Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Most Shocking Scandals and Controversies: Sexual Assault Allegations, Conspiracy Theories and More

In 2015, Jerry Oppenheimer's book RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream claimed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed to his second wife, Mary Richardson, while he was still married to Emily Black.

RFK Jr. and Black, who wed in 1982, divorced in 1994.

But during his marriage to Richardson, RFK Jr. allegedly cheated on his second wife. Black allegedly found a 398-page journal in which he documented his encounters with at least 37 women.

Even his current wife, Cheryl Hines, reportedly confronted him regarding his infidelity.

While RFK Jr. has constantly suggested he is not anti-vaccine, he repeatedly dropped alarming and baseless claims about it.

Once he promoted the discredited claims about childhood vaccines causing autism.

In 2023, a video showed RFK Jr. claiming that COVID-19 was a bioweapon designed to target and attack "certain races." He also alleged that Jews and Chinese are the most immune to the dreaded virus.

The 2024 presidential candidate notoriously criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci's handling of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.

RFK Jr.'s continuous false anti-vaccine claims led Instagram to ban him several times.

The presidential hopeful was accused of making antisemitic and racist remarks after delivering a false conspiracy theory about Chinese people and Jews of European descent being immune to COVID-19.

RFK Jr. later clarified his comment and defended himself, citing his family's history of supporting Israel.

"My father was in Israel prior to the creation of the Israeli state and spent his lifetime fighting for Israel, fighting for its right to exist and for a strong alliance with the United States," he said. "My own campaign, one of the primary themes of this campaign is to bring the Democratic Party back to its traditional support for Israel. There's nobody who is running for president today who is a stronger champion for Israel than myself."

The Guardian cited a 2019 vaccine study which found RFK Jr., The World Mercury Project and Larry Cook's Stop Mandatory Vaccinations funded a massive percentage of the anti-vax ads on Facebook.

During an anti-vaccine rally in Washington, D.C., in January 2022, RFK Jr. cited Adolf Hitler while addressing the U.S.' COVID-19 vaccine policies.

"Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did," he said at the time, attracting criticism from the public. "Today the mechanisms are being put in place so none of us can run and none of us can hide."

One day later, he issued a statement on X.

RFK Jr. said, "I apologize for my reference to Anne Frank, especially to families that suffered the Holocaust horrors. My intention was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control. To the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry."

The Democratic presidential candidate repeatedly shared his unfounded conspiracies about chemical exposure allegedly causing gender dysphoria in children.

“I want to just pursue just one question on these, you know, the other endocrine disruptors because our children now, you know, we’re seeing these impacts that people suspect are very different than in ages past about sexual identification among children and sexual confusion, gender confusion,” Kennedy said on his podcast. “These kinds of issues that are very, very controversial today.”

Multiple experts dismissed RFK Jr.'s claims in their statements to CNN.

In 2006, RFK Jr. penned a high-profile Rolling Stone article titled, “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" which questioned George W. Bush's 2004 presidential election win. There was a breakdown of the election system in Ohio at the time, but they found no evidence of the alleged fraud RFK Jr. claimed.

Vanity Fair released an article detailing the alleged assault Eliza Cooney, the Kennedys' babysitter in 1998, experienced. Cooney was hired by the family and moved in with RFK Jr. and Richardson.

According to the former employee, RFK Jr. touched her leg while having a family meeting at their home. The alleged incident happened again when the shirtless 70-year-old politician reportedly entered her room and asked her to rub lotion on his back.

Cooney also shared the 1998 incident when RFK Jr. allegedly groped her while they were in the kitchen.

"My back was to the door of the pantry, and he came up behind me," she told Vanity Fair. "I was frozen. Shocked."

The independent presidential candidate admitted to being on Jeffrey Epstein's private jet twice during his interview with Fox News, stirring condemnation as the late financier was a convicted s-- offender.

RFK Jr. explained he boarded the jet in 1993 to fly to Florida with his wife at the time and their two children to spend Easter with his mother. He was on the plane on another occasion.

For years, RFK Jr. has insisted on the debunked theory that the CIA killed his uncle and former President John F. Kennedy. He accused former CIA director Allen W. Dulles of helping cover up the agency's involvement in the assassination.

In September, New York Magazine announced they placed Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi on leave after learning about her alleged inappropriate relationship with the politician.

Nuzzi "acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures," the publication said in a statement.

"Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign," the spokesperson 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."

One source claimed all of their communication was digital, adding that Nuzzi sent naked photos of herself to Kennedy. Nuzzi didn't comment on the picture accusations but confirmed their relationship was "never physical."

Kennedy denied being romantic with the writer and insisted he met her only once for an interview.