When Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines first met her husband, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he wasn’t in politics. In fact, he told her he had no plans to follow in his family’s footsteps in that way.
Needless to say, things changed. Kennedy ran for president as an independent in the 2024 election before dropping out of the race to endorse Donald Trump. The two joined forces under their shared “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) mission, and the rest is, as they say, history.
But Kennedy is a lightning rod for controversy, and the attacks on him have lapped over into her lane as well in recent years. On Monday’s show, she joined Megyn to discuss her forthcoming memoir, Unscripted, which dives into childhood, career, and, yes, her experience in Hollywood since her husband has become more “controversial.”
The Political Arena
As Megyn pointed out, Hines got thrust into politics “through not exactly a choice of your own” when Kennedy decided to run for president. The actress admitted it was “a learning curve” that not even the Hollywood spotlight could have prepared her for.
“When I started out as an actress… people start recognizing you for no reason whatsoever. People can be mean to you online. They can say, ‘I don’t like the way you look,’ ‘don’t like this,’ ‘don’t like what you’re wearing,’ whatever. That’s fine,” she said. “But then, when Bobby got into politics, it was a different world.”
She said she wrote the book to share the “crazy” experience that has had some “really challenging” times and some “fun” ones as well. Either way, “it was definitely a shift,” Hines said.
The Attacks
Hines said one of the things she enjoyed most about the campaign trail was meeting the unique coalition of voters who supported Kennedy. “I really loved his supporters and the makeup of the supporters because there were Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who were coming together,” she recalled. “They were all there because they wanted something better for each other, for themselves, and they supported Bobby. It was so great.”
But there was plenty of backlash as well. Kennedy’s willingness to call out Big Pharma and question vaccine safety landed him on the so-called “disinformation dozen” list during the Biden administration and got him banned on virtually all social media platforms.
He has credited Megyn’s extensive March 2022 interview with him with helping to change that, but Hines said she was always shocked by how polarizing he could be. “It was so interesting because, in [Los Angeles]… a lot of the people are, I would say, very careful about what they eat… they exercise… you have these mothers who have always been thoughtful about what they give their kids as far as medicine goes,” she noted. “When Bobby steps forward and says, ‘I hear you, and you’re right. You should be questioning. You should be thinking about it,’ then to see some people turn against him was so strange.”
“I talked about it in the book… because I would have been happy to never talk about vaccines. I don’t mean that in a bad way because it’s very important… and we need to look at it, but that’s not what I do. It’s not my background,” Hines added. “And at that time, I had people from both sides coming at me saying, ‘Let me tell you about this thing that happened to me,’ or ‘tell your husband to stop saying that.’ It was overwhelming at times.”
And then there were Hines’ fellow Hollywood-types, like West Wing actor Bradley Whitford, who took it to another extreme during the presidential election. After Kennedy endorsed Trump, Whitford went after her on X in August 2024:
“Hey @CherylHines, way to stay silent while your lunatic husband throws his support behind the adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights. Gutsy. Great example for the kids. Profile in courage.”
She never responded publicly, but she did have some thoughts. “I kept texting [my friends about] do I need to make a statement… I didn’t. I just took a breath,” she said. “At the end of the day, it was, in my opinion, sort of a silly tweet.”
She also admitted to being confused by Whitford bringing “kids” into the equation. “I didn’t even understand that part either,” she said. “And actually for my kids, I think it’s good to stand by your husband, your wife, your spouse, when they’re doing something that’s important.”
The Net-Net
To that point, Hines said she and Kennedy are making the most of their new normal. She said the non-stop onslaught has made them “stronger,” and she said she had enjoyed getting to know the other members of the Trump Cabinet and their spouses.
“I have a lot of friends who, at my age, their kids have moved out, and their life is sort of quiet, and they are bored. My life is the opposite,” she said. “It makes us – me and Bobby – really strong because we have fun together. Even when we go to these parties or dinners, as long as we’re together, we’ll have fun.”
And then there is the serious side. “To see what he is accomplishing and what the administration is accomplishing… we’re doing something higher. Bobby is getting petroleum dyes out of our food… He’s getting arsenic and lead out of our baby formula,” Hines said. “So, it’s okay. We’ll take the heat, we’ll take the digs, we’ll take the headlines, whatever. He is actually getting really good work done… and everything I’m talking about is beneficial for every American.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Hines by tuning in to episode 1,170 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.