. Perhaps Mary Richardson Kennedy was, and had been for some time, a desperately sick woman. Mary had been getting more labile and desperate, he recalls, still puzzled, but I didnt think it would ever come to that. [10], On May 16, 2012, Richardson was found dead at her home in Bedford, New York. The family feud exploded after Mary's body was found hanging from the barn rafter. [1] Richardson's mother was Nancy Higgins, a public school English teacher. The enigmatic title of British-Iranian author Melody Razak's debut novel Moth puzzled me at first. Conor's mother, Mary Richardson Kennedy, had committed suicide just a few months prior, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, reportedly saw Swift's presence in his son's life as a "good" distraction. The perfect addition to your next book . Bobby and his surrogates were trying to persuade her that she was definitely going to lose the kids, and, unfortunately, she believed them over us.(Kennedys camp denies this. She married Robert F. Kennedy Jr . Marys was a classic mental illness, maintains Kerry Kennedy, Richardsons best friend since the pair were boarding-school roommates at Putney, which made her so unlike herselfkind, generous, a wonderful mother, perfect friend, force for good on our earththat it was as if shed been invaded by a foreign body. Mary always felt misunderstood and judged by her family, says a childhood friend, always longing to get away from them, especially her mother, whom friends say drank and Richardson felt was not supportive. Saoirse Kennedy Hill, granddaughter of assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the only child of Courtney Kennedy Hill, was buried Monday afternoon next to her aunt Mary Richardson Kennedy the . Mary's best chance to get her children back was to do well with a psychological evaluation that would determine long-term custody. On Friday, with permission from Kennedy, she attended parents weekend at Massachusettss Deerfield Academy, where she sat in on Conors classes and had dinner with his friends. BEDFORD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) - Mourners gathered on Saturday at a modest stone church north of New York City for the funeral of Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr . His father had spent much of his inheritance on his 1968 presidential run. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. They were best friends. Despondent, Richardson spent Tuesday holed up in her bedroom alone. She was particularly attracted to sophisticated, dangerous men who often had among their assets titles and fortunes. He thought that seeing Cheryl and him openly together, says the same friend, maybe Mary would accept that he had moved on., On May 12, 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce. By 2003 Bobby wanted out, and he started living a single man's life. If she wasnt the perfect wife and mother that she projected herself to be, then what was she?. (Ten percent of borderlines kill themselves. Now the tears flowed. The Richardsons wanted their sister buried in the family plot in Vermont. ", Bobby had become far more sophisticated, with a growing reputation across America for his work with the environment. "Happy Anniversary, Love," Kennedy, 66, posted on Instagram, along with a series of photos showing him and Hines, 54, traveling together and one of the two beaming together on their wedding day. Depression and drinking didnt kill Mary, laments a friend. May 17, 2012 -- The four children of Robert Kennedy Jr. and Mary Kennedy face a complicated grieving process in the aftermath of her suicide, mental health experts . For a while. Bobby has previously been married to Ruth Black, the mother of his children Robert Kennedy III and Kathleen (known as Kick), from 1984 to 1994 and then Mary Richardson, between 1994 and 2012. There will be a time and a place for the true facts to come out. He said he cried often during his marriage, but not from sadness or grief. Bobby said You wont divorce me, says one close to the situation, but we are not married. She was in the midst of an excruciatingly ugly divorce from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the second son of Robert and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. As news of her death circulated . Perhaps Mary Richardson Kennedy was, and had been for some time, a desperately sick woman. She was a straight-A student, but hardly the scholarly sort. Six weeks before her suicide, yoga instructor Breeckner visited Richardson in Bedford, where I found Mary, sitting alone in the dark, crying., In March, however, determined to get her children back, Richardson rallied, immersing herself in AA, attending meetings and revitalizing her yoga practice, more upbeat than she had been in months. "But they never show up. The Skakels had their share of scandal, too: Michael Skakel would be convicted in 2002 of murdering 15-year-old Martha Moxley, bludgeoning her to death with a golf club. Mary and Bobby looked great together, recalls a friend. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Shares Sweet Family Photos in Honor of Son Conor's 26th Birthday, Kerry Kennedy Spends Time with Mom Ethel, 92 'Through a Plastic Sheet for Covid Safety! Mary was intoxicated. It wasn't only that she was gorgeous, but that she had an intellect to match, a nearly photographic memory, and a promising career as an architectural designer. Chelsea Table + Stage - New York's newest hotspot for intimate dining and extraordinary music - will present Amy Spanger, the acclaimed Broadway, television and film actress, in a special concert "Amy Spanger and Friends" on Monday, March 13 at 7:00 PM. ", Bobby repeatedly pleaded with Mary's brothers and sisters to do an intervention. No, because she threatened so often, a friend recalls about Mary Richardson, the wife of Robert Kennedy Jr., who slipped her head through a hangmans noose a year ago today at the age of 52. Advertisement. It feels great because you know you are going to be with the person you really like to be with for a very long time, Hines said after the wedding. For the first time, Bobby considered divorce. In a 2016 piece for the student newspaper at her private school, Saoirse opened up about her time in treatment, a previous suicide attempt and her depression, which was already a familiar presence. And he was leading her on. Four kids lost their mother and Bobby didnt cause her death. She said she intended to kill herself unless I called off the divorce and unless I promised to recommit to the marriage. Here was the womanizing Bobby, always described as a former heroin addict, leading his innocent wife to her death, yet another victim of an overweening male egoand he did so while flaunting his affair with actress Cheryl Hines, who played Larry David's wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Mary Richardson Kennedy and Robert Kennedy Jr, son of former senator Robert F Kennedy, had filed for a divorce in 2010. . Mary Richardson Kennedy was married to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 15, 1994.. She would say she was sorry and didn't know why she was acting this way. 1878-1974, May 04, 1951, Page PAGE THREE, Image 3, brought to you by University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. President John F. Kennedy; his wife, Jackie, and his brothers Sens. Moreover, she was now living alone in a big, empty house. Its fun that the two families are coming together, Hines told PEOPLE that June. In the weeks before Mary Richardson Kennedy began searching the Internet for instructions on how to make a noose, the faade of a life she'd so desperately fought to maintain was rapidly crumbling. The day that she died there was a coil of rope lying on her bed and, under the covers, a bandana, showing how to tie major nautical knotsincluding a hangmans noose. Its very sweet that way. Their tuxedos are made to measure, ensuring a perfect fit. While Bobby thrived on chaos, Mary needed structure and constancy and could not rest if there was an unmade bed in the house. Mary Kennedy (ne Richardson), pouse de Robert F. Kennedy Jr., s'est donn la mort le 16 mai 2012, 52 ans. In 2003 a great storm had fallen on Bedford and left standing water in the home, spawning black mold and rendering the large 1920 structure largely uninhabitable. ), Bienstock has his own view. But this document was a litany of everything Bobby said he had suffered. A fearless adventurer, she inspired curiosity and daring in her friends. If she admits that she is, the court takes her kids away and her therapist has to commit her, calling police if she wont go voluntarily. Kerry recalls Mary both as troubled and extraordinarily creative and original. During the bad episodes, recalls a close friend, Mary always talked about suicide.. "Mary was as talented with the left side of the brain as the right," Kerry says. They, in turn, were very protective of their mother. Saoirse Kennedy Hill, granddaughter of assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the only child of Courtney Kennedy Hill, was buried Monday afternoon next to her aunt Mary Richardson Kennedy the second wife of Saoirses uncle Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who killed herself in May 2012. She would be fine during the day, but he came to dread the evenings. "Her suicide was both a statement of hopelessness about her prospects of staying married," says Dr. Gunderson, "and it was an . For more on Saoirse Kennedy Hills young life and unexpected death, subscribe now to PEOPLE or pick up this weeks issue, on newsstands Friday. she wrote. It is thought that this hypersensitivity is present even in childhood, during which they will often feel neglected or mistreated. Mary Richardson Kennedy was active for years with the Boys . The false claim that Mary suffered from BPD is also an insult to those who do struggle with this serious mental illness. Longtime Boston broadcaster Mary Richardson has died, according to her former employer WCVB. Accuses Mary Kennedy . They together have four children: John Conor Richardson Kennedy, Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy, William Finbar Kennedy, and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy.. Driving off in her Volvo shortly thereafter, she returned, unseen, parking near the barn where her body was later found. Bobby, who was seven years her senior, had only part of the equation. Five minutes later, Bobby came down. Those waters, which had once been dark with pollution, were now on the way to becoming clean again thanks to the crusading zeal of environmentalists such as Bobby. Never angry. He began an affair that lasted three years, but after Mary made several halfhearted suicide attempts it scared Bobby so much that he broke off the relationship, according to the affidavit. Their child Matt Leven is the Post Production Supervisor at . The news of Richardsons suicide astonished her legions of friends if only because her devout Catholicism forbids it. "She would go into a kind of altered state which we came to call her 'episodes,'?" Sometimes, she felt like a single mother., Robert, surmises Bienstock, wanted to be the Disney Dad, the skiing, white-water-rafting, vacation Dad with Mary taking care of the mundane, which she did.. At the time of her death, Marys siblings sued Kennedy to have her buried in Westchester, N.Y., closer to where her four children live. I didn't adore what BPD did to her. Richardson eventually died by suicide in 2012, per . Gravedigger Frank Maki, who oversaw the plot switch, told the New York Daily News that Kennedy wanted to move his wife to an area where the Kennedy family is now negotiating to buy 50 more plots. After their separation, "Bobby would arrive to take the kids and she would throw a screaming fit," Hoving says. On Saturday, she similarly showed up for Finns parents weekend at Vermonts Stratton Mountain School. The son of activist and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the late Mary Richardson Kennedy famously dated Taylor Swift in the summer of 2012 and the pair spent time at his storied . This is not about what Bobby Kennedy nor Mary Richardson did or did not do. Like so many other things in Mary's life, it was on the surface a splendid achievement, so much so that a book was written on the Kennedys' green house. She was scheduled to see psychologist Marc T. Abrams in nearby Bedford Hills in early May, but twice broke the appointments and gave false excuses, which upset the psychologist, who notified everyone involved. He is a demon. [1] She reportedly struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse. And I loved Mary. Marys siblings reportedly werent made aware their sister was uprooted and moved to a different part of the cemetery, close to its entrance. (AP) The estranged wife of Robert F . It was always jarring., Mary never acted out in front of other people, he continues, and for years Bobby never told anybody until finally, wanting someone to hear what he was dealing with, he would put Mary on the speakerphone.. Centerville, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA. Explore. Just because the illness may not be outwardly visible doesnt mean the person suffering from it isnt struggling.. We loved Mary and the notion that this trash was put out there, for her childrens friends and teachers to read, I could no longer hold back., The debate came to a head in the library of the Kennedys Bedford estate the night that Richardson died. Bobby went on to write in his affidavit that "a few weeks later, looking for something in Mary's bureau, I found a collection of Kick's lost items concealed beneath a layer of Mary's clothing." And then came an even uglier spectacle: a battle between the two families as they lined up on a field of combat that ranged from the funeral and the burial ground to the spin in the media. Portraying Bobby as the alarmed family man, fleeing to protect himself and his children from their depressed, alcoholic, physically abusive, suicidal mother, the document infuriated Richardsons family, who publicly dismissed his vindictive lies, proof of the unbelievable emotional and psychological abuse that Mary endured during the last years of her life, and now in death., Equally upset, dozens of Richardsons closest confidantes have also spoken with The Daily Beast. ", The other person who was often in the house and saw what was going on was John Hoving, a social worker and longtime family friend of both Bobby and Mary. Right now, our primary concern is for Mary's children. Three days later, she was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Mary was still being hammered pretty hard, recalls an adviser, but [except for an Easter setback], she was sober. She married Robert F. Kennedy Jr . Carpooling, doctors, school, adds Bienstock, if somebody had a soccer game, Mary was always there., Kennedy, meanwhile, home on weekends, traveled constantly during the week for work, leaving his wife to manage the house, says a frequent visitor, and discipline the children, which he worried she couldnt do. "He thought he had finally met the person that he was going to spend the rest of his life with. In 1985, two years after Bobby had been busted for heroin possession and become sober, Mary was in a hospital to get treatment for anorexia, which she had suffered from at least since her Putney days. We were unaware of this, and we were not informed about it, Patricia Hennessey, the Richardson familys lawyer, told the Daily News. He wield[ed] power over her using emotional ping-pong, idealizing her one minute, putting her down, the next. "We deeply . Mary Richardson Kennedy (born Mary Kathleen Richardson; October 4, 1959 May 16, 2012) was an American interior designer, architect, and philanthropist. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Mary Richardson. In 1993 her hopes were realized when Robert Kennedy Jr., then separated from first wife, Emily Black, ran into Richardson at a New York art gallery. She was drinking heavily, and her behavior became so erratic that court authorities would only allow her to see her four children during visits supervised by the family housekeeper. Mary Kennedy's death now appears even more tragic. Correction: John Hoving is a social worker and Kennedy friend. Theyll bring out the best in each other.. She did not want her marriage to end and that reality was slowly, progressively coming. I opened the door and she leapt out of her bed and hit me with a roundhouse punch that, had I not blocked it, would have undoubtedly broken my face. May 17, 2012. He was a god. Even when Kennedy came clean about other women, Mary justified [it by saying] that he was an addictive personality, adds a close friend, with a disease, but in her heart she knew., Kennedy had mentioned divorce previously, but on Fathers Day in 2006, he finally told his wife that he was getting a divorce and leftreturning two weeks later when Richardson refused to let him see the children. In fact, the surprise is not that she died so young, but that she willed herself to stay alive so long. Of the grandchildren of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, the offspring of Robert Sr. and Ethel Skakel Kennedy had been the most troubled. "There was a fateful joining when Bobby and Mary got together," says Chris Bartle, who was godfather to their first son, Conor. Friends are divided as to whenor ifRichardson had a plan to take her life, though it is known that she asked the caretaker, three weeks earlier, to buy a rope, ostensibly for a crafts project. That evening, Richardson reached out to her husband for what would be their last phone conversation. 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Her father, John F. Richardson, was an attorney and a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, who died when she was 12 years old. Always was, always will be. Bobby read that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association lists nine criteria for BPD, five of which must be present for a diagnosis. From then on, every time that Bobby tried to leave, says a Kennedy insider, Mary would threaten to commit suicide. So she was stuck. Bobby said in his affidavit. Saoirse, who had spoken candidly about her years-long depression and the need to de-stigmatize discussions of mental health, was found unresponsive at the Kennedy family compound on Thursday and pronounced dead soon after. ", "Ode to My Best Friend -- Mary Richardson Kennedy", "Mary Kennedy: 'Green' designer, wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr", "Mary Richardson Kennedy leaves legacy of green design", "Mary Kennedy's death still puzzles friends", "Mary Kennedy, Estranged Wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Is Found Dead", "Mary Kennedy's family blasts stories on her death", "What Drove Her to Suicide? There were two sides to it. But her greatest gift was to find humor in everything and to give us all the gift of her laughter and our own. "She was the kindest person I've ever met. In April 1994, three weeks after Kennedy divorced his first wife, he married Mary, already pregnant with first son Conor. Bobby gently asked his daughter to be more responsible. "Mary was fooling around with Bobby when he was married to Emily, but that marriage was essentially over," says one of Bobby's closest friends. Even if the marriage didnt work, he wanted a relationship. Whether threatening suicide, being intoxicated in their presence, or over-sharing details of her relationship with her husband, says someone close to the court case, Mary didnt realize how damaging her actions were to the children. Despite staff, she cooked a lot, did things with the kids, who were great. The coffin containing her remains was transferred 700 feet away and reburied in an empty part of the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Mass. There was no way that this woman was not very, very sick.. She was ethereal but not fragilefearless, really, with amazing optimism and fortitude., So persuasive was Richardsons public persona that when her yoga instructor, Colleen Breeckner, called some of Richardsons friends four months before she died, saying that she feared her student was suicidal, nobody believed that shed kill herself, she says. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text home to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who had fought drug . Robert wanted the divorce over, says the attorney, and, manipulating her, he engineered temporary custody for himself as a means of forcing Mary to end it. So, in January, while Richardson returned again to Malibu and the Canyon for another rehab stint, Kennedy was given full, temporary custody of their children. She is called a gifted architect and a "relentless advocate of green design". Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA. Mary Kennedy: 1959-2012", "Antidepressants in RFK Jr. wife's system", "RFK Jr. rejects blame during eulogy at wife Mary Richardson Kennedy's funeral", "3rd Ceremony Held for Wife of Robert Kennedy Jr", William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Richardson_Kennedy&oldid=1133938966, Sustainable building in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 January 2023, at 05:48. I saw a woman crumbling inside., Though much has been written, and more whispered, about Richardsons troubling behavior during her final months, the publication of Kennedys 2011 divorce affidavit, part of which appeared in Newsweek, following her death, seemed particularly unsparing to many. "On May 26, 2011, Mary ran over and killed the dog, Porcia, in the driveway," Bobby wrote of an experience after he and Mary had separated. Bobby knew how to keep Mary off balance, she says. I never held her accountable because that was her disease, not who she was as a person, and we all knew it., Indeed, according to documents seen exclusively by The Daily Beast that delineated Richardsons mental-health issues from early adolescence through her first year of marriage, Richardson, throughout her life, was waging a cyclical battle with her own mental healthongoing feelings of depression, self-loathing, and low self-esteem. And then there were the children, now facing a lifetime of emotional confusion because of their mothers unexplained actions. But she was drunk, and the housekeeper would now have to tell the court that Marywho'd already been arrested twice for DUIs since Bobby had filed for divorce in May 2010was drinking again. It wasn't until about five years after the original incident, he said in the affidavit, that "I learned from Kick and many others who had witnessed Mary's conduct, the heartbreaking story of Mary's long campaign of cruelty and abuse directed toward Kick." View full size Associated Press, File In this photo of April 6, 2010, Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, pose for a photo outside their Bedford, N.Y. home. Almost everyone, including Mary's own therapists, thought that the marriage was so damaging to both of them that it must end. Confronting Kennedy, Nan Richardson is said to have angrily announced: You killed my sister. Its unconscionable of the Richardsons to say that, responds a confidante of both families. Her father John F. Richardson was an attorney and professor and mother Nancy Higgins is a public school English teacher. I dont know if hell find that chemistry again, he continues. Before she'd married Bobby, Mary had been an architect at the prestigious design firm of Parish-Hadley, where she had worked on an ecologically advanced renovation of the Naval Observatory, the official Washington residence of thenvice president Al Gore. "She had [our youngest son] Aidan call me to tell me. Thomas Richardson, the titular leader of the family, replied, asking that these emails stop: "We will be forced to respond in kind, and the record that we will be forced to set forth is not one that Bobby will be pleased to have on paper or in electronic form.". It was a juicy tale, lacking in nuance. With the extraordinary legal bills from their divorce topping $1 million, neither Mary nor Bobby could afford to live there much longer. Was Richardson mentally ill or tormented by her husband? Editor's note: The Richardson family declined to be interviewed for this story. It was having her kids taken away., The system is Kafka-esque, declares Kerry. "Daddy, I think Mary is stealing from me," Kick said, as Bobby recalled in the affidavit. . That sets the stage for their search for an idealized caretaker. As she grew to adulthood, she bloomed into a statuesque, smart beauty. That's the portrait that emerges from a sealed, 60-page court affidavit filed by Bobby during divorce . DAVID L RYAN/THE BOSTON GLOBE/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock, Inside the Short Life and Sudden Death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill, RFKs Granddaughter, Husband of Mass. He alleges that Kick told him that Mary would take her into a closed room to harangue her about her many supposed faults, including the way she dressed. Bobbys complicated, got his own issues; Im not sure he had the emotional skills to deal with it another way., Eventually, he settled in with Cheryl Hines, albeit discretely, until the summer of 2011 when, much to Richardsons chagrin, the pair started showing up publicly. Mary's eldest sister, book editor Nan Richa rdson, was also involved in human rights causes with Kerry Kennedy, now divorced from Cuomo.