Cheryl Hines: Tragic Details About RFK Jr.'s Wife

Cheryl Hines might excel at navigating Larry David's fictional chaos, but her real life has delivered its own unscripted blend of drama and heartbreak. From her personal relationships to public controversies, the reality of being RFK Jr.'s wife has brought its own share of dramatic twists.

Hines is perhaps best known for her longstanding role on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as the wife and eventual ex-wife of the insufferable David. As you may recall, years of her character's resentment finally came to a head during Season 6 Episode 7, when she called him during a turbulent flight, preparing to utter her final words to him. Instead of providing his wife with love and support during her time of need, Larry was more concerned about his hard-to-get appointment with the TiVo guy and eventually hung up on her. "I'm leaving," Cheryl later declared when back on solid ground. "What do you mean you're leaving?" a genuinely bewildered Larry asked. "I saved all your shows. 'Barefoot Contessa,' 'Top Chef,' 'Project Runway,'" he sputtered.

"A lot of times, I can't believe what Larry is doing or saying. I do spend a lot of time in disbelief, and there's no way around it," she told The Believer in 2007 about the improvised series. Alas, Hines' real life also very much reads like a dark improv comedy, filled with tragic twists and turns that absolutely no one saw coming.

These days, Cheryl Hines lives a life that most can only dream of, residing in a $6.6 million home in Los Angeles' Mandeville Canyon. Per the Daily Mail, Hines' not-so-humble abode boasts six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a pool with a waterfall, a spa, and a tiki bar to boot. It should be noted, however, that Hines hasn't always been accustomed to the finer things in life. Hines actually grew up in a trailer in Tallahassee, Florida, before moving into a small apartment with her siblings and mother following her parents' divorce in high school. "I ended up not only sharing a room with my mom but sharing a bed with my mom," Hines told Graham Bensinger during an appearance on his "In Depth" podcast about her modest beginnings.

However, Hines is adamant that she always dreamed of making it big. "I have a journal I wrote in, in high school," she divulged to Variety in 2014. "Our teacher told us to write down what we wanted to be in ten years, and I wrote that my goal was to make a living as an actress. In my imaginary life, in my head growing up, I was living in the big city."

While Cheryl Hines may have grown up with little in terms of monetary wealth, she was gifted with an abundance of love and support from her family — namely her siblings. Following her parents' divorce, Hines told The Hollywood Reporter that they all "made an unspoken pact to form [their] own little coalition." Once she resolved to leave the Sunshine State in search of a professional acting career in Tinseltown, her siblings sent her off, armed with handwritten notes of encouragement. 

Sadly, tragedy would go on to strike the Hines siblings more than a few times. In 2018, Cheryl's brother Chris unexpectedly died of a heart attack, leaving behind his wife and two sons — one of whom, Michael, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. "He really had to be strong for Michael. I mean strong in every way," Hines recalled during her interview with Graham Bensinger about her brother's resolve to face his son's health challenges head-on. Then, that May, Michael also died. "He was a lightning bolt of joy. He was never defined by his physical limitations and modeled for the world how to spark happiness and love," Hines penned in part of a lengthy Instagram post honoring her late nephew. "Now your dad has his Little Buddy again," she concluded.

Unfortunately, Cheryl Hines' love life hasn't been a walk in the park, either. After almost eight years of marriage and welcoming one child together, Hines and her first husband, producer and manager Paul Young, called it quits. "I was really surprised at the responsibility that comes with marriage," Hines confessed during her appearance on "In Depth" when asked about the demise of her first marriage. "You're suddenly responsible for other people, and maybe because I was single for so long, I never felt like that," she added.

Fortunately, Hines and Young resolved to stay amicable for their daughter, Catherine Rose. In fact, they've remained so close that Young was front row and center with Hines' current husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and her then-television husband, Larry David, when Hines received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014. "My agent's always like, 'That's a sitcom, Cheryl!'" she joked about the motley crew to Closer Weekly in 2018.

Alas, things got even more precarious for Cheryl Hines when she saddled herself with the wild card that is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Any woman who gets involved with Bobby does so with her eyes open, or their brains lopped off. Any woman who thinks they're going to change Bobby is misguided and purposefully ignorant," Jerry Oppenheimer brazenly penned about his friend and the subject of his 2015 biography aptly titled, "RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," the Daily Beast noted. Case in point: Cheryl Hines.

It's rumored that in the months leading up to the couple's so-called "casual" nuptials at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, RFK Jr. was involved in an affair with a married woman, later reported by the Daily Mail to be Chelsea Chapman Kirwan. But just like in showbiz, even after the affair rumors started swirling, the wedding must go on — and that it did! According to Oppenheimer, one of those in attendance at the Hines-Kennedy wedding "was mystified as to why Hines married Bob, since his history as a womanizer had become so public and was intertwined in scandal." Much like their wildly differing and confusing political views, we'll just file this one under weird things about Cheryl Hines and RFK Jr.'s marriage that everyone ignores.

Alas, many would argue that things only went from bad to worse for Cheryl Hines following her fairytale Hyannis Port wedding to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While discussing the tragic details of Hines' life, we would be absolutely remiss not to mention the Olivia Nuzzi of it all. Back in September, all hell broke loose when Status reported that New York Magazine had put their Washington Correspondent, Nuzzi, on leave after she had "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." Unfortunately for Hines, that subject was none other than RFK Jr. 

Nuzzi eventually penned her own statement confirming that the relationship had turned "personal" but was adamant that "the relationship was never physical" and did not begin until after she had published her 2023 profile of him — something RFK Jr.'s spokesperson later referred to as "a hit piece" in a statement to Status.

Nevertheless, merely weeks after all of the hullabaloo surrounding her husband and the rampant affair rumors that he just couldn't escape, Cheryl Hines told People that she was "feeling good" while attending The Groundlings' 50th anniversary party. But that's not all. She also spoke with US Weekly at the same event and went as far as to reveal the secret to their long-lasting marriage (and by long-lasting we mean 10 years). "There has to be a connection," Hines explained. Doth protest too much? TBD, we suppose.