A new RFK Jr. claim is putting Cheryl Hines and their marriage right back under the microscope. According to biographer Isabel Vincent, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried hard to keep the marriage intact after the Olivia Nuzzi scandal because another divorce could have created a serious problem for his public image and, in her telling, even threatened his standing in Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Vincent made the claim while promoting her new biography, saying the fallout was far worse than it looked from the outside.
Vincent said the rough patch after the Nuzzi scandal was not some minor wobble. “Everything was not okay,” she said, adding that the episode was “almost the end of their marriage,” according to People’s report on her interview. She also claimed Kennedy felt he “couldn’t have another divorce” while serving in Trump’s administration, where he is currently HHS Secretary.
Biographer Says RFK Jr. Saw Divorce as a Bigger Risk
The hook here is not just marital drama. It is the motive Vincent attaches to it. She alleged Kennedy worried that another divorce filing would not sit well with more traditional supporters and could complicate life inside a Republican administration. That is a loaded suggestion, especially because it frames the marriage as partly political survival and not just personal repair.
Vincent also claimed the marriage is still not exactly on rock-solid ground. In her account, the two are “somewhat together,” but not always side by side, and Hines is not accompanying him everywhere. That gives the story a second layer. Even if the marriage survived the scandal, the book suggests the stability may be limited.
Cheryl Hines Already Hinted the Nuzzi Story Hit Hard
Hines herself has not backed Vincent’s Cabinet theory, but she did previously admit the Nuzzi rumors were a brutal period. In an October 2025 interview, she said the scandal surfaced during an already chaotic stretch and shortly after her nephew’s death, calling the whole thing “a lot.” She also said the story was “distracting at best” during a real family crisis.
That is what gives Vincent’s new claim traction. Hines already confirmed the moment was painful. Vincent is now arguing it came even closer to collapse than people realized, and that Kennedy had more than marriage on the line when he tried to hold things together. Whether readers buy that or not, it is the kind of allegation that keeps this relationship in the gossip cycle.
