In politics, it’s practically a given that spouses will be their partner’s number one cheerleader — just look at Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, who’s been glued to her side, and Gwen Walz, who’s been a steady supporter of her husband, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. We can’t say the same, however, for Melania Trump, who’s been MIA during Donald Trump’s latest bid for the White House, and Cheryl Hines, who’s been open about not aligning with her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s political moves — especially after he threw his weight behind Trump.
Earlier in the 2024 presidential race, RFK Jr. positioned himself as a serious contender for the Oval Office, running as an independent. But in August 2024, he withdrew his candidacy and decided to endorse Trump. “In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to electoral victory,” he said at the time. “These are the principled causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent and now to throw my support to President Trump. The causes were free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children.”
Predictably, this decision didn’t sit well with those closest to him, especially his family. His brother, Max Kennedy, penned an op-ed for The Los Angeles Times to shun him, expressing his disapproval over the endorsement and accusing RFK Jr. of making a “hollow grab for power.” Apparently, RFK Jr. only pivoted to Trump after Harris ghosted his plea for a role in her administration. Max even urged voters to disregard his brother and support Harris instead. What’s even more surprising is that RFK Jr.’s own wife is on Team Max, as she’s also made it clear that she finds her husband’s Trump endorsement incredibly disappointing.
Cheryl Hines is vocal about her distaste for Donald Trump
While Cheryl Hines stood by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when he bowed out of the presidential race, expressing heartfelt gratitude to their supporters, one thing was clear: She was not hopping on the Trump train alongside her husband. Hines has never been one to flaunt her political views, but RFK Jr. himself has admitted that the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star isn’t exactly Trump’s biggest fan — nor is she fond of the entire Republican Party. In an interview with TMZ, he said Hines wasn’t thrilled about his Trump endorsement, calling it a “really difficult issue” for her.
“This is the opposite of what she would want to do. She went along with it because she loves me and she wanted to be supportive of me, but it was not something that she ever encouraged,” he said, adding that Hines only backed his decision to meet with Trump after the shocking assassination attempt “out of compassion” — definitely not because she liked him. “She’s a lifelong Democrat, and the idea of me supporting Donald Trump as president was just something that she would have never imagined, that she never wanted in her life.”
Hines hasn’t minced words on the matter. When asked by Variety in early 2024 if she’d stick by her husband if he joined Trump’s ticket, her response was nothing short of blunt. “I don’t think that my marriage would survive it,” she said. The actor has even publicly distanced herself from RFK Jr. in the past, especially when he’s come under fire for controversial remarks. Back in January 2022, she declared, “My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.”
RFK and Cheryl ‘agreed to disagree’
Despite their opposing political views, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines have managed to stay together by learning to respect each other’s opinions and work through their differences. RFK Jr. once told The New York Times that he even offered to fake a split from Hines to shield her from public ridicule, but Hines shut that down, deciding it wasn’t necessary. Instead, the couple have navigated their disagreements on their own terms, with plenty of open communication.
“One of the things that I’ve learned, especially about politics, is you’re not going to agree with somebody about everything, and it’s OK,” she explained to Fox News. “We’ve learned to talk through it. Talk it out. Listen to each other. Sometimes, agree to disagree or say, ‘Oh, I’m going to think about that and I hear what you’re saying,’ or ‘I don’t like the way you’re saying it. I wish you’d say it in a different way.'”
Still, while Hines may not be fully on board with all of RFK Jr.’s political decisions, she’s surprisingly open to the idea of being first lady — if it ever comes to that. “If you’re asking me, ‘Has this been my dream, to be first lady?’ I would say, ‘No.’ But if someone said to me: ‘Guess what? You’re going to be first lady tomorrow,’ I would say, ‘Great. Let’s do it. I can’t wait to see what this looks like,'” she confessed to The Hollywood Reporter. “When I look at it like that, I think, ‘Wow, what an extraordinary situation.’ And if that’s what life hands you, then you accept it and experience it for everything it has to offer.”
