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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered to announce that he had separated with his wife, Cheryl Hines, as an effort to shield her from scrutiny of his political statements.

In a new interview with the New York Times, Hines’ first since Kennedy announced his candidacy in the 2024 presidential run, the actor reiterates that she supports her husband’s political aspirations and understands her growing role in the campaign — noting how her public persona “feels different, because it feels like every word is important” and that “people are listening in a different way.”

Hines shares that the statement that drove Kennedy to propose the separation announcement were his comparisons between the Holocaust and CDC leader Anthony Fauci’s efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID.

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Shortly after criticisms arose, Hines took to Twitter and released a statement: “My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues… The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own.”” Kennedy later apologized for his remarks.

Kennedy revealed to The New York Times, how his statement impacted his wife: “I saw how it was affecting her life and I said to her, ‘We should just announce that we are separated,’ so that you can have some distance from me… We wouldn’t really be doing anything, we would just — I felt so desperate about protecting her at a time where my statements and my decisions were impacting her.”

Although Hines never considered that action a possibility, Kennedy revealed he had written the news release.

This new profile emerges among Kennedy’s new series of controversial statements, including one in which he spoke against 5G technology and surveillance and another suggesting “S.S.R.I.s and benzos and other drugs” are responsible for America’s ongoing gun violence and school shootings. In addition to the aforementioned claims, Kennedy has publicized his anti-vaccine views for many years. In 2016, Kennedy founded the World Mercury Project, a nonprofit that advocates against vaccines for children.

“I see both sides of the vaccine situation,” Hines says in the new profile. “There’s one side that feels scared if they don’t get the vaccine, and there’s the side that feels scared if they do get the vaccine, because they’re not sure if the vaccine is safe. And I understand that.”

“So if Bobby is standing up and saying, ‘Well, are we sure that they’re safe and every vaccine has been tested properly?’ That doesn’t seem too much to ask,” Hines continues. “That seems like the right question to be asking.”

While Hines believes people are entitled to “make decisions about our body with a doctor, not with a politician”, she does not confirm or deny whether her beliefs on vaccines align with her husband’s stance.

“I support Bobby and I want to be there for him, and I want him to feel loved and supported by me,” reiterates Hines.

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