Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have filed for divorce in 2010, but according to an affidavit obtained by Newsweek, his marriage to Mary Richardson Kennedy was over long before then. In fact, Robert is said to have broached the idea as early as 1997. His reasoning for the split? Mary’s alleged mental health issues. “Mary’s mood vacillated between rage and self-pity. Her behavior often became violent and self-destructive,” he recounted, listing occasions in which she’d physically assaulted him.
Speaking to Daily Beast, Mary’s best friend-turned-sister-in-law, Kerry Kennedy, painted a similar picture. “Mary’s was a classic mental illness,” she told the outlet. Kerry added that the otherwise warm Mary’s mood swings were so intense that they frightened her — but that she avoided calling her out, even when the behavior was particularly worrying. “That was her disease, not who she was as a person, and we all knew it,” she said.
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Well, everyone but Mary’s family. Despite previous suicide attempts, even before her marriage in 1997, Mary’s brother, Thomas Richardson, advised Robert via email that her words shouldn’t be taken to heart. “I know you think Mary’s going to [commit suicide]. … but I guarantee she won’t. I may regret those words one day, but that’s how I feel,” he wrote. Sadly, in 2012, amid a custody battle that saw Mary temporarily lose custody because of her erratic behaviors, Mary took her own life.
