Photo-illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
As Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismantles our health care infrastructure, you have to wonder what his wife Cheryl Hines’ group of Hollywood friends think of his MAGA makeover. Eight months and one disastrous The view interview for Hines on RFK Jr.’s tenure, it appears at least one domino has fallen. Tuesday, during an appearance on the podcast Breaking bread with Tom PapaComedian Tig Notaro – a longtime friend of Hines’ who once hosted a podcast with her – admitted that she was distancing herself a little from their friendship.
“Cheryl was one of my favorite friends to be silly with, and we made each other laugh so much,” Notaro said. “But Cheryl is married to Bobby Kennedy Jr. When he announced his candidacy (for president in 2023), I just felt like I had to step away, because there are beliefs that were like a gnat on the arm years ago that were being pushed more and more.”
“My friendship with Cheryl predates her marriage to Bobby,” she continued. “But then (her beliefs) started to grow, and Cheryl wanted me to listen to Bobby…and I was like, ‘I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.’ I just didn’t trust it. And then he supported Trump, and then it got difficult.
Although Notaro did not specify what particular “beliefs” concerned him, RFK Jr. spent many years touting widely debunked anti-vaxx theories — and that was before he was tasked with overseeing the nation’s major health initiatives. In 2015, he apologized after comparing the number of children injured by vaccines to the Holocaust. He made another comment about the Holocaust in 2022, when he compared the plight of anti-vaxxers to that of the Jews who lived in Nazi Germany. Now that Trump has lashed out at our health care system, he has doubled down on misinformation about vaccines, including repeating the widely debunked conspiracy theory that they cause autism in children.
Hines, best known for her starring role in the Larry David film Limit your enthusiasmmarried Kennedy in 2014, and although she was once a registered Democrat — and sometimes tried to distance herself from his more outrageous claims — she has spent this year tiptoeing into the role of MAGA wife. Earlier this week, she regurgitated her husband’s favorite anti-vaxx arguments on The view and insisted that he, a man with no medical training, had in fact spent many years “studying people’s health.”
“When someone says, ‘Oh, we don’t agree on everything’ in a marriage, it’s so vague,” Notaro said of Hines’ relationship with Kennedy. For example, Notaro joked that she and her wife, Stephanie Allynne, couldn’t agree on the temperature of the thermostat in their bedroom — or on the effectiveness of childhood vaccinations or whether to make a reference to Anne Frank at an anti-vaxx rally. “It’s not my world. It’s a rough patch,” Notaro added of their longtime friendship. “You are allowing a particular journey to keep this country going. »
When Dad noted that he missed the dynamic of female podcasts, Notaro agreed: “It’s really sad, because…Cheryl brought me so much joy. But she said she was willing to “prioritize people who bring me joy.” Luckily for Hines, she has an exciting new social circle to choose from. I heard Usha Vance needs a girlfriend?
