The New Yorker’s excellent take down of Robert Kennedy Jr. doesn’t go far enough.
But Clare Malone’s excellent reporting at least reveals the dreadful and disgusting story of Kennedy — at age 57 — putting a dead bear cub in Central Park and making it seem like a cyclist hit it.
Malone also reveals that the New York Times story about the bear was written by Kennedy’s cousin, Tatianna Schlossberg, who then worked for the paper. She didn’t know he was responsible? Malone says that it was a coincidence.
Malone also reveals, if you didn’t know, that Kennedy started an affair with Mary Richardson while he was married to his first wife. Richardson got pregnant, which ended the first marriage. Later, as we all know, Richardson — after having four children — committed suicide.
What Malone doesn’t say is that Kennedy — whom she does identify as a serial philanderer — had an affair during the Richardson marriage with a then famous TV star. (Their friendship endures.) Kennedy’s children have not fared particularly well as adults. One of them, Kick, was written out of the HBO series, “Newsroom,” before she even started.
There’s a lot more. Nearly everyone in New York circles has a bad story about Bobby Kennedy. I was friends with Peter Kaplan, Kennedy’s Harvard roommate, in the 80s and 90s until his death from cancer. He was regularly negative about Kennedy in our conversations. If he were alive, he’d be livid at how Kennedy turned out.
The bear story is disgusting, and seems like a crime that will go unpunished. It’s just part of Kennedy’s horrible story. Malone almost makes a point that Kennedy’s psychosis stems from his father’s tragic death. But his other siblings — Kathleen, Rory, Kerry — have managed to rise above it and make lives for themselves of value. They’ve all disowned his presidential candidacy, along with other members of the family.
Here’s the link to the New Yorker story. And a picture below from it.
