How a Beloved TV Star Became Liberal Hollywood’s Public Enemy Number One

There’s a wedding photo from 2014 that has recently and understandably gone viral. On the left is former independent presidential candidate-turned-new-Donald-Trump-supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr., grinning with the joy of new-found marital bliss, with his ill-fated bid for president gone without a twinkle in his eye.

At center is his new bride, Cheryl Hines, an actress best known for her role on Curb Your Enthusiasm as Cheryl, Larry David’s long-suffering wife, who smiles broadly but slightly nervously into the camera. And on the right is David himself, whose expression of ironic bewilderment seems to suggest that Hines’ real-life union is as doomed as the one on his sitcom.

Ten years later, RFK Jr. – as he prefers to be called – is still married to Hines, but their marriage has been under considerable strain, not to mention public scrutiny, since the Kennedy scion first announced he would run for president in 2023. While his often eccentric campaign was widely ridiculed, not least for his public claims that part of his brain had been eaten by a worm and that he once dumped the body of a bear cub in a New York park after photographing himself with it, it still came as a surprise that he endorsed Trump.

He had described the former president as “a horrible human being,” “probably a sociopath” and “a disgrace to democracy,” and declared that “under no circumstances” would he ever participate in a Trump presidential campaign given the differences in their policies; as recently as 2016, he had supported Hillary Clinton over the eventual victorious Trump.

Kennedy Jr. at least has a say in his decisions, but his wife is now in a nearly impossible position. If she continues to support her husband, she will now be pilloried as part of that small but unpopular group, Hollywood’s Trump supporters. But if she comes out and disapproves of his support for the Republican presidential candidate, she risks destroying her marriage in a very public and deeply embarrassing way. Most celebrity unions have their share of risks and difficulties, but few have the potential to implode on such a scale.

Hines’ public statement on X could be seen as an attempt to appease everyone at once. She called Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign – which she, in an unfortunate typo, referred to as his “presidency” – an “eye-opening, transformative, and engaging journey” and praised those who worked on his campaign, writing: “They accomplished feats that were said to be impossible. They collected over a million signatures, more than any candidate in history, and achieved ballot access nationwide despite the obstacles and lawsuits brought against them with the sole purpose of keeping Bobby off the ballots so that no one would even have a chance to vote for him.”

Describing Kennedy Jr.’s decision to run on the principle of “unity,” she concluded, “My experience is that the vast majority of all parties are really good people who want the best for our country and for each other.”

Unfortunately for Hines, many of these “really good” people are fiercely against her. The actor Bradley Whitford, who starred in The West Wing and is known for his liberal and progressive politics, publicly criticized her, writing, “Hey @CherylHines, way to stay silent while your insane husband supports the convicted rapist who brags about depriving women of their basic rights. Brave. Great example to the kids.” He sarcastically referenced Kennedy Jr.’s uncle JFK’s famous 1956 book about the courageous acting of U.S. senators in his tweet, concluding with, “Profile in courage.”

And while most actors have kept quiet about it, Hines is now under attack. One comedian who ridiculed her use of the word “presidency” wrote: “I didn’t know he was president. Or in your worm-eaten brain, maybe he already was.”

Other social media users have been quick to pillory Hines. “You are worthless,” one complained. “I can’t even enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes with you on them anymore,” while another, either deliberately mixing fact and fiction or acting out of confusion, declared that “it’s no wonder Larry divorced you.” There have also been plenty of messages of support for Hines, but they have come almost exclusively from Trump supporters.

David himself hasn’t commented on his on-screen wife’s current plight, but as one of Hollywood’s most prominent liberals, his disdain for Trump is probably a given. Still, the actor and comedian’s opinions on Hines and RFK Jr. are of more than usual interest; after all, David was instrumental in their relationship, having introduced them in the first place.

As Kennedy Jr. put it in an interview earlier this year, he felt it was disrespectful to date David’s “television wife” without permission, so he met David at a hotel to discuss matters. The grumpy comedian was, in Kennedy Jr.’s recollection, “very happy” with their relationship, telling him that “Cheryl was the best person I’d ever met” and that “she was the only [person] in Hollywood who didn’t have a single enemy.” When he spoke to Hines about the relationship, David was quite blunt. “That will never work.”

Hines now regularly apologizes on her husband’s behalf. At an anti-vaccination rally in 2022, RFK stirred controversy when she said, “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, hide in the attic, just like Anne Frank.” Hines continued on Twitter: “My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in DC was reprehensible and insensitive,” she said. “His views do not reflect mine.” (She later expressed regret for this, saying, “If I had to do it all over again, would I use such strong language? Probably not.”)

She has also been consistent in her disdain for RFK Jr.’s new ally. “Even when Trump got elected, I really had to have a long conversation with myself, because I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it through these four years,'” and joked that, in the event that Trump attacked her husband during the campaign, “I’ll be in Greece. No reception. That’s my plan.”

Ultimately, the attacks came from the Democratic side rather than the Republicans, with Kennedy Jr.’s own family condemning his decision to support Trump as “a betrayal of the values ​​that our father and our family hold most dear” and implicitly expelling him from the clan, calling it “a sad ending to a sad story.” And Hines has certainly defended her husband steadfastly, even when pressed about his more baroque conspiracy theories. “I would think that if you saw your uncle murdered, you would see the world through a different lens than you would your father,” she said, quite reasonably.

She now finds herself in an impossible and unenviable position. She previously insisted that she forbade Kennedy Jr. to associate with the extreme types like Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. “Bobby talks to everybody and wants to connect with everybody. I understand where he’s coming from,” she said. “But I have my limits, too.” Larry David was asked if his friendship with both Hines and Kennedy Jr. could lead to an endorsement, which led to this perfect response: “I love and support [Bobby]but I don’t ‘support’ him.”

Hines doesn’t have that luxury. “I’ve learned a lot in the last two years,” she told the Hollywood Reporter in early 2024. “I don’t pay as much attention to social media. There’s a cycle in the news. Things blow up, they talk about it for a day or two, and then they move on. And so I’ve learned to stay out of it, because my words live on. And because Bobby is my husband. And I would never want to hurt Bobby. I love him.”

Even after the controversy dies down, Hines will likely be reminded of one of his husband’s comments in particular. If he were to accept a position as Trump’s running mate, he said, “it would be devastating to my marriage.” To which his wife emphatically replied, “I think Bobby knows me very well.”

More than any scene with Larry David, the coming months may prove to be the true test of her acting skills.