All About RFK Jr.'s Second Wife, the Late Mary Richardson Kennedy

RFK Jr. and Mary Richardson Kennedy got married in 1994 and separated in 2010

NEED TO KNOW

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mary Richardson Kennedy got married in 1994 and separated in 2010
• The pair welcomed four children: Conor, Kyra, William and Aidan
• Mary, an architect from New Jersey, died by suicide in 2012

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was married to Mary Richardson Kennedy for over a decade.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary married Mary, a longtime friend of his sister Kerry Kennedy, in 1994. After welcoming four children together, the pair separated in 2010 and were in the process of divorcing when Mary died by suicide in May 2012.

Now, RFK Jr. and Mary's marriage and bitter split is being further explored in a new biography RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise, written by investigative reporter Isabel Vincent, who covered Mary's death and was given access to several of RFK Jr.'s private diaries that she had taken "for insurance."

An excerpt from the book details how RFK Jr. — who is now married to third wife Cheryl Hines — wrote in his diary about feeling like something was missing from his life after he wed Mary.

"I’ve been given everything that any person could wish for: A beautiful wife and kids and loving family, wealth, education and good health and job I love," he wrote in his diary. "And yet I’m always on the lookout for something I can’t have to wreck it all."

Here's everything to know about RFK Jr.'s second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy.

Mary grew up in New Jersey

Mary grew up in Hoboken, N.J., per ABC7NY. She was raised alongside two brothers and four sisters. Her father, John F. Richardson, was a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He died in 1971, per The New York Times.

Mary attended The Putney School, where she met RFK Jr.'s sister at 15 years old, as Kerry wrote for Huff Post in May 2012.

"The next weekend we hitch hiked [sic] to Boston to see my siblings Michael, Bobby, David, Courtney and Kathleen, and for the rest of her life, she spent nearly every weekend and vacation with our family," Kerry wrote, noting that they were roommates from age 15 until 30.

Kerry wrote that they were "inseparable" and detailed what Mary was like at Putney, describing her as the "smartest student."

"On the left side of her desk was all her work in a neat pile," Kerry wrote. "On the right side, was the pile of papers from all the other kids, which she was correcting for spelling, grammar and syntax."

She was an architect

Mary worked as an architect for many years. Following her death, she was remembered for the work she did in pushing boundaries of "green design," as the Kennedy family said in a statement at the time.

Their statement said that Mary was "a tremendously gifted architect and a pioneer and relentless advocate of green design who enhanced her cutting edge, energy efficient creations with exquisite taste and style," per CNN.

Outside of architecture, she also advocated for food allergy research as one of her children had severe allergies, per The Guardian. She co-founded the Food Allergy Initiative, known as the world's largest private source of funding for food allergy research, per the outlet.

Mary and RFK Jr. got married in April 1994

Mary and RFK Jr. began dating while he was still legally married to his first wife, Emily Ruth Black, whom he separated from after 10 years of marriage.

RFK Jr. married Mary on April 14, 1994, one month after his divorce from Black was finalized, per The New York Times. Their nuptials took place on a boat on the Hudson River in New York.

They welcomed four children

RFK Jr. was already a dad of two — Robert "Bobby" Kennedy III and Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, whom he welcomed with his first wife — when he married Mary.

Nearly three months after their wedding, RFK Jr. and Mary welcomed their first child, Conor Kennedy, on July 25, 1994.

They went on to welcome three more children: daughter Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy, born in August 1995, followed by sons William Finbar "Finn" Kennedy in November 1997 and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy in July 2001.

They were having marital struggles prior to her death

After nearly 16 years of marriage, RFK Jr. and Mary separated in 2010. In the months leading up to her death, their looming divorce had turned ugly, as they were fighting over money, custody of their children and his relationship with Hines, which had gone public by October 2011.

Kennedy wrote about marital struggles in his diary and shared his inability to resist random sexual encounters with women, which he referred to as "mugging" in his journal, per the excerpt of RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise.

"Our bed is an unfriendly place," he wrote. "She hates it when I go to bed with her, and will never have sex at night. She rarely speaks to me of anything but scheduling."

Mary died in May 2012

Mary died by suicide at 52 years old on May 16, 2012.

That June, Kerry told PEOPLE that Mary had "struggled" with her mental health even when they had met as teenagers. However, others disagreed, including Mary's friend and Anthony Radziwill's wife, Carole Radziwill.

"I didn't see anything close to that," Carole told PEOPLE in June 2012, while another friend said, "Mary did not have a history of depression. She became a troubled person because of the divorce."

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.

Read the full article here