Exclusive: The Last Days of Mary Kennedy

[boston bean]

In the weeks before Mary Richardson Kennedy began searching the Internet for instructions on how to make a noose, the façade of a life she’d so desperately fought to maintain was rapidly crumbling. She was in the midst of an excruciatingly ugly divorce from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the second son of Robert and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. She was drinking heavily, and her behavior became so erratic that court authorities would only allow her to see her four children during visits supervised by the family housekeeper. “I saw her in the kitchen, like with her head down, and I was like, Oh, golly, she’s talking on the phone and crying,” says the housekeeper, who had lived with the couple throughout their entire marriage. “But then I get close to her, and she was passed out. The plate of food was old, and her face was on top of the plate. And that day, she was drinking a lot.”


Easter Sunday, April 8, should have been a welcome respite from the chaos. She had the children—Conor, 17, Kyra, 16, Fin, 14, and Aidan, 10—all staying with her at the family home in Westchester County, N.Y. But she was drunk, and the housekeeper would now have to tell the court that Mary—who’d already been arrested twice for DUIs since Bobby had filed for divorce in May 2010—was drinking again. “I called Mary’s sisters, and they said, ‘OK, we’re going there,’” says the Colombian housekeeper, who spoke to me on the condition that her name not be used. “But they never show up. So after that, Mary told me, ‘Oh, my sisters, my brothers, they’re all so mad at me they don’t want to talk to me for what I did.’ And then she was so sorry, and then she say, ‘Why I did it? Why, why, why I drink?’”


Because of her condition, the family-court judge decided to give full but temporary custody to her estranged husband, who lived in a rented house just down the road from the couple’s estate. Mary’s best chance to get her children back was to do well with a psychological evaluation that would determine long-term custody. She was scheduled to see psychologist Marc T. Abrams in nearby Bedford Hills in early May, but twice broke the appointments and gave false excuses, which upset the psychologist, who notified everyone involved. She attended a session on May 10, and she had every reason to assume that when Abrams issued his report, he would recommend that Bobby be given full custody. And she feared living without her children.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/06/10/the-last-days-of-mary-richardson-kennedy.html

[BlueToTheBone]

1. Sad story

and the link doesn't work

[boston bean]

2. link fixed.. thank you.

[hlthe2b]

3. That was a very tough read....

Tragedy just seems to have compounded tragedy, leaving no one untouched in all this. Poor children really were caught in the middle as the adults found the limits of their ability--and that of the professionals-- to deal with a very serious mental health issue. I hope she's found peace somehow and that those left behind can do so even more.

[boston bean]

4. It was tough and it was one sided

I have no idea what to believe, but custody battles can be contentious. And at the very end of the article, you will see her family doesn't exactly see it this way.....

Who knows. But still very sad..

[seabeyond]

5. a whole lot of ugly all the way around. for me,

bottomline is the selfishness of what both did giving this to the kids. and now they will have to live with it and figure it out in their life and try to heal.

sorry. not a lot of empathy for the adults. i am kinda cold in that, i know

[Little Star]

6. Sad story all the way around....

I was shocked when I first heard about this. So sad.

[Th1onein]

7. I don't know both sides of the story, but this is heartwrenching.

Just sad for everyone all around.