Ethel Kennedy, the 96-year-old widow of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized last week after suffering a stroke in her sleep, her family said.
Kennedy’s grandson, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), announced the health update in a social media statement on Tuesday.
“She is comfortable, she is getting the best care possible, and she is surrounded by family,” he said. “She is, as you may know, a strong woman who has led a remarkably fulfilling life. We are here looking after her.”
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The former congressman, who currently serves as the U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, asked for thoughts and prayers, and for the public to respect the family’s privacy.
Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights months after the assassination of her husband. The nonprofit is now known as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and its founder has emerged as a prominent figure in international human rights advocacy.
In 2014, Barack Obama presented Ethel with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The then-president praised the oldest living member of the Kennedy clan for her work in social justice, human rights, and environmental protection.
“You don’t mess with Ethel,’’ he joked to reporters during the ceremony.
Robert F. Kennedy, right, is pictured with his wife Ethel, left, and their three children Bobby, Kathleen and Joseph at their summer home in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
Gilbert E. Friedberg/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesThe Kennedy matriarch was three months pregnant with the couple’s 11th child, Rory, when her husband was assassinated in June 1968.
A rising political star who’d gone from attorney general to U.S. senator for New York, Bobby Kennedy was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination when Sirhan Sirhan shot him at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Ethel never remarried. Two of the couple’s sons have since died: David in 1984 from a drug overdose and Michael in 1997 in a skiing accident.
She also has nearly three dozen grandchildren, many of whom were present to celebrate her most recent birthday in April. Joe Kennedy III posted a photograph of the family crowding into frame for the event, captioning it, “Happy 96th to the World’s most amazing Gramma!!”
Present in the photo was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ethel and Robert’s third-oldest child and, until recently, an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election. Kennedy Jr. suspended his bid in late August and endorsed former President Donald Trump.
Several members of his family—Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy, and Rory Kennedy—denounced his endorsement, condemning it in a statement as a “betrayal.”
Joe Kennedy III shared the family’s statement on X, remarking that it was “well said.”
Kennedy Jr. recently attracted feverish headlines for an alleged affair he carried out earlier this year with Olivia Nuzzi, a star political reporter for New York magazine. Nuzzi was put on leave after acknowledging the relationship to her editors last month.
