TALKING ABOUT THE KENNEDY'S: THE PSYCHIATRIZATION OF MARY RICHARDSON KENNEDY!

I have been sitting through the last few days listening to what people have had to say about the day John F. Kennedy was shot.  This discussion has definitely brought back my memories of the past.  I have a vague recollection of listening to reports regarding the assassination on my parent's radio which was the size of a large cabinet.  At that time, we did not have a television, probably not because they weren't available, but because my parents didn't really believe in them.  They thought television stunted your mental growth and stopped people from communicating with one another, and they were probably right! 

 

I suppose that after JFK's death, Jacqueline Kennedy mourned the loss of her role as Queen of Camelot, the loss of all that attention, publicity and fanfare, but do you think she actually mourned the man?  I am just saying that considering the well known fact that Kennedy was constantly unfaithful to her with various women.  Is it possible that, privately, Jacqueline Kennedy found her husband's death a bit of a relief?  Because even while she was being lionized and broadly admired for her marriage to the public man, the heroic, handsome President of the United States, privately she was having to put up with a real Son of a Bitch.  Jacqueline Kennedy was lucky that no one knew this information at the time so she was able to move on with her life without having to air her dirty laundry. 

 

Mary Richardson Kennedy, however, was not so lucky! 

 

Her husband, Robert Kennedy, Jr. filed for divorce and seized custody of their children in a nasty and vicious proceedings that led to her ultimate suicide by hanging at the age of 52 on May 16, 2012.  In the aftermath of her death, I have been struck by the way in which the Kennedy family and the media as a whole have conspired to use the stigma of mental illness as a means to blackball Mary Richardson Kennedy and vindicate Robert Kennedy Jr. of any responsibility for his role in the death of his wife. 

 

In doing so, the media has particularly scrutinized Mary's life and sifted through every detail of it in order to assess it for some kind of psychiatric failing, while simultaneously ignoring or skating over similar information in regard to Robert Kennedy's life. 

 

Why? 

 

Of course, I have described this phenomenon in depth when it comes to divorce proceedings in the State of Connecticut where the Court subjects accomplished women to accusations of mental illness while leaving psychopathic ex husbands free to cause harm and damage to their children. 

 

In the case of the Kennedy family, the theory I'm hearing the Kennedy family and the sycophant media they control use is the one that I call "the evil genius" theory, i.e. the concept that while the person appears to be perfectly fine on the surface, deep down the person is cleverly hiding a completely different crazy self who is carrying out, or potentially capable of carrying out, all sorts of evil deeds. 

 

Thus, Nancy Collins of The Daily Beast* says, "The Story of Mary Richardson Kennedy is a tale of two Marys, one told by those who lived with her, the other by those who did not for whom she was "the life of the party..." 

 

And further she quotes an anonymous friend of the Kennedy family, "She [Mary] was a beautiful, charming, enthusiastic, devoted, loving mother, but Mary had serious demons that she could not get under control." 

 

And again, "Whatever the state of Richardson's private darkness, it was invariably eclipsed by her public glow." 

 

And then the clincher from Kerry Kennedy, "Mary's was a classic mental illness...it was as if she'd been invaded by a foreign body."

 

Yes, we know that's it--Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--the typical "evil genius"  Or is it "the Invasion of the Body Snatchers!" 

 

Of course, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. is just fine--none of that doubleness in his constitution, no siree! 

 

By way of proving that Mary Richardson Kennedy had a split personality indicating severe psychiatric difficulties, Nancy Collins of The Daily Beast then goes into Richardson's past history sketching out a mental health background that apparently began in early adolescence.  

 

"Indeed," she says, "according to documents seen exclusively by The Daily Beast" Richardson had mental health issues from early adolescence through her first year of Marriage.

 

Wait! 

 

Seen exclusively by The Daily Beast?  Really!  So no one else gets to see these documents and verify they are genuine and have not been tampered with?  No one in Mary Richardson's camp has the opportunity to apply the interpretation of their own psychiatrists to these records?  I guess that approach to medical records removes the need for fairness and neutrality. 

 

Furthermore, I'd like to know how private psychiatric records protected by HIPPA law can make their way into the hands of a journalist.  I think we would all love to have the opportunity to delve into Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s psychiatric records, but unfortunately, they are not available. 

 

This happens frequently in so many situations because men, particularly psychopathic men who know better and intend to set up their ex wives for take down, often do not seek psychiatric care, while women are far more likely to seek medical care should they ever feel the need.  The end result is that in situations where abusive men use the legal system to harass and torture their ex wives, there is much more negative psychiatric material available in regard to the mothers than there is in regard to the fathers. 

 

Be that as it may, as proof of Mary Richardson Kennedy's dark side, Nancy Collins points out that Mary struggled with depression and anorexia from early adolescence until around the age of 29.   At 22, she was hospitalized for that condition at Mclean Hospital for a period of three months, a fairly lengthy stay which was standard for the time.  Further Ms. Collins reports on two documented suicide attempts, one in 1985 and one in 1986.  However, from 1989 until 2005 when her marriage began to deteriorate, for approximately 16 years, Mary Richardson Kennedy basically remained stable. 

 

Meanwhile, was there any reason to consider Robert Kennedy, Jr. the picture of mental health? 

 

No. 

 

But does Nancy Collins tell us about that? 

 

No. 

 

I mean, why bother to be fair or anything! 

 

If you look at Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s personal history it appears that in 1983, Robert Kennedy, Jr. was arrested at the Rapid City, South Dakota Airport for heroin possession.  Wikipedia states "A search of his carry-on baggage uncovered 182 milligrams of the drug.  Upon entering a plea of guilty, Kennedy, then 29 years old, was sentenced to two years of probation, periodic tests for drug use, treatment by joining Narcotics Anonymous, and 1,500 hours of community service." 

 

Oh, and talking about Bobby's teenaged years, "Following his father's death, Kennedy had difficulty coping and got in trouble at home and with the law, getting arrested for loitering and marijuana possession." 

 

So one was a nutcase, and the other was a criminal, but only one was an "evil genius" with a double personality. 

 

Yeah, you guessed it, our schizo is Mary Richardson Kennedy, the Mom who lost custody of her children, who was left alone in her large empty mansion to contemplate the power of the Kennedy political machine and the minimal likelihood that she would ever get them back. 

 

Now, I understand that she lost custody because she had been drinking, which she should not have done, and she bumped up on a curb with her car because she was under the influence, which again she should not have done.  Her attorney acknowledges that after Robert Kennedy, Jr. filed for divorce Mary began to have a drinking problem for which she needed treatment.

 

But were the children honestly any better off with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?  I mean, honestly, how many of his staff was he fucking? 

 

This brings us to this year's discovery of Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s private diary dated 2001 in which he describes having affairs with 37 women and talks about struggling with what he called "lust demons."  Oh, really.  "Lust demons."!  According to Lindsay Lowe of Parade Magazine**, the diary further reveals "Kennedy's ongoing guilt over his seemingly compulsive need to have affairs with multiple women."  Not only that, apparently Kennedy kept track of the women he had sex with, noting down their names and grading them from 1 to 10 based upon how far along he got, i.e. 10 meant that he had sexual intercourse with them.  How tawdry is that?  

 

If this was what Bobby was up to just for the year 2001, imagine what was going on for the entirety of their marriage!  Now I'm not sure when she found it, since that is not reported, but apparently she did find this diary and was aware of what was going on.  I can imagine how devastating it was to find out.  I don't know how any woman could stay in a relationship knowing that was going on. 

 

Still, it isn't Robert Kennedy, Jr. who ends up with the psychiatric diagnosis; it is Mary Richardson who ends up with the diagnosis. 

 

Here we are from Dr. John Gunderson of Mclean Hospital (not the brightest bulb in the box from what I've heard).   In 2009, while the divorce was being negotiated, Dr. Gunderson diagnosed Mary with Borderline Personality Disorder.  Of course, BPD is the favorite diagnosis of every mental health professional who ever had anything against an intelligent, annoying, disrespectful, upstart type woman. 

 

And imagine, Mary Richardson Kennedy had been treated at McLean previously without receiving any such a diagnosis, in fact she'd lived for 50 years, half a century, before getting that diagnosis, but all of a sudden, during her divorce and probably court ordered psychiatric evaluation, bingo, she's got it. 

 

Robert Kennedy, Jr., however, gets a clean bill of health. 

 

As you can see, I'm not buying it. 

 

I believe Robert Kennedy, Jr. has some form of psychopathy which led him to drive his wife over the edge.  This is the same kind of psychopathy that I faced with my ex husband and so many other women have faced who are trapped in high conflict divorces in the cases I've described on this blog. 

 

First of all, Robert Kennedy decided to announce he was going to get a divorce right on father's day which has to be the most hurtful thing imaginable to do to your ex.  I love those men who decide to make that announcement on mother's day, father's day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the anniversary of your wedding, just so they can stick the knife in as deeply as possible. 

 

Then even after saying he was getting a divorce, Nancy Collins reports that Kennedy continued to lead Mary Richardson on.  Thus, even though he had a girlfriend, he would still give Mary enough encouragement to stay hopeful. 

 

Mary Richardson's attorney, Peter Bienstock, talked about how Robert Kennedy would push Mary's buttons, anger, frustrate and belittle her into taking a drink, provoking her to act in self destructive ways.  Then, when Mary lost control of herself, Robert would become very calm--he would never raise his voice. 

 

I guess that was because he got what he wanted.  Personally, I find that really creepy. 

 

Finally, one of Mary Richardson's friends stated, "Bobby knew how to keep Mary off balance--he wielded power over her using emotional Ping-Pong, idealizing her one minute, putting her down the next.  Mary hung on to the positive moment hoping to get another.  And, if not, maybe she could figure out how to get it back, always striving to please."  

 

In other words, Robert Kennedy, Jr. like any good psychopath, exercised complete control over his ex wife, manipulating and dominating her right up to the end.  

 

Honestly, there are many things that we will never know about what went on with this couple,  But one thing I do know is how the family court system crushes and destroys people, how the incendiary statements that people make in affidavits and motions cause lifelong damage and destruction.  Clearly, for a person as sensitive and caring as Mary Richardson was, this was far more than she could handle. 

 

If you want to put a psychiatric label on that go ahead.  You think Robert Kennedy, Jr. doesn't deserve one himself, you're nuts!

__________________

*Nancy Collins, "New Questions Arise About Mary Richardson Kennedy's Suicide", The Daily Beast, May 16, 2013.

**Lindsay Lowe, "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Secret Diary Reportedly Reveals Dozens of Affairs, Parade Magazine, September 9, 2013.