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Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines’ marriage to former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly caused friction with some of her Hollywood friendships.
The couple were famously introduced to one another by Hines’ Curb costar Larry David, and they got married at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in August 2014.
RFK Jr. ‘s growing prominence in the anti-vaccine movement subsequently put him at odds with the Western medical establishment, while his decision to join President Donald Trump’s second administration in January 2025 as the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services seemingly alienated many of his wife’s former friends. Hines stood by her husband throughout his foray in politics.
“I have a few friends, when Bobby stepped into the political arena, it became too difficult emotionally for them to stay close, just a few friends,” she told CBS News in October 2025. “And I understand it.”
Keep scrolling for a look at where some of Hines’ Hollywood friendships stand.
Larry David
According to Hines, her Curb Your Enthusiasm costar introduced her to Kennedy at a ski fundraiser in 2004. (The future couple did not seriously begin dating until 2010.)
“[Larry] was very happy about [the relationship] and [said] Cheryl was the best person he’d ever met,” Kennedy recalled in a 2024 interview. “He said that she was beloved in the industry and that she was the only one in Hollywood who didn’t have a single enemy.”
However, Kennedy then confessed David had a very different reaction to their relationship when the Curb creator spoke privately to Hines.
“He said, ‘Oh, that’s never going to work,’” Hines said.
Asked whether David was kidding around, Kennedy acknowledged that the comedian was genuinely giving his longtime costar “good advice.”
Hines continued to work with David on Curb Your Enthusiasm following her marriage to Kennedy. However, David spoke out when Kennedy told The New York Times that he felt “a lot of support and love” from Hines’ friends, including David, after he announced his short-lived presidential run in 2023.
“Yes love and support, but I’m not ‘supporting’ him,” David clarified in a text message to the Times.
Hines revealed on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2024 that she and Kennedy had dinner with David the same night he released his statement.
“Weirdly, it wasn’t [uncomfortable],” she told host Andy Cohen. “These two have been friends for so long and I think when Larry said it, I think he was being Larry, like, ‘Oh, I support him but I don’t support him.’ And I think Larry and Bobby are like, ‘Well, OK.’ And I’m just like, ‘Pass the asparagus. This is a weird night, but OK.’”
Rachael Harris
Hines and Harris became best friends in the mid-1990s while performing with the influential L.A. sketch group The Groundlings, which launched the careers of Conan O’Brien, Lisa Kudrow, Kristen Wiig, Jennifer Coolidge and many other comedy titans.
“Rachael and I have been best friends for a long time. We don’t have to put a date on it. And I learned how to improvise at the Groundlings and do sketch comedy,” Hines told People in 2024. “And if I hadn’t learned how to improvise, I would’ve never gotten part of Curb Your Enthusiasm. So, I mean, it just put me on a different path in every way.”
That same year, Harris — who is best known for starring in Lucifer and Suits — referred to Hines as “my heart” while speaking to the publication.
“I’ve always said to Cheryl that if she ever leaves me, I’m going with her,” Harris quipped. “So, we’ve been friends since around 1995. And the thing that I like to say about Cheryl these days is I love her. She’s the first person I want to talk to in the morning when I wake up. And the last person I want to talk to before I go to bed at night.”
Ted Danson
Hines and Danson worked together on Curb Your Enthusiasm for over 20 years, including a season where their characters briefly dated on screen.
In light of Kennedy joining the Trump administration, Danson revealed on the “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” podcast in April 2025 that he was no longer in touch with Hines or Kennedy.
“Both of them, I don’t see,” Danson told host Howie Mandel.
Danson said it felt like “none of [his] business” to check in with Hines about Kennedy’s political ambitions, though she did once confide in him that it was “hard to be married to a very controversial person.”
The former Cheers actor admitted there were political complications due to his wife Mary Steenburgen’s close friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, since Kennedy was critical of the Clintons in the past.
“If Cheryl wanted me to know what it was like to be with Bobby at this point, she would tell me,” Danson pointed out. “But until somebody tells me, I feel like [it’s] none of my business.”
Tig Notaro
Hines and the Star Trek alum hosted the popular podcast “Tig and Cheryl: True Story” for four years before they benched the series in 2024.
Many fans of the podcast suspected Notaro – who shares twin sons with her wife, Stephanie Allynne — was uncomfortable with Hines and Kenendy’s budding involvement in right-wing political circles, which the comedian confirmed to be true in October 2025.
“Cheryl’s married to Bobby Kennedy Jr. When he was announcing his run, I just felt like I needed to step away because there are beliefs that were like a gnat on the arm years ago that were getting further into the spotlight,” Notaro told the “Breaking Bread With Tom Papa” podcast.
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Notaro pointed out that her friendship with Hines “predated her marriage to Bobby,” though the politician’s controversial beliefs drove a wedge in their friendship.
“Again, other beliefs he had were like a gnat on my arm. But then it started to grow, and Cheryl wanted me to hear Bobby out. … And then he endorsed Trump, and then it just got hard,” Notaro remembered.
The comic added, “Cheryl did bring me so much joy. But that’s what I’m looking for, is I want to get back to prioritizing people that bring me joy and workloads that bring me joy.”
English (US) ·