“Drop It, Larry!” star Cheryl Hines has not commented publicly on her husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sexting scandal with a much younger political reporter – but behind the scenes she is probably seething with anger, a source revealed to Page Six on Friday.
The source, who knows the couple, said Hines is not a pushover at home and has “backbone.”
“He’s been traveling a lot this year, so maybe it was different and tested the relationship,” the source speculated, referring to RFK’s hopeless presidential bid, which was put on hold last month.
“I can’t imagine that she would put up with this. She has a backbone. She’s not a little housewife. She’s successful and financially independent.”
News of 70-year-old Kennedy’s alleged digital-only sexting relationship with 31-year-old New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi broke Thursday, sending shockwaves in Washington, DC, and beyond.
Hines and Kennedy, 70, have been married since 2014 – and celebrated their 10th anniversary last month.
Nuzzi – who was recently engaged to Politico reporter Ryan Lizza – was placed on leave from the publication after the alleged affair came to light.
“She had a personal relationship with a former subject of the 2024 campaign while covering the campaign, which violated the magazine’s standards regarding conflicts of interest and disclosures,” New York Magazine said in a statement.
Nuzzi wrote about Kennedy for the magazine in the fall of 2023. The unlikely couple reportedly began sexting around New Years, sources told The Post.
Nuzzi admitted in her own statement that earlier this year “the nature of some conversations between me and a former reporter became personal” – without mentioning Kennedy by name. She stressed that the relationship was never physical.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Kennedy said the failed presidential candidate had only met Nuzzi “once in his life for an interview she requested, which resulted in a defamatory article.”
However, sources told The Post on Friday that the two had not been particularly careful to keep their rendezvous a secret.
“There’s a reason New York Mag found out,” the source said.
