Chris Pratt Defends RFK Jr. and Talks Family Dynamics

Chris Pratt says that he and in-law Robert F. Kennedy Jr. don’t talk politics at the dinner table.

“I’ve spent a number of occasions hanging with him in a strictly family dinner kind of vibe, and I really got along with him well,” Pratt, 46, revealed on the Monday, August 18, episode of Bill Maher‘s “Club Random” podcast. “I think he’s great. I think he’s funny. I like him. I love him.”

The Guardians of the Galaxy star married into the Kennedy family in 2019 when he and Katherine Schwarzenegger tied the knot. Schwarzenegger’s mom, Maria Shriver, is the daughter of Eunice Kennedy, who was sister to John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Sr. 

Within the family tree, Pratt and RFK Jr. are cousins-in-law. 

“When you jump on the bandwagon with the most divisive president ever, it makes sense that you’re going to be made to look terrible. So I don’t know what to believe,” the actor remarked of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Service’s controversial views, which include false claims about safe and effective vaccines. 

Pratt continued, “It’s not like I sit with Bobby and go, ‘So hey, let’s talk about this.’ We’re just playing cards or playing Mafia or having fun or having dinner. I’m not going to pick his brain to find out exactly which of those things are true.”

Pratt said there are “certain things [that Bobby] oversees that seem to be supported in a bipartisan way — like getting terrible toxic stuff out of our kids’ food. I think that’s a great thing. If you just do that, that’s amazing.”

He added, “I’d hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I’d be having an allergic reaction to. To be like, ‘Oh, well, if they do it, I don’t want it to happen. I’ll put Clorox in my children’s cereal myself!’ Be reasonable here. There’s certain things that would be a good thing to have. I want them all to be successful.”

Pratt called politics a “nasty business” and said he’s “seen how the person you are can be such a contrast to the person that people are being told that you are, and you can go, ‘Wow, that is pure fiction.’”

Pratt and Schwarzenegger, 35, share daughters Lyla, 5, Eloise, 3, and son Ford, who will be 1 year old in November. The actor also shares son Jack, 13, with ex-wife Anna Faris. He celebrated Jack’s milestone birthday over the weekend. 

“I have a teenager???” he wrote via his Instagram Story on Sunday, August 17 alongside family photos. “Jack, I can’t believe you are 13 today. I’ve watched you grow into such an incredible young man, and am truly proud of the person you are becoming. I love you! Jesus is King! ❤️✝️.”