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About 17 years ago, back when Facebook<\/u><\/a> was new and mildly intriguing, I begrudgingly joined and received a friend request from a guy I went to high school with. We weren\u2019t close, barely acquaintances, really, but he lived in Los Angeles, was gay and out, and we bonded over that in a few brief messages.<\/p>\n He seemed happy, in love, and living his truth. Then, heartbreakingly, tragedy struck when his partner died by suicide, and not long after, he died too.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t close enough to him to be filled with grief, but his death stuck with me nevertheless, because he seemed like he was doing so well. What I remember most was that his Facebook page was full of photos of him with Cheryl Hines<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n They looked genuinely joyful, and that made me love her even more. I\u2019d already adored her from Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em><\/em><\/u><\/a>, where she managed to play the perfect foil to Larry David\u2019s grating chaos, but knowing she was a kind and loyal friend to my classmate made her more endearing.<\/p>\n And now, all these years later, that same Cheryl Hines feels almost unrecognizable. Because this week, she endured what might be the most uncomfortable book launch press tour in Hollywood history. It was a parade of public reckonings over her marriage to her husband, the brain-wormed<\/u><\/a> Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> “Pre-Gay” Kid Featured on Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n On <\/u>The View<\/em><\/em><\/u><\/a>, Hines found herself sparring with the hosts over her husband\u2019s dangerous and bizarre health policies. It was less happy talk and more like an interrogation. They grilled her on whether she agreed with his anti-vaccine stances and all his wild-eyed conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n Watching that segment with her trying to seem like a loving wife to a nutcase while still having her senses about her was excruciating. She kept smiling, forced as it could be, and she tried deflecting, insisting she was \u201cher own person,\u201d but I\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s hard for me to reconcile that you can be Cheryl Hines without being corrupted by RFK Jr.? It sounds like fantasy.<\/p>\n I think The View<\/em>‘s hosts were thinking the same way, like, Oh, come on, that\u2019s B.S.!<\/em><\/p>\n Then came Tig Notaro<\/u><\/a>. The talented comic, actress, and longtime friend revealed she\u2019d \u201cunfriended\u201d Hines, literally and figuratively. Notaro, who is pretty no-nonsense, said she couldn\u2019t square Hines\u2019s marriage with her own values. In Hollywood, coming forward publicly was almost forcing Hines into a moral accountability.<\/p>\n As the old saying goes, or maybe it\u2019s just something I thought up, when comedians start walking away, you know the curtain is falling.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> Tig Notaro reveals why she\u2019s no longer friends with Cheryl Hines<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n And if that wasn\u2019t enough, journalist Olivia Nuzzi<\/u><\/a> is about to set off a literary bomb with her upcoming memoir, American Canto<\/em><\/em>, which reportedly will include sexually charged texts from RFK Jr. and salacious details about his marriage to Hines.<\/p>\n This will undoubtedly prove that, try as she might, Hines can never escape the inexplicably loutish exploits of her erratic husband.<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong>Robert ‘Froggy’ Kennedy Jr. ribbits lies, conspiracy theories, and gibberish, garbling our public health<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hines\u2019s memoir, Unscripted, <\/em>comes out November 11. Instead of the triumphant confessionalism that comes with book launches, Hines will likely stir up questions about why she continues to stand by her husband\u2019s side.<\/p>\n Especially, when the world sees her tethered to a man so spectacularly untrue to science, truth, reason, logic and scruples.<\/p>\n However, prior to the book\u2019s release, she did clear up that the worm only ate part of RFK Jr.\u2019s brain, and she says, \u201cSo don\u2019t worry.<\/u><\/a>\u201d Um, OK, but we are worried \u2014 I mean, really worried.<\/p>\n Liberal Hollywood, predictably, is turning cold to the unpredictability of Hines’s marriage to the new right-wing extremist Kennedy scion. Reports say her old friends are drifting away<\/u><\/a>, her circle shrinking. The same industry that once cheered her sunny optimism opposite Larry David now are talking behind her back with exclamations of \u201cHow could she?\u201d<\/p>\n How indeed!<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to see life imitating art here. On Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/em><\/em>, Cheryl\u2019s character eventually divorces Larry, weary of his constant offenses and social tone-deafness. Also, I\u2019m sorry, I love Larry, and I\u2019m not Brad Pitt<\/u><\/a>, but I could never understand how Cheryl could be married to someone so, well, I\u2019ll just say it, gross.<\/p>\n The divorce on the series just felt inevitable. And now, in real life, we\u2019re watching the same woman live in a far worse version of that plotline, only instead of Larry David\u2019s comic cynicism, she\u2019s married to a man whose policies could genuinely harm millions.<\/p>\n And, Kennedy is just so grosser (I had no idea that was actually a word!).<\/p>\n And if I’m trying to rationalize Hines’s thinking, there might be another reason she’s sticking with the marriage. Many from our generation grew up with dreams of becoming a part of the esteemed Kennedy family. The luster of that dream has worn off as the generations have expanded and the Camelot generation has died off. Sen.Ted Kennedy’s first wife, Joan, died last week, and she was the last of that vaunted generation.<\/p>\n But RFK Jr., even though he carries his iconic father’s name, has mostly been ostracized by the Kennedy clan.<\/p>\n I\u2019m no marriage expert, though I did write a book this year about couples who fought for marriage equality, but if I were giving advice, it\u2019d be simple: Run, Cheryl, run as fast as you can while you can still save face.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> The Advocate<\/em><\/em><\/u>‘s John Casey reflects on a decade of marriage equality in new book<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n Because when (not if) the next major public health crisis hits<\/u><\/a>, and Kennedy\u2019s reckless leadership cripples the nation\u2019s response and makes everyone sick, he\u2019ll be one of the most loathed men in America. Donald Trump will always hold the most despised, of course, but RFK Jr. will be right behind him, and Cheryl, by association, will be dragged into that same pit.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> Dr. Michael Osterholm warns of the ‘next big one’ amid vaccine chaos and increasing attacks on public health<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s all much too sad. The Cheryl I once saw smiling in my late friend\u2019s Facebook photos, the one who seemed kind, compassionate, and accepting, deserves better than to be collateral damage in her husband\u2019s delusions and conspiracies.<\/p>\n This week, more than any other since Kennedy was sworn in, felt like a harbinger. The shrugs, eye rolls, and polite questions are turning into enough is enough. The laughs have stopped. The walls are closing in.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I think. She\u2019s waiting for her memoir to climb the bestseller list next month before she makes her move. She\u2019s going to ride all the controversy and gossip to cash in, then cut ties with the brain-worm husband.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the plan, she\u2019ll take the money, her integrity, and a one-way flight to a country with smart, functioning health care.<\/p>\n Because at this point, the only thing that could save Cheryl Hines is to finally curb her enthusiasm for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n Voices<\/strong><\/em> is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the <\/em><\/em>LGBTQ<\/em><\/a>+ community and its allies. Visit <\/em><\/em>Advocate.com\/submit<\/em><\/a> to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of <\/em>The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.<\/em><\/p>\n