Joan Kennedy, who was the first wife of the late Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, has died at 89 years old after a lifetime of struggles with mental health and addiction, Newsweek reported. She was the last remaining member of family's "Camelot" generation of political influence, which also included her late brothers-in-law, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.
Joan and Ted Kennedy were married from 1958 until their divorce in 1982. She was already part of the family when her brother-in-law was elected president in 1960 and her husband was elected to the Senate in 1962.
The Bronxville, New York, native prayed alongside her sister-in-law, Jackie Kennedy, after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. Later, Joan Kennedy also stood by her husband during his infamous scandal on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts in 1969, which would follow him the rest of his life.
On July 18 of that year, Ted Kennedy crashed his car and veered off a bridge, plunging the vehicle into the water. His young female passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, was trapped in the car and drowned while Ted Kennedy escaped the scene virtually unscathed. He was charged with leaving the scene of the accident, and Joan Kennedy would suffer a miscarriage not long after.
Heath and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joan Kennedy's nephew, eulogized his aunt in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. "My beloved aunt Joan Bennett Kennedy, former wife of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), classical pianist, music teacher, and advocate for mental health and addiction services, passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Boston, Massachusetts yesterday at the age of 89," he wrote.
"She was my friend, confidante, and my partner in recovery. Joan inspired me with her courage and humility. She was one of the first prominent women in America to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression, a move that she felt was essential to breaking the silence and tackling the taboo of addiction in the 1970s," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continued.
"Her honesty and candor, and her ability to successfully recreate her life in Boston, a community that supported her privacy and embraced her recovery, made her an inspiration to countless other women facing similar challenges. She encouraged many family members in early sobriety," he added.
"At age 25, in 1962, Joan was the youngest wife of a U.S. Senator in United States history. She was a kind and generous aunt to me and my 27 cousins. She was the last survivor of an extraordinary generation of Kennedys. We all feel grateful for the time God gave us with her," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. concluded.
My beloved aunt Joan Bennett Kennedy, former wife of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), classical pianist, music teacher, and advocate for mental health and addiction services, passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home in Boston, Massachusetts yesterday at the age… pic.twitter.com/a7B145a3Ay
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 8, 2025
As her nephew indicated, Joan Kennedy was public about her many struggles and became an advocate for those fighting the same demons of substance abuse and mental illness. It seems her problems began after divorcing her husband, as Joan Kennedy racked up drunk driving arrests and was in and out of rehab for alcohol abuse.
In 2005, she was hospitalized after she was found unconscious on the streets of Boston. After that, her son Ted Kennedy Jr. took over as her legal guardian and took care of her. Through it all, Joan Kennedy never shied away from speaking about her struggles, hoping that it would help others.
Those around her believed that Joan Kennedy was not "fragile" but was instead a "survivor" throughout her many struggles. "I think she had a life that was very demanding of her. Sometimes she had real problems in those days," said her sister-in-law Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 2000 to The Boston Globe.
"I think she never gave up. She consistently tried to improve and overcome her problems, and eventually she did. So that is not a person who is fragile," Shriver added. After outliving those in her generation, Joan Kennedy was called the "Last Survivor of Camelot."
The Kennedy family had its share of triumphs and tragedies, and Joan Kennedy seems to have been present for them all. No other political family has held as much political mystique, and now that she's gone, the final chapter has closed for the storied family.
