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Kerry Kennedy reflects on her father Robert F. Kennedy’s death and how it impacted her family.
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“David, only 13 at the time, was alone in that room watching TV that terrible night. He never recovered. The drugs numbed him,” Kerry writes.
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Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacycomes out Oct. 13. It is available for preorder, wherever books are sold.
Kerry Kennedy is looking back on how her father’s death impacted her family.
The daughter of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy writes about their relationship and RFK’s death in 1968 in the upcoming book Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy.
Kerry said that her brother David, who died in 1984 from an overdose at 28, “never recovered” from witnessing RFK’s assassination on television, PEOPLE reports in an exclusive excerpt. David was the fourth of RFK and Ethel’s 11 children.
“Mum was not ‘just’ raising 11 children on her own; she was raising 11 traumatized children on her own. According to his own account, Bobby started smoking pot at age 14. By 15, he was addicted to heroin. David, who was 17 months younger, followed in Bobby’s footsteps, smoking pot and then moving on to harder drugs,” writes Kerry.
“David was the son who had been saved out of the ocean by Daddy that last day of his life, and then my parents asked him to stay in their room at the Ambassador while Daddy gave his speech,” Kerry continues, recalling when RFK rescued David from an undertow during a beach day in Malibu.
“David, only 13 at the time, was alone in that room watching TV that terrible night. He never recovered. The drugs numbed him.,” she adds.
RFK was assassinated in June 1968 as he celebrated his victory in the California Democratic Presidential primary at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. David witnessed the event live on a television in a hotel room as RFK was struck with multiple gunshots.
Following RFK’s death, David’s drug issues led to others. In 1979, he was hospitalized with bacterial endocarditis, an illness connected with drug use. He also was arrested several times for drug possession and drunk driving.
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Almost sixteen years after his father’s death, David died on April 25, 1984, from an overdose in Palm Beach, Fla., where he was visiting his grandmother, Kennedy matriarch Rose Kennedy. He was found dead on the hotel room floor.
Before his death, he had sought treatment for heroin and alcohol addiction, and had recently dropped out of Harvard University, per the New York Times.PEOPLE reported that his autopsy report revealed he had cocaine and Demerol in his bloodstream at the time of death.
Kerry commemorated David’s birthday in June on Instagram with a series of throwback pictures of her and her brother. “Happy heavenly birthday to my fabulous brother David ❤️,” she captioned the photos.
Elsewhere in the excerpt, Kerry writes of how Ethel prioritized David and RFK Jr.’s health over her own. “Even though Mum enlisted Bobby and David in every therapeutic program available for addicts, as far as I know she never sought therapy for the effects of trauma for herself,” she writes.
Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacycomes out Oct. 13. It is available for preorder, wherever books are sold.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at988lifeline.org24/7.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
