McCain’s podcast guest, Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s wife, Cheryl Hines, also addresses the backlash she’s received amid her husband’s position in the Trump administration, saying, “It is odd to me that some people find it acceptable to just march up to Bobby and yell at him.”
Meghan McCain and Cheryl Hines are opening up about their apparent treatment by the public.
Hines, 60, was the guest on Wednesday’s episode of McCain’s Citizen McCain podcast, during which the actress addressed the backlash she’s received since her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., aligned himself with Donald Trump and became Secretary of Health and Human Services. This prompted McCain, 49, to recall an experience in which she claimed she was treated unfairly because she’s conservative.
Tig Notaro Recalls Falling Out with Cheryl Hines Due to RFK Jr.’s Views: ‘It Just Got Hard’
View Story
“No matter who you are or what you do, there are people out there who just don’t like you,” Hines said of navigating criticism. “Even being an actress, you know, you can be the nicest actress in the world, and I’m sure there’s somebody out there who’s like, ‘Ew, you’re ugly, you’re a terrible actress.’… Being in the public eye, you learn that early on. You learn, this person doesn’t know me. You just have to block out the noise. It’s not always easy.”
The Curb Your Enthusiasm actress expressed her gratitude toward her family — including her daughter and stepchildren — for their support during Kennedy’s presidential campaign and beyond.
RFK Jr. — who is known for many controversial views, most notably his anti-vax rhetoric — ran for president in the 2024 election, initially running as a Democrat. He then left the party, and became an Independent candidate. He later dropped out of the election, and subsequently endorsed Trump. Kennedy later became the Trump administration’s Secretary of Health and Human Services despite having no medical degree or background in medicine.
After he joined the cabinet, Hines relocated to Washington DC, but still spends time in Los Angeles. Due to her husband’s position in Trump’s cabinet, Hines said they receive criticism even out in public.
“It is odd to me that some people find it acceptable to just march up to Bobby and yell at him,” she told McCain, who asked if it happens “a lot,” to which Hines replied, “It doesn’t happen a lot. Definitely for every person that comes up and yells at him, there are probably a thousand people that come up and say how much they love him and want their picture taken with him, but it’s just an odd place. I’ve never experienced that before, and that’s strange.”
McCain, 40, chimed in, sharing how she’s alleged been treated because of her “politics.”
“I’ve been kicked out of restaurants, like, for my politics. I wasn’t doing anything. It’s a brutal … actually, it happened in LA,” she said to Hines, who appeared shocked.
“Oh my god, that is so crazy,” Hines said, to which McCain continued, saying that “it’s a whole story,” before noting that she had been with “another woman who was a conservative pundit, whatever you want to call my job” when she was allegedly kicked out.
While The View alum said she doesn’t know “who would dislike” Hines, she noted that “having an association with the Trump administration makes you this target.”
“Has that been a hard adjustment in LA or New York, or I guess even in DC? But I guess people here are a little more respectful,” McCain asked.
Hines admitted that it’s found it to be a “hard adjustment” in Los Angeles.
“There are aspects about it that don’t make sense to me, so even when we’re talking about MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — I have some friends who, they’re very healthy people, and they’d love to have petroleum dyes taken out of food and they’d love to have arsenic taken out,” she said. “But because it’s MAHA, and it feels connected to MAGA, they are furious about it. So, that’s strange to me.”
“It’s been interesting to see the people that can and cannot separate politics from the entertainment industry,” she added.
McCain said that one thing she “cannot stand” is when someone will tell her that while they “love” her politics, they “can’t ever say” it publicly.
“I even know someone who’s a musician that was like, ‘Could you not share my work on [social media]?'” she said, adding, “I kind of feel like you should grow up, we should all grow up, and there’s nothing to be embarrassed about if you’re conservative or you’re MAHA or liberal. We all need to be able to exist together.”
When asked if she has people in her live for “quietly support” her, but won’t do it publicly, Hines said, “Absolutely.”
Meghan McCain Sides with ‘Fearless Icon’ J.K. Rowling Against Emma Watson Amid Feud
View Story
“That’s ridiculous. I hate that. It really makes me angry,” McCain replied, while Hines noted, “It doesn’t make me angry, I just feel like, ‘Okay!’ “
“Once again … I’m coming from the entertainment industry, because it is a thing,” she continued. “I kind of feel sorry for that person that feels like, oh, it’s too bad you can’t be open about supporting Bobby. But I also understand. I’m not the person that’s going to out you, and say, ‘Oh my gosh!’ because I’d be doing that all day.”
“There are a lot of people, even in LA, that love Bobby, that love the administration, but it is kind of strange that people feel uncomfortable,” she added.
While it’s unclear when Hines and McCain’s conversation was recorded, the episode was released just one day after her appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The View, in which she clashed with Sunny Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg, who grilled her on RFK Jr.’s qualifications — or lack thereof.
“I do want to say, you know he’s not a doctor and he’s not a professional? And oftentimes, when he’s speaking, he’s speaking not with the best information,” Goldberg said.
Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.
Hostin later chimed in, telling Hines, “The problem, respectfully, is that your husband is the least-qualified Department of Health and Human Services head that we’ve had in history.”
Hines hit back, attempting to argue by saying that her husband has “spent his career studying toxins,” and “studying people’s health,” to which Hostin calmly replied that RFK Jr. “has also spread a lot of misinformation, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion. I think it’s just a very dangerous thing.”
“He’s also connecting circumcisions to autism,” Hostin added, to which Hines asked, “May I? May I finish?”
She went on to bring up claims about Dr. Anthony Fauci during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Alyssa Farah Griffin and Hostin hitting back — before Joy Behar brought up one final question about Kennedy: “Does he or does he not have a brain worm?”
“It ate just a little bit of his brain and died, so don’t worry!” she replied.
