The comedian recalled how she had to “step away” from Hines — whom she called one of her “favorite friends” — after her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ran for president, dropped out, and ultimately aligned himself with Donald Trump.
Tig Notaro is opening up about her falling out with Cheryl Hines.
During an appearance on the Breaking Bread with Tom Papa podcast, the comedian recalled how she had to “step away” from her friendship with Hines after her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ran for president, before he dropped out, and ultimately aligned himself with Donald Trump.
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Notaro, 54, and Hines, 60, co-hosted the comedy podcast, Tig & Cheryl: True Story, from 2020 until 2023, in which they discussed documentaries each week.
“Yeah, that show ended,” Notaro told Papa, before looking back at her former friendship with Hines.
“Cheryl was one of my favorite friends to be ridiculous with,” she recalled. “And we made each other laugh so hard. And I love documentaries, and it was fun to have to watch a documentary every week, but also we took the pressure off, because we would ask each other things like, ‘Who are you attracted to in this documentary?'”
After reminiscing on the happy times from doing her former podcast with Hines, she then noted what became a problem: Hines’ husband, RFK Jr.
“But Cheryl’s married to Bobby Kennedy Jr,” Notaro explained. “When he was announcing his run, I just felt like I needed to step away, because there are beliefs that were like a gnat on the arm years ago that were getting further into the spotlight.”
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.
“My friendship with Cheryl predated her marriage to Bobby,” Notaro said on Tuesday. “He was in environmental law. And, again, other beliefs he had were like a gnat on my arm.”
“But then it started to grow, and Cheryl wanted me to hear Bobby out,” she continued. “They had these good ideas, and I was like, ‘I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.’ I just didn’t trust it. And then he endorsed Trump, and then it just got hard.”
After Papa noted how Hines seemed to “try to distance herself” from her husband and his controversies at first, Notaro chimed in, “When somebody is like, ‘Oh, we don’t agree on everything’ within a marriage, that is so vague.”
The stand-up comic jokingly added that she and her wife Stephanie Allynne “don’t agree on the temperature when we go to bed,” before noting, “I would never say Stephanie and I don’t agree on things.”
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“I think where it has led is…,” she continued. “It’s not my world. It’s a hard pass.”
“It’s such a big, dominant cultural thing,” Papa said, seemingly referring to Trump’s MAGA movement, joking that, “It’s no Handsome,” Notaro’s podcast that she co-hosts with Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin.
“It’s no Handsome,” Notaro agreed with a laugh, adding, “You’re okaying a particular ride for this country to go on.”
Papa told Notaro that her podcast with Hines was a “delight.”
“I agree,” she said, expressing her sadness that it had to end. “And it’s really sad, because it did bring me so much joy. And Cheryl did bring me so much joy. But that’s what I’m looking for, is I want to get back to prioritizing people that bring me joy and workloads that bring me joy.”
