Chris Pratt isn’t one for talking politics in public.
Unlike basically everyone else on his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger‘s side of the family.
While Katherine’s movie star dad Arnold Schwarzenegger was the governor of California for seven years, her mom Maria Shriver is a member of one of the most storied political dynasties…well, ever.
Century-long story short, Maria’s mother was Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of Joe Kennedy and Rose Kennedy‘s nine children and a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
Which means Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s currently the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is Maria’s first cousin. And, let’s just say, a lot of people have had thoughts about the job he’s doing as a member of President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet.
Chris, however, is not one of those people who’s going to make his stance known. And during an August appearance on Bill Maher‘s Club Random podcast, he had nothing but complimentary things to say about his cousin-by-marriage, personally speaking.
“I really got along with him well,” the actor said. Whether they’re playing cards or chatting at a family dinner, “I think he’s great. I think he’s funny. I like him. I love him.”
It’s unclear when the last family dinner was, Robert’s role in the Trump administration not sitting well with most members of his famously Democratic Party-aligned family.
“I love my brother, and I not only love him because all of us have to love our siblings, but I also like him,” his sister Kerry Kennedy said on an April episode of Erin Burnett‘s OutFront podcast. “But I do disagree with almost everything he says from a public policy perspective.”
Less cordial has been their cousin Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of former President Kennedy, who has called Robert a liar and “guru shaman figure” when it comes to public health policy. Jack’s mother Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg advised the U.S. Senate in January to reject Robert’s nomination for HHS secretary, calling him “unqualified” (among other things) in an open letter.
But their clan is so big, it’s also quite possible that the warring factions attend the same events and never even see each other. Read on to see just how sprawling the Kennedy side of Chris and Katherine’s family is:
Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Kennedy
Joseph Patrick “Joe” Kennedy married Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald on Oct. 7, 1914.
By 1932, they had nine children together: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., John F. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy, Patricia Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jean Kennedy and Edward Kennedy.
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
Born July 25, 1915, Joe Jr. was going to be president, as far as his father was concerned.
He was a delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention and planned to run for Congress after he got out of the Navy. But the 29-year-old and his co-pilot Wilford John Willy were killed Aug. 12, 1944, when explosives they were carrying detonated prematurely while on a bombing run that was part of Operation Aphrodite.
Neither pilot’s body was ever recovered and their names are among those on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial honoring casualties of World War II.
John F. Kennedy
It was John, born May 29, 1917, who made it to Congress, then became a U.S. senator and ultimately was elected president in 1960.
He married Jacqueline Bouvier on Sept. 12, 1953, and they welcomed daughter Caroline Kennedy on Nov. 27, 1957, and son John F. Kennedy Jr. on Nov. 25, 1960.
A daughter, Arabella, was stillborn in 1956 and son Patrick, born prematurely on Aug. 7, 1963, lived for only 39 hours.
JFK was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, one of the defining events of the 20th century.
Caroline Kennedy
Caroline, the U.S. ambassador to Japan during the Obama administration and to Australia for the Biden administration, married Edwin “Ed” Schlossberg in 1986.
They share daughters Rose Kennedy Schlossberg (born June 25, 1988) and Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg (May 5, 1990) and son John “Jack” Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg (Jan. 19, 1993).
TV producer Rose went to Harvard like her mom and married restaurateur Rory McAuliffe in 2022.
Tatiana—a journalist who didn’t know at the time that her 2014 New York Times article about a dead bear being found in Central Park involved her cousin RFK Jr.—graduated from Yale and married college sweetheart George Moran in 2017. They welcomed a son, Edwin Jr., in 2022.
Jack Schlossberg
Jack—a Yale alum, graduate of Harvard’s JD/MBA program and quite the hoot on social media—spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and was a political correspondent for Vogue covering the most recent presidential election.
“I am inspired by my family’s legacy of public service,” he told Vogue in 2024. “I take that very seriously, and I want to contribute in my own way. I have big dreams, but I also know that I’m trying to make a positive impact today.”
John F. Kennedy Jr.
The former first son, named People‘s Sexiest Man Alive in 1988, was considered one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet before he married Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette on Sept. 21, 1996.
In a shattering twist of fate for his oft-grieving family, JFK Jr. died young like his father, his potential snuffed out when he was killed, along with Carolyn and her sister Lauren Bessette, in a plane crash on July 16, 1999.
Rosemary Kennedy
Rosemary (at right, with sister Kathleen and mom Rose) was born Sept. 13, 1918.
While she attended a special boarding school for students with learning difficulties, Rosemary had behavioral issues that led to her father’s decision to have her undergo a prefrontal lobotomy when she was 23.
Rosemary emerged from the experimental procedure—which was touted as a potential cure for mental illness and Joe did hope it would help her—severely disabled and spent the rest of her life (she lived till Jan. 7, 2005) institutionalized.
“All along I had continued to believe that she could have lived her life as a Kennedy girl, just a little slower,” Rose told historian Doris Kearns Goodwin years later. “But then it was all gone in a matter of minutes.”
Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy
Born Feb. 20, 1920, Kathleen got a kick out of life, hence her jaunty nickname.
She married William Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington, in a civil ceremony in London on May 6, 1944—against her mother’s wishes, as her beloved wasn’t Catholic, so the bride’s big brother Joe Jr. was the only member of her family who attended the wedding.
A month later, William, a major in the British Army, was killed by a sniper in Belgium.
She remained in England and fell for still-married William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam. Before he could secure a divorce, they both died when the plane carrying them to the French Riviera crashed on May 13, 1948.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Eunice was born July 10, 1921.
The devoted philanthropist and founder of the Special Olympics married Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. on May 23, 1953.
They had five children—Robert “Bobby” Shriver III (born April 28, 1954), Maria Shriver (Nov. 6, 1955), Timothy (Aug. 29, 1959), Mark (Feb. 17, 1964) and Anthony (July 20, 1965).
Maria Shriver
Maria wed Arnold Schwarzenegger on April 26, 1986, at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.
The power couple reigned as governor and first lady of California from November 2003 until January 2011, but they split up not long after once Arnold confessed to fathering a son, Joseph Baena, with the family’s longtime housekeeper.
Katherine Schwarzenegger
When she died at 88, Eunice had 19 grandchildren, including Maria’s four kids with her now-ex-husband: Katherine Schwarzenegger (born Dec. 13, 1989), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Sept. 18, 1993), Christina Schwarzenegger (July 23, 1991) and Christopher Schwarzenegger (Sept. 27, 1997).
Katherine wed Chris Pratt on June 8, 2019, and they share three children, Lyla (Aug. 6, 2020), Eloise (May 21, 2022) and Ford (Nov. 8, 2024). The actor is also dad to son Jack (born Aug. 17, 2012) with ex-wife Anna Faris.
Patricia Kennedy Lawford
Patricia, born May 6, 1924, brought the Rat Pack into the family when she married Peter Lawford on April 24, 1954.
Her marriage to the British actor produced sons Christopher Lawford (born in 1955), Sydney Maleia Lawford (1956), Victoria Francis Lawford (1958), and Robin Elizabeth Lawford before they divorced in 1966.
Peter, who died in 1984, was a close confidante of his brother-in-law JFK and is generally credited with introducing the future president to Marilyn Monroe during a visit to the Lawfords’ Malibu home.
Patricia passed away in 2006. Her thrice-married son Christopher died after suffering a heart attack in 2018.
Robert F. Kennedy
The son known familiarly to the whole country as Bobby Kennedy married Ethel Skakel on June 17, 1950.
They went on to have 11 children: Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Maxwell, Douglas and Rory.
Ethel was pregnant with Rory when Bobby was fatally shot on June 6, 1968, shortly after winning the California Democratic primary.
David Kennedy died of a drug overdose on April 25, 1984, at the age of 28. Michael Kennedy was killed on Dec. 31, 1997, when he slammed into a tree while on skis and simultaneously tossing a football around during a family trip to Aspen, Colo. The 37-year-old shared three children with wife Victoria Gifford.
Her husband died when their eldest child was only 16, but Ethel Kennedy went on to be a grandmother of 34. Two of her grandchildren have died: Courtney and husband Paul Hill‘s daughter Saoirse Hill, 22, in 2019 of an accidental drug overdose and Kathleen and husband David Townsend‘s daughter Maeve Kennedy McKean, 40, in a 2020 canoeing accident.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK Jr., born Jan. 17, 1954, is a thrice-married father of six.
He shares son Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy III (born 1984) and daughter Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy (born 1988) with first wife Emily Black.
They divorced in 1994 after 12 years of marriage.
Robert F. Kennedy III
RFK III has been married to CIA analyst turned author and TV host Amaryllis Fox since 2017.
They share daughter Bobby (born Jan. 7, 2019) and son Cassius Watts Thoreau Kennedy (Aug. 30, 2021), as well as Amaryllis’ daughter Zoë from a previous relationship.
Kick Kennedy
“I like to say life is just a collection of experiences—some good, some bad—and the more you have the better,” the Stanford grad told Town & Country in 2012.
And merely knowing Ben Affleck “in passing,” as a source put it, brought Kick Kennedy to the top of the trending bar in August 2024 days after Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from the actor.
Affleck’s rep was quick to shut down romance speculation, telling E! News, “Everything about him and Kick is untrue.”
So nothing about being a Kennedy had really changed in a decade. Or a century.
“People ask me, ‘What’s it like to be a Kennedy?'” she told T&C. “Maybe it’s just the temperature of the water, but I’m just like, ‘I have no idea.’ When I see my face or name in the tabloids, I get a knot in my stomach. It’s just not me—it’s reading something that’s not real.”
But she did feel a kinship with the great aunt she was named for, who died two years before her father was born.
“It’s funny how similar we are,” Kick mused. “She was fun and social and a performer in many ways.”
RFK Jr. married Mary Richardson in 1994 and they went on to have four children: Conor Richardson Kennedy (born July 25 ,1994), Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy (Aug. 22, 1995), William Finbar “Finn” Kennedy (Nov. 8, 1997) and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy (July 13, 2001).
The couple were legally separated when Mary died by suicide in 2012.
Father and sons: Conor, Aidan and RFK III.
Conor Kennedy
Conor has maintained a fairly low profile, high-profile activism and other exploits aside, since rocketing to fame as an 18-year-old Harvard student and happened to bring Taylor Swift home to meet the family.
Their romance only lasted a few months, and Conor went on to grow up and graduate from Georgetown Law School. But, the headlines were made.
“Taylor Swift’s ex Conor Kennedy” is now engaged to singer Giulia Be.
Kyra Kennedy
Kyra, a regular among the high-fashion set, lives in Milan.
She said in an Aug. 27, 2024, video posted in partnership with Elle and Bvlgari that she’s working on a project in memory of her late mother.
“Have I experienced a rebirth in my life?” she asks in the clip. “Yes, I definitely have. As a little girl, I was one person. And when I became a young adult, I did a complete 180.”
RFK Jr. married Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines in 2014.
The actress shares daughter Catherine Young (born March 8, 2004) with ex-husband Paul Young.
Modern Family
In wishing her dad a happy Father’s Day in 2018, Kick wrote on Instagram, “Thanks for giving me all these wacky brothers and sisters!”
Kerry Kennedy
Ethel and RFK’s seventh child shares three daughters—twins Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo and Cara Kennedy Cuomo (born in 1995) and Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo (born in 1997)—with ex-husband Andrew Cuomo.
Kerry and Andrew, who was governor of New York from 2011 to 2021, married in 1990 and separated in 2003 before divorcing in 2005.
Jean Kennedy Smith
Born Feb. 20, 1928, the eighth of Joe and Rose’s nine kids, Jean founded the VSA Kennedy Arts Center and served as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland during the Clinton administration.
She married Stephen Edward Smith, a strategist on JFK’s presidential campaign, on May 19, 1956. They shared sons Stephen Smith Jr. and William Smith and daughters Amanda Smith and Kym Smith.
Jean died June 17, 2020, having outlived all of her siblings.
Edward “Ted” Kennedy
Sen. Ted Kennedy, more scandalous than 90 percent of his family put together, shared three children with first wife Joan Bennett: Kara Kennedy (born Feb. 27, 1960), Edward Kennedy Jr. (Sept. 26, 1961) and Patrick KennedyII (July 14, 1967).
He and Joan divorced in 1982 after 24 years of marriage and he wed Victoria Reggie in 1992.
Kara suffered a fatal heart attack on Sept. 16, 2011, two years after her father died.
