GONE TOO SOON
In the latest heartbreak for the seemingly cursed Kennedy family, RFK’s 22-year-old granddaughter dies of a suspected drug overdose
She was in the place where she’d made countless happy memories. In her final few days, Saoirse Kennedy Hill hung out with her cousin Meaghan Kennedy Birdzell and her kids at the famed Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., where summers are spent swimming and sailing with grandma Ethel, 91, and her massive extended family. “Meaghan indicated that Saoirse didn’t appear to be particularly depressed or despondent and didn’t isolate herself,” an insider says of the 22-year-old child of Robert F. Kennedy’s eldest daughter, Courtney. But it wasn’t too long after Meaghan left, according to the source, that Saoirse was found unresponsive from a suspected drug overdose.
She was rushed to a Cape Cod hospital on Aug. 1, where she was pronounced dead. “Saoirse was fierce, both in her love for her family and yearning for justice,” her uncle Robert F. Kennedy
Jr., with whom she was especially close, wrote on Instagram. “A fearless adventurer, she inspired curiosity and daring in her friends. But her greatest gift was to find humor in everything and to give us all the gift of her laughter — and our own. The gaping hole that she leaves in our family is a wound too large to ever heal.”
Indeed, though her death is far from the first tragedy to befall the famous dynasty (see box), this one has hit especially hard, sources tell In Touch. “Everyone is devastated,” says another family source. “She had battled depression before, but those close to her say she seemed fine.”
A DARK PLACE
In 2016, she gave some insight into the demons she was battling. “My depression took root in the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life,” Saoirse, then 18, wrote in a powerful essay for her high school paper, noting that she suffered an extreme bout of sadness in her junior year. “My sense of well-being was already compromised, and I totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me. I did the worst thing a victim can do, and
pened. This all became too much, and I attempted to take my own life.”
After her failed suicide attempt, she sought treatment but still struggled. “When I’m in a really bad place, I do my best to surround myself with positive people and upbeat music, but too often it feels as if I’m drowning,” she revealed, urging others to speak more openly about mental health issues. “Many people are suffering, but because many people feel uncomfortable talking about it, no one is aware of the sufferers.”
Her cousin Patrick is proud of her for speaking
out about one of the Kennedy clan’s dark secrets. “She’s a real hero in my family. She broke the silence,” says the former congressman, who has addiction issues and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. “We mourn her loss, but her memory will live on as someone who
wasn’t going to keep silent and wasn’t going to be feeling as if she had something shameful, but rather something medical that she sought treatment for.”
Saoirse’s mother, Courtney, was reportedly looking into finding psychiatric help for her daughter in the past few months, while friends also expressed concerns that her depression had gotten worse again. “The family has so many questions,” says the family source. “When something like this happens, you can’t help but wonder if there’s something that could have been done to save her.” ◼