- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s biography draws on personal diaries and interviews for an unfiltered life view
- The book reveals Kennedy’s unusual animal encounters, including dissecting roadkill and collecting carcasses
- Kennedy’s diaries detail his romantic relationships, rating encounters and noting struggles with fidelity
A new biography of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has offered an unfiltered look at the life of one of America's most polarising political figures, drawing on personal journals and interviews. 'RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise', written by investigative journalist Isabel Vincent, is based on dozens of sources, including diaries Kennedy reportedly kept between 1999 and 2001. These entries, which were detailed and frequently updated, form the backbone of a narrative that blends personal confession, controversy, and political ascent, People reported.
Strange Encounters Involving Kennedy and Animals
Among the more startling claims in the book is an anecdote alleging that Kennedy once dissected a roadkill raccoon during a family drive, with intentions to study its organs later. "I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be. My kids waited patiently in the car," Kennedy wrote in a 2001 entry, according to the book.
The biography revisits several such incidents that have surfaced publicly over the years. In 2024, Kennedy acknowledged leaving a dead bear cub in New York's Central Park years earlier and staging the scene to resemble a bicycle accident. "I pulled over and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van because I was going to skin the bear. It was very good condition and I was going to put the meat in my refrigerator," he said in a clip.
In another widely recounted story, his daughter Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy described how he used a chainsaw to remove the head of a stranded whale and transported it on the family car roof -- an episode she recalled as chaotic and deeply unpleasant.
"I've been picking up roadkill my whole life. I have a freezer full of it," he told reporters in 2024.
Additional claims about Kennedy's behaviour toward animals have also come from family and associates. In a letter opposing his political advancement, his cousin Caroline Kennedy alleged that he once blended small animals to feed a pet falcon during his college years.
"You have to understand, Bobby wanted to be a veterinarian as a kid. His after-school job was at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., so he's got a great love and interest in animals and a freezer full of roadkill, I'm sure, where he studies it." Vincent told PEOPLE.
Conflicted Personal Life
Beyond these anecdotes, Vincent's book focuses heavily on Kennedy's private struggles, particularly his relationships and personal conduct. According to the reported diaries, Kennedy maintained a detailed log of his romantic encounters, assigning numerical ratings to indicate the extent of each interaction. These entries included the woman's name along with a numerical rating from one to ten, with higher numbers indicating more serious levels of infidelity and lower numbers reflecting lesser forms of unfaithful conduct.
He reportedly framed his efforts to remain faithful in stark terms, marking days as "victories" or "failures" in what he described as an ongoing internal battle."Like the fish he caught and the money he made, Kennedy kept a list of the women he had bedded," Vincent wrote.
Allegations of inappropriate behaviour have also surfaced over time. In 2024, a former family babysitter publicly accused Kennedy of making unwanted advances in the late 1990s, an allegation he did not directly address, instead acknowledging broadly that he had "many skeletons" in his past.
Separate claims involving journalist Olivia Nuzzi, who wrote about an alleged personal exchange with Kennedy during the 2024 presidential campaign, were disputed by his representatives.
Association With Jeffrey Epstein
The biography also touches on Kennedy's documented associations with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. According to the book, Kennedy flew on Epstein's private plane on at least two occasions and at one point used office space linked to Epstein in Manhattan.
According to Vincent's book, one of the flights involved Kennedy Jr. travelling with Mary to Palm Beach to visit his mother, Ethel Kennedy. Vincent writes that he referred to Mary as his "wife" during the trip, despite still being legally married to his first wife, Emily Black, at the time. On another occasion, Kennedy reportedly flew on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane to South Dakota for a fossil-hunting trip with Mary and his children.
He is also said to have used office space on Madison Avenue in Manhattan that Epstein had made available to him, according to a 2021 memoir by Christina Oxenberg, a member of the Serbian royal family.
Parallel to these personal revelations, the book situates Kennedy within his current political role. As Secretary of Health and Human Services under Donald Trump, his tenure has drawn criticism over alleged anti-vaccine messaging and disputes with scientific institutions. Once known primarily as an environmental lawyer, Kennedy's evolution into a national policymaker has been marked by both strong support and intense opposition.
