Joan Kennedy, first wife of Sen. Edward Kennedy, has died

AP ^ | October 8, 2025 | Michael Casey

[Dan in Wichita]

There was a movie that came out in 2017 called 'Chappaquiddick.'

Joan Kennedy had but one line in the movie: "F*ck you, Teddy."

[DIRTYSECRET]

Her opening to get out was Mary Jo. She should have hollered: “Ted you’re going to jail not me”.

1980-Ted was questioned about their marriage when he announced his intention to take on Carter. Her stepping up to respond was fake.

Would she have been better if she had never met Ted? No one notices an anonymous alcoholic.

[kawhill]

Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment, right Ted?

[woodbutcher1963]

I sat next to him at a marina bar in Tortolla, BVI about 25 years ago. He was there with his second wife and another couple. He had also recently had plastic surgery most likely at the clinic on the island to reduce the size of his Gin Blossomed nose. His nose was covered with a bandage and sterri strips.

When they got up and left he litterally waddled. They they got into their dingy and took it back out to their sailboat. The dingy listed to the side he was sitting on. He was a big fat ugly person.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

She is in the running for GDMOAT,Greatest Door Mat of All Time.

[Hyman Roth]

She died a long time ago on the inside. Stay out the Kennedy’s.

[Hyman Roth]

1988. My Senior Trip to DC. We saw a session of Congress. Ted’s face looked like a beet and his skin was like fish scales. And fat jowls. Hideous.

[mass55th]

Tortured in life having been married to a lying, philandering, murderer. May her soul rest in peace.

[Baladas]

yeah, I always kind of liked her. If I had been married to that hound Ted, I would’ve ended up becoming a drunk too.

[mass55th]

Saw Bobby Kennedy twice. Both times in 1964. I shook his hand once in Rochester when he was running for Senator of New York. The second time I saw Bobby was at a campaign stop at the airport in Rochester, NY. A group of us kids skipped school that day to go. Bobby and Ethel, who was pregnant at the time, accompanied LBJ on Air Force One. Both spoke. I shook hands with Ethel at the end, who I remember was wearing gloves matching her outfit.

[1Old Pro]

4 DUI’s - 3 on Cape Cod

Details of the Incident
Date: September 10, 2000.
Location: Marstons Mills, a village on Cape Cod in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
What Happened: A motorist called the police to report a blue Buick being driven erratically. Police located the car on a dead-end street, with Kennedy standing outside it.
Her Actions: She reportedly identified herself only as “Joan” and refused to provide her driver’s license and registration, according to police reports.
Charges: Kennedy was charged with operating under the influence (OUI) and failing to produce a driver’s license and registration.
Legal Proceedings: She was booked at the Barnstable police station and was escorted to her home on Squaw Island by a family friend. She later pleaded innocent to the charges in court.
Context
This was Kennedy’s fourth drunken driving charge, following prior incidents in Virginia (1974) and on Cape Cod in 1988 and 1991.
Her struggle with alcohol dependency had been public knowledge since the late 1970s.

[Loyalist]

Teddy Kennedy in his dissolute state showed what his brothers would have resembled had they lived into old age.

[detective]

Joan did not want to marry Ted after she got to know him.

She wanted to call off the wedding.

Joe Kennedy threatened and/or bribed her father because he didn’t want Ted to be publicly humiliated by Joan dumping Ted right before the wedding.

Her parents prevailed upon Joan to go through with the wedding.

She had a very unhappy life.

She complained to Jackie about Ted.

Jackie told her to complain to Ted’s mother.

[woodbutcher1963]

I still remember asking the waitress(a young Black Jamaican girl)IF she knew who that guy was and did he leave her a good tip after they left?

She said the tip was okay. She showed me the AMX slip. The old kind they used back then. It said Edward M. Kennedy.
I then informed her that was JFK's younger brother. The US Senator from MA.

I have to credit my mother in law. She was the person who noticed him sitting at the table next to us. He was not an attractive person. Just another old pasty fat guy.

Tortola gets a fair amount of celebrities that fly into Beef Island airport. That is because there is the Bougainvillea Clinic on the island. A fancy plastic surgery hospital that offers discretion to its occupants. It kind of a clinic and resort/hotel all in one. Tortola/Beef Island is also really close to Necker Island. Which is the private island owned by Richard Branson of Virgin Airways, etc. Plus the Peter Island resort is also just to the south. So, a lot of private jets fly in and out. Epstein Island is also close by just between St John's and St Thomas. A quick trip on a helicopter.

[Verginius Rufus]

I’ve always thought that the senator in the comic strip “Shoe” was meant to be a caricature of Teddy Kennedy.

[thesligoduffyflynns]

Back in the late 70’s my roommates sister was TK’s sec’y. She had access to his house and pool on River Rd Wash DC .We would go and swim in the pool on weekends when he wasnt in town.

[Libloather]

[minnesota_bound]

When Ed Kennedy died in 2009 the Minneapolis Star & Tribune had over 900 comments about what the people thought. Mostly negative by far.
By the next day they were all deleted and replaced with only comments of ‘what a wonderful guy he was’.

That was 2009 and since then we have censorship everywhere from the news media. Their viewership is declining but not soon enough for me. BTW the printing plant for the Minneapolis Star & Tribune closed and it will now be printed in Des Moines, Iowa!!
They are losing money. Kept afloat by a local billionaire.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Six kids, the marriage annuled...’what am I, a whore?’

She was right to be angry with the nbishop....same as now, screwballs.