In a new interview with the New York Times, Hines’ first since Kennedy announced his candidacy in the 2024 presidential run, the actor reiterates that she supports her husband’s political aspirations and understands her growing role in the campaign — noting how her public persona “feels different, because it feels like every word is important” and that “people are listening in a different way.”

Hines shares that the statement that drove Kennedy to propose the separation announcement were his comparisons between the Holocaust and CDC leader Anthony Fauci’s efforts to vaccinate Americans against COVID.

Kennedy revealed to The New York Times, how his statement impacted his wife: “I saw how it was affecting her life and I said to her, ‘We should just announce that we are separated,’ so that you can have some distance from me… We wouldn’t really be doing anything, we would just — I felt so desperate about protecting her at a time where my statements and my decisions were impacting her.”

This new profile emerges among Kennedy’s new series of controversial statements, including one in which he spoke against 5G technology and surveillance and another suggesting “S.S.R.I.s and benzos and other drugs” are responsible for America’s ongoing gun violence and school shootings.

In addition to the aforementioned claims, Kennedy has publicized anti-vaccine views for years. In 2016, Kennedy founded the World Mercury Project, a nonprofit that advocates against vaccines for children.

“I see both sides of the vaccine situation,” Hines says in the new profile. “There’s one side that feels scared if they don’t get the vaccine, and there’s the side that feels scared if they do get the vaccine, because they’re not sure if the vaccine is safe. And I understand that.”

While Hines believes people are entitled to “make decisions about our body with a doctor, not with a politician”, she does not confirm or deny whether her beliefs on vaccines align with her husband’s stance.

“I support Bobby and I want to be there for him, and I want him to feel loved and supported by me,” reiterates Hines.