The Kennedy Curse

Right Answers Mostly

Claire Donald & Tess Bellomo

Society & Culture, History, Tv & Film

4.6 • 764 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“I’ve come to believe that it’s not what has happened to our family that has been cursed—it’s the fact that we’ve never been able to deal with it privately.” — Eunice Kennedy Shriver The idea of the “Kennedy Curse” has followed this family for generations, often explained away as bad luck or fate. But the truth is more complicated. In this episode, we explore how constant public scrutiny, enormous expectations, and a deep resistance to vulnerability shaped the Kennedy family’s most painful moments, especially in the case of Rosemary Kennedy, whose lobotomy reflects how fear, misunderstanding, and the pressure to protect an image could lead to irreversible decisions. Rather than a story about a doomed bloodline, this episode looks at how power, silence, and the denial of privacy shaped one of America’s most famous families, and why those choices continued to ripple outward long after they were made. This is The Kennedy Curse. Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo Follow us on social media, buy merch, and more⁠ HERE! ⁠ Join our premium channel for 3 bonus eps a month ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ and save 15% when you buy annually! Sources: American Dynasties: The Kennedys, People, Historyextra.com, Rosemary's Wiki, NPS.Gov, Kathleen's Wiki, Historytoday.com, Chappaquiddick Wiki, People article #2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:22.0	Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you.
0:24.5	Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Welcome back to Right Answers Mostly, a podcast on what you didn't learn in history class, but you really wanted to.
1:01.4	I'm Claire Donald.
1:02.3	And I'm Tespalomo.
1:03.6	And Rammies.
1:04.4	Welcome back to Kennedy's Month.
1:07.2	Oh, boy.
1:08.4	I never wanted to end.
1:09.8	I know.
1:10.1	Sad, really. I know. I'm like, listen, we have this
1:12.7	episode. We have another episode and we can always revisit the Kennedys. No, it's true, but I think it has reminded me that themes are really fun and we've always known this. I mean, I've always known this. Theater kids, but like, it is fun for RAM, isn't it? It really is. So if you guys have any more theme suggestion months, kick them on over our way.
1:28.4	We will be doing Women's History Month next.
1:30.4	But April and May, kind of open. it really is so if you guys have any more theme suggestion months uh kick them on over our way we
1:28.5	will be doing women's history month next but april may kind of open for some brainstorming
1:33.2	yeah we're open to workshop let us know you guys today i'm a little nervous to be honest like let's
1:39.4	be real with each other just because it is quite depressing yeah yeah but Yeah. But we've done depressing before on RAM.
1:46.6	Well, it's history, so it's like there's always going to be an element of that. And we'll find
1:50.7	humor in ways that we have to because, you know, you must. You have to laugh to keep from crying.
1:56.3	Today we are talking about the Kennedy curse. Yeah. Tess, what do you know about the Kennedy curse?
2:02.0	Well, I feel like, because I've told a few people, even like our tech guy just came in right now. Oh, really? And he was just like, well, plane crashes. So, and that's what someone else said to me other day, too. So I think a lot of people think plane crashes and, of course, assassination. on assassinations
2:15.0	well
	...

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