Mary Kennedy, right, from whom Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed for divorce in 2010, was found dead on Wednesday, May 16. A medical examiner said she died of asphyxiation due to hanging. She was 52.
New York (CNN) -- Mary Richardson Kennedy was remembered Saturday as a best friend who lived life to the fullest while battling depression.
"She was brilliant and she was beautiful and she cared so very very deeply about everybody around her," said longtime friend and sister-in-law Kerry Kennedy. "She loved her children more than anything else."
Mary Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was found dead Wednesday in Bedford, New York, the small town north of New York City where she lived. She died of asphyxiation due to hanging, the Westchester County medical examiner said.
A private memorial service was held Saturday at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Bedford. Among those attending were Glenn Close, Chevy Chase, Susan Sarandon and Larry David.
Mary, 52, was buried near Hyannisport, Massachusetts, where the Kennedy family has a compound.
She married Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 1994. The prominent environmental lawyer is the third of 11 children born to Ethel and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in 1968.
The assassination was one of a string of tragedies to befall the Kennedy family, America's royal family in the absence of monarchy. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, five years before his younger brother.
More than three decades later, in 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, died when a plane he was piloting crashed in the waters off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
David Kennedy died of a drug overdose in 1984, and Michael Kennedy was killed in a skiing accident in 1997. Both were sons of Robert F. Kennedy Sr.
The details of the couple's private life surfaced after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed for divorce in 2010. After that, Mary Kennedy was charged once with driving while intoxicated and once with driving while impaired by prescription drugs, according to Bedford police.
Her family criticized media accounts of her death for what they called "inaccuracies and misrepresentations" of her life.
Kerry Kennedy talked about Mary's depression.
"She was battling those demons," Kerry Kennedy said. "She was an angel who was brought to live with us here on Earth. God just brought her back up to heaven and said, 'You don't have to fight for me anymore.'"
Loading weather data ...
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Members of the Kennedy family attend U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy's funeral in August 2009. Two years later, his daughter, Kara Kennedy, died of a heart attack after her daily workout. She is shown being embraced by her daughter, Grace, at right.
Michael Kennedy, one of RFK's 11 children, died in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado, in 1997. The father of three had suffered an onslaught of negative publicity over an alleged affair with a family babysitter. No charges were filed.
Joe Kennedy, the eldest son of RFK, was involved in a 1973 car accident that left a female passenger paralyzed for life. He later served as a Massachusetts congressman and considered a bid for governor but decided against it, citing family troubles.
Sen. Ted Kennedy drove a car off a bridge on Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island after a party in 1969. Aide Mary Jo Kopechne died in the accident. He is shown wearing a neck brace at her funeral. Controversy over the incident effectively ended his presidential aspirations.
In 1964, Ted Kennedy suffered a broken back when his private plane crashed in Southampton, Massachusetts. Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh also survived the crash, but the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides were killed.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963. He was 46.
|