As details of her personal struggles and troubled marriage have come under the national spotlight after Mary hanged herself in her Westchester home on Wednesday, her mourning family is firing back against what they’re calling “inaccuracies and misrepresentations” in the press coverage of her life.
“While we would naturally prefer to remain private at this very upsetting time, we feel compelled to make this statement because the description of Mary carried by certain news organizations since her passing yesterday is wholly inconsistent with the sister we knew and the life she, in fact, lived,” Mary’s family said, according to a statement on CNN.
“We loved Mary and knew her to be an exceptional mother, sibling and friend to many,” the message continued. “Countless people have described her as an extraordinary mother, selfless in her desire to help others, and one of the finest people in the world. We know her as all those things, and more.
The Westchester County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed Thursday that Mary died by asphyxiation due to hanging. The Bedford Police Department, which is heading the investigation of her death, has not released any other official information regarding her death, other than the fact that it had responded to a Wednesday afternoon phone call about an “unattended death,” and that her dead body was found in an “out building” on her property.
Even though there is still scant information about the details surrounding the 52-year-old architect’s death, media coverage of the second wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – or Bobby — has drawn renewed attention to her turbulent personal life in recent years.
After marrying in 1994, Mary and Bobby had four children, and their family settled down in Bedford, N.Y. The final years of her life were marked with signs of turmoil: in 2007, Bobby reportedly called the police worried that Mary might hurt herself; in 2010, the same year that Bobby filed for divorce, Mary was arrested for a DUI and had her license suspended, only to be charged with another DUI charge a few months later.
“A lot of times I don’t know how she made it through the day,” Bobby told the New York Times in an interview Thursday. “She was in a lot of agony for a lot of her life.”
He also said there had been no suicide note from Mary, which the New York Post had reported.
A wake is scheduled for Friday at the family’s estate in Bedford, with funeral services to follow on Saturday at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, according to the Associated Press. But the New York Daily News notes that Mary and Bobby’s respective families — divided over the couple’s divorce that was reportedly never finalized — are planning two separate memorials.