BOSTON (AP) — Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who endured a troubled marriage marked by family tragedies, her husband’s infidelities, and decades-long struggles with alcoholism and mental health, died Wednesday at the age of 89.
She was Joan Bennett, one of the last remaining members of a family generation that included President John F. Kennedy, and she was a model and classically trained pianist when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958.
Their lives would change unimaginably over the next decade and a half. Her brother-in-law John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and assassinated three years later. Another brother-in-law, Robert F. Kennedy, served as attorney general under JFK, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964, and was assassinated while seeking the presidency.
Her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate and became one of the country’s most respected legislators, despite initial misgivings that he was benefiting from family connections. But Ted Kennedy also experienced scandals of his own making. In 1969, the car he was driving plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his young passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Kennedy, who swam to safety and waited hours before alerting police, later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. Chappaquiddick haunted him for the rest of his life, weighing against his chances for the presidency.
Joan Kennedy had three children with her husband, but she also suffered miscarriages, including one shortly after the Chappaquiddick accident. She stood by her husband through the scandal, but their estrangement became apparent by the time of his unsuccessful effort to defeat President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 Democratic primaries. They had already separated and would later divorce. One bumper sticker from the campaign read, “Vote for Jimmy Carter, Free Joan Kennedy.”
Her death comes about a year after Ethel Kennedy, wife of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, died at 96, having raised their 11 children after his assassination and remaining dedicated to social causes and the family’s legacy for decades.
Virginia Joan Bennett was born into a prominent Bronxville, N.Y., family, and as a teen worked as a model in TV ads. She was a classmate of Jean Kennedy, the future senator’s sister, at Manhattanville College, where her exceptional beauty caught Ted Kennedy’s eye when he visited the campus for a building dedication in 1957.
They married a year later, but Joan Kennedy struggled from the start to fit into the high-powered family.
“Joan was shy and a really reserved person, and the Kennedys aren’t,” said Adam Clymer, author of Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography, in a 2005 interview with AP.
Her love of the piano would remain a hallmark of her life. She was known for opening her husband’s campaign rallies with piano serenades and, after their divorce, touring with orchestras around the world. Her family said she combined her mastery of piano with a message about the transformational potential of the arts and the need for equitable arts education.
In a 1992 Associated Press interview, she recalled playing piano for her brother-in-law Bobby when he ran for president in 1968. “He took me with him and encouraged me,” she said. “He had a theme, ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ the Woody Guthrie song. I’d play that on the piano and everybody would come in, feeling really great about everything.”
“It seems like a long time ago, but it’s part of my memories,” she said, promoting a book she wrote, which was a guide to appreciating classical music.
She also spoke about how music helped her through difficult times, including the deaths of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, when her son Ted Jr. lost his leg to cancer, and her separation and divorce from Ted Kennedy.
“I do advise listening to music when you’re in grief,” she said. “Music has given me a lot of courage to carry on.”
In a statement, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island praised his mother for her courage and talent.
“Besides being a loving mother, talented musician, and instrumental partner to my father as he launched his successful political career, Mom was a power of example to millions of people with mental health conditions,” he said. “She will be missed not just by the entire Kennedy Family, but by the arts community in the City of Boston and the many people whose lives she touched.”
She also became one of the first women to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression.
“I will always admire my mother for the way that she faced up to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty,” Ted Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “She taught me how to be more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking.”
After Chappaquiddick, her drinking worsened. A series of drunk-driving arrests led to stays in alcohol treatment programs. Then, in 2005, a passerby found her passed out on a Boston sidewalk in the rain, and she was hospitalized with a concussion and broken shoulder. Her children intervened, with Ted Jr. obtaining a court-ordered guardianship for her care.
Maria Shriver praised her family for caring for her, respecting her privacy, and loving her.
“She courageously shared what it was like to lose a child, get divorced from a famous man, and carry on. Her life was challenging, but she persevered,” posted the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver in a eulogy for her aunt. “As a young girl, I marveled at her grace, her beauty, her elegance. As a woman, I respected her grit, her resilience, and her perseverance.”
Joan Kennedy is survived by her two sons, nine grandchildren, a great-grandchild, and nearly 30 nieces and nephews. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.