RFK Jr.’s Cousins, Maria and Tim Shriver, Discuss Navigating Politics as a Family: ‘It’s a Challenge’

Maria Shriver and brother Tim Shriver are not immune to the difficulties many American families face when it comes to having contrasting political beliefs.

The children of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who are first cousins to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently released their father’s posthumous memoir, We Called It a War, which they say has lessons for dealing with conflict.

“I think people all have differences in every family, so I think we were raised on family loyalty,” Maria, 70, told People in an interview published on Wednesday, April 22. “Daddy brought people of different faiths to the table, different political parties, different skin colors and was always like, that is the table.”

Tim, who is chairman of the Special Olympics, added, “That’s a challenge for all American families and it’s a challenge for ours.”

The Shrivers, including younger brother Anthony Shriver, as well as cousins Caroline Kennedy and Jack Schlossberg, have publicly called out RFK Jr. for his controversial rhetoric regarding children with autism and vaccines, as well as his history of drug addiction.

“I think many of us are trying as best we can to hold fast to the idea that, even within our own family, sometimes the hardest place to treat people with dignity is at your own dinner table and so we’re working hard on that,” Tim, 66, continued. “And like a lot of families I think we’re a work in progress.”

Sargent — who died in 2011 at the age of 95 — worked hard to “hold a fierce position without dehumanizing people on the other side,” Tim said, which the siblings work to carry on.

“Today we demonize the other side, Daddy tried to mobilize the other side. His goal was not to make a point but to make a difference,” Tim added.

Despite their efforts, the rift appears to remain within the extended family. The Kennedy family experienced an unimaginable tragedy in December with the death of Caroline’s daughter, Tatiana Schlossberg, at the age of 35.

Following her death, RFK Jr. revealed to People that he had “not recently” been in contact with Caroline, and did not attend Tatiana’s funeral.