All in the family: Patrick Kennedy memoir creates kinship rift

Celebrity

All in the family: Patrick Kennedy memoir creates kinship rift

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the youngest son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, is going where no Kennedy has gone before. In his new book, “A Common Struggle,” he is opening up about his family’s long history of mental illness and addiction, and dealing with tragedy along the way. He spoke with Yahoo News about his book and the backlash it has received from his own family. In the memoir, the former congressman from Rhode Island discusses in detail his diagnoses with bipolar and anxiety disorders, and his own abuse of substances from alcohol to cocaine to prescription drugs. He also details his mother’s alcoholism and his belief that his father was an alcoholic who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after the assassination of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy.

Patrick Kennedy has been sober for more than four years and has dedicated his work to advocating for better mental health care since leaving office in 2010. He said he wants his own children to grow up without the shame he had and hopes his brother will someday understand that he is trying to help others who struggle with such illnesses.