RFK Jr leads a sailing trip for the devastated cousins of Saoirse Kennedy Hill

Robert F Kennedy Jr led a group sailing trip at the Kennedy compound in Massachusetts on Saturday as family and friends continue to mourn the suspected overdose of Saoirse Kennedy Hill.

The 22-year-old granddaughter of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy was pronounced dead in hospital on Thursday after paramedics found her in cardiac arrest at 2.30pm at the home of her grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, in Hyannis Port.

Her uncle RFK Jr was seen on Saturday afternoon on the dock at Hyannis Port with around 20 young people. The group took a smaller boat out to their yacht in the harbor with family members including Conor Kennedy and Joseph P. Kennedy II.

Conor Kennedy – who is the son of RFK Jr and famously dated Taylor Swift – was seen aboard the boat with his shirt wrapped around his head. 

He appeared to be consoling his father, wrapping his arm around as other members of the dynasty sat somberly in vessel.  

The famous family had rallied around each other on Friday at their historic six-acre waterfront estate as they mourned the shocking death of Saoirse.  

Robert F Kennedy Jr (far right) was seen leading a group sailing trip at the Kennedy compound in Massachusetts on Saturday – two days after the death of his niece Saoirse Kennedy Hill 

Saoirse (pictured)  died of a possible drug overdose at the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod on Thursday

The group took a smaller boat out to their yacht in the harbor with family members including Conor Kennedy and Joseph Kennedy II

Conor Kennedy – who is the son of RFK Jr and famously dated Taylor Swift – was seen aboard the boat with his shirt wrapped around his head

Conor appeared to be consoling his father, wrapping his arm around as other members of the dynasty sat somberly in vessel

RFK Jr – a prominent environmental activist and attorney – has been leading the tributes to Saoirse since the shocking news of her death on Thursday. 

On Saturday, the 65-year-old shared a photo that showed Saoirse’s cousins sitting around a fire pit at the Kennedy compound as they remembered the life of the late Boston University student. 

He also uploaded a number of throwback snaps that showed Saoirse spending previous summers at the estate in the company of her extended family.   

RFK Jr himself is no stranger to tragedy, with his estranged wife, Mary Richardson Kenned, tragically taking her own life in 2012. 

Meanwhile, RFK Jr’s cousin, Patrick Kennedy, has spoken publicly about Saoirse’s death.  

Speaking on NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt on Friday, Patrick , paid tribute to Soairse for her bravery and said she opened the door for her peers to be open and not feel ‘shamed’ by mental health illness. 

The former politician, 52, who is the son of Ted Kennedy, also called Saoirse a ‘hero’ for speaking candidly about her struggle with depression and mental illness in an article for her school paper in 2016.

The Boston College student had described how she sought treatment after she attempted to take her own life two weeks before her junior year began at the prestigious preparatory school, Deerfield Academy. 

He said: ‘She’s a real hero in my family, she broke the silence, we mourn her loss but her memory will live on as someone who wasn’t going to keep silent and wasn’t going to be feeling as if she had something shameful but rather something medical that she sought treatment for.

‘This affects every single family in America, it’s way past time that we deal with this in a way that we would deal with any other public health crisis.’

Patrick Kennedy, (pictured), said the ‘stigma and isolation’ surrounding the issue of mental health must come to an end as he opened up about the death of his cousin Saoirse from an apparent drug overdose

Saoirse Kennedy Hill’s death is putting a spotlight on America’s mental health crisis, after writing about her own struggles years ago.

“This is a public health threat,” her cousin and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy tells @TVKateSnow.

More tonight on @NBCNightlyNews. pic.twitter.com/m9OWZTGtiw

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) August 2, 2019

Patrick previously conveyed his sentiments earlier in the day on Twitter, where he wrote several heartfelt messages in the wake of the devastating news.

He also shared a link to the essay Saoirse had penned for her school newspaper The Deerfield Scroll in 2016, describing how depression was her ‘unwanted friend’ in bouts that ‘would come and go.’

She also alluded to being allegedly sexually assaulted, claiming she ‘totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me.’ 

Saoirse did not go into further detail about the individual involved in the alleged assault or state whether she reported it to authorities.

But it seemed clear from her writing that the encounter had an impact on her emotionally.

Patrick Kennedy represented a Rhode Island district for eight terms in Congress and has since leaving office in 2011.

 In a tweet sharing the article, Patrick said: ‘Saoirse’s sincere account of her depression is a powerful reminder of how so many people suffer alone and feel isolated. I am proud Saoirse was able to be open and tell her story. I encourage everyone to read her words.  

He added: ‘ Feel what she felt. Do whatever you can from your position in life to stop the isolation, the stigma, and the devastating lack of acknowledgement that often leads to tragedy. Families across the nation, including ours, are suffering. We must come out of the shadows. 

Saoirse had also alluded to being allegedly sexually assaulted, claiming she ‘totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me’

In the essay she wrote: ‘My depression took root in the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life,’ Saoirse wrote. ‘Although I was mostly a happy child, I suffered bouts of deep sadness that felt like a heavy boulder on my chest.

‘Though the teen admitted that her depression episodes ‘would come and go,’ she said it particularly affected her during her sophomore year at the private Massachusetts prep school.

‘I began isolating myself in my room, pulling away from my relationships, and giving up on schoolwork,’ Saoirse recalled.

‘During the last few weeks of spring term, my sadness surrounded me constantly.’ But that summer after my sophomore year, my friend depression rarely came around anymore, and I was thankful for her absence,’ she added.

After initially overcoming this battle with depression, Saoirse shared that she attempted suicide.

‘My sense of well-being was already compromised, and I totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me,’ she wrote.

‘I did the worst thing a victim can do, and I pretended it hadn’t happened. This all became too much, and I attempted to take my own life.’

It seemed clear from her writing that the encounter had a serious impact on her emotionally, as she wrote about the stigma surrounding mental health and how many people feel uncomfortable talking about their well-being.

The column also focused on her return to school for her senior year after she went on medical leave to seek treatment.

She appeared to feel disappointed over the fact federal privacy law seemed to prevent her teachers and advisers from knowing what she was experiencing, and claimed that the school could have been better equipped to talk about mental illness.

Saoirse later went on to enroll at Boston College, where she was a communication major and vice president of the College Democrats.

Marcus Breen, a professor of communication at Boston College, said Kennedy Hill was an engaging student in a class he taught on social media and social justice.

‘It was an expression of her concern for others,’ Professor Breen told The New York Times. ‘She will be missed on campus and in class.’

In an email to The New York Times he wrote: ‘In classes she was often the first student to offer an opinion on readings that demanded clear critique about the challenges of contemporary society,’ he said in an email.

Ethel Kennedy, (pictured wearing a pink shirt), and her daughter Courtney Kennedy Hill, (pictured beside her), were seen for the first time on Friday following the tragic death of Courtney’s daughter Saoirse, 22, from a suspected drug overdose

On the back of the golf buggy they were supported by Kerry Townsend Meltzer, the youngest daughter of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

Saoirse Kennedy Hill helped found a group at the school called Deerfield Students Against Sexual Assault, according to a November 2016 story in The Deerfield Scroll 

Soairse’s unexpected death at such a young age as shocked the nation, and is the latest in a long line of tragedies stretching back to the 1940s to have struck America’s most famous political dynasty.

There were emotional scenes at the sprawling Kennedy compound on Friday, where family members were seen hugging and embracing each other following her death.

Her grandmother Ethel Kennedy, 91, and mother Courtney Kennedy Hill, appeared anguished as they were spotted on a golf cart returning to the compound after a brief outing.

Some relatives had taken the Glide sailboat out around Hyannis Port and could be seen hugging one another as it docked at around 2.30 pm on Friday.

Robert F Kennedy Jr paid a moving tribute to his niece Saoirse Kennedy Hill, saying the ‘gaping hope she leaves in our lives is too large to ever heal’ following her suspected death of a drug overdose on Thursday

Saoirse’s uncle Robert F Kennedy Jr, son of the late presidential candidate and his wife Ethel, shared an image with his beloved niece and described her as ‘fierce and daring’ as the family mourn her tragic loss

Saoirse is seen (back row third from right) celebrating her grandmother Ethel’s birthday last year surrounded by family members

Saoirse’s father is Paul Michael Hill, one of four people falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs. Hill and Courtney Kennedy married in 1993 and welcomed their only daughter in 1997. 

They lived in Ireland from 2002 until 2006, the year they legally separated. Saoirse spent part of her childhood in Ireland, and often spoke of how proud she was of her Irish heritage and her Gaelic given name, which means freedom.

Residents in the Hyannis Port community, who know the family, expressed their shock and sadness over Soairse’s death.  

Greg Harden, who lives just outside the Kennedy compound and knows several of the family members, told the Boston Globe: ‘They’re great people. They’ve been through a lot, a lot of tragedy in the family. And this is just really sad.’

Another resident named Ben Ayres of Hyannis said told the outlet: ‘It’s a continuation of a history of tragedy.

Ayres, who was a child when John F. Kennedy was shot, said: ‘It created a huge impression on me. It just made me sad. 

‘There’s a real kind of earthiness and friendliness [to the Kennedys]. ‘They just kind of melt into the area here and are very much a part of the community.’ 

Saoirse and other members of the family were known to visit Baxter’s Boathouse restaurant, often arriving by boat.

Jeff Robertson claimed they saw Saoirse at the restaurant ‘a couple weekengs ago’ and she would often be with members of the large Kennedy clan or a ‘younger crowd.’ 

Another patron said: ‘Most people here are affected by it. It breaks the otherwise peaceful tone of the area.’

A close friend of the Kennedys, Luciana Klosterman, told DailyMail.com that the family were trying to find a place that would help treat Saoirse’s depression just months before her death. 

‘Maybe two or three months ago, I talked to her over the phone. She was in California. She was trying to find a place for Saoirse there, to help with her depression.’

She added: ‘Aside from being a Kennedy, the mother and the daughter are two completely magnificent people.’

Another source close to the family said they were stunned by the apparent overdose as Saoirse had not been a partier.

‘There’s never been any sign to the family that Saoirse was drinking or taking drugs. She wasn’t a partier or anything,’ the source told Page Six.

However they did concede she had a ‘very difficult’ upbringing and had an ‘unstable childhood’ until her parents, Courtney and Paul Hill separated. 

‘This girl is very sweet and a very shy girl who has struggled a lot with depression since her early teens,’ they added.

In a 2002 interview with the Scottish Herald, Courtney also revealed her own struggle with depression in her early life, which began following the assassination of her father in 1968.

Friends and family of Saoirse Kennedy shared several images on social media, painting the picture of a young woman who loved life and had a number of interests

An autopsy conducted on the 22-year-old found no trauma to her body, leaving the cause and manner of her death to be determined following toxicology tests, the local district attorney’s office said.  

 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk