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.
Kennedy Jr, 65, who is a brother of Saoirse’s mother Courtney Kennedy Hill, shared a heartrending post on Instagram along with a series of images showing his 22-year-old niece in happier times.
The environmentalist said on Friday that the famed political family said: ‘We’ve lost our daughter and our children, their sister.
‘Saoirse was fierce, both in her love for her family and yearning for justice. A fearless adventurer, she inspired curiosity and daring in her friends.’
‘But her greatest gift was to find humor in everything and to give us all the gift of her laughter – and our own. The gaping hole that she leaves in our family is too large to ever heal.’
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 is seen (back row third from right) celebrating her grandmother Ethel’s birthday last year surrounded by family members
Saoirse Kennedy Hill (pictured) has been identified as the young woman who died of a possible drug overdose at the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod. She was 22 years old
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
Paramedics responded to a suspected overdose just after 2.30 pm and found the patient in cardiac arrest at the home where Ethel Kennedy lived at 28 Marchant Avenue in Hyannis Port.
She was transported to Cape Cod Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to local media.
Saoirse, 22, was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill — one of the 11 children of the late presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and his widow Ethel, 91, an environmental and human rights activist.
The Boston College Student, who was due to graduate in 2020, wrote movingly about her struggle with depression and mental illness in a candid article for her school paper in 2016.
She also described how she attempted to take her own life two weeks before her junior year began at the prestigious preparatory school, Deerfield Academy, claiming she ‘totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me.’
In the essay she penned, Saoirse did not go into further detail about the individual who broke her ‘sexual boundaries’ or state whether she reported any alleged assault. But it seemed clear from her writing that the encounter had an impact on her emotionally.
RFK shared a number of images of Saoirse, including his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, helping her move into her Boston College dorm. She studied communications there and was due to graduate next year
Paramedics responded to a suspected overdose just after 2.30 pm and found the patient in cardiac arrest at the home where Ethel Kennedy lived at 28 Marchant Avenue in Hyannis Port. She is pictured here with several of her cousins on a sailboat
In a series of carefree images, Saoirse is seen leaping from a jetty with her cousin Michaela Cuomo, 21, who is the daughter of Kerry Kennedy and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
Saoirse is the granddaughter of the late Robert F Kennedy and his wife Ethel, who lives at the home where the alleged overdose occurred.
The statement quoted the Kennedy family matriarch, as saying: ‘The world is a little less beautiful today. She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit.
‘Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women’s empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever.’
The statement was issued to Associated Press by Brian Wright O’Connor, a spokesman for Saoirse Kennedy-Hill’s uncle, former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.
Saoirse, 22, was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill — one of the 11 children of the late presidential candidate and the environmental and human rights activist Ethel Kennedy. They are pictured together above at an event in The White House several years ago, thought to be when Pope Francis made his official visit to the U.S. in 2015
Saoirse was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy’s fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, who was one of four falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs. She is pictured with her uncle Robert Kennedy Jr and other family members at a Kenny Chesney concert in Foxboro in 2018
There were emotional scenes at the Kennedy compound on Friday morning, where family members were seen hugging and embracing each other as they came to terms with the latest tragedy to befall the Kennedy family
There were scenes of devastation at the sprawling Kennedy compound in Cape Cod amid news of the latest family tragedy
Law enforcement were seen speaking with relatives of Saoirse Kennedy-Hill as the investigation into her death continues
Saoirse’s father was 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.
In it they said Saoirse cared deeply about friends and family, ‘especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel.’
Ethel Kennedy lives part of the year at the Cape Cod oceanside compound, which is still used as a family retreat. It was unclear whether she was at the home on Thursday.
The statement did not include a cause of death, but audio of a Barnstable police scanner call obtained by The Associated Press said officers were responding to a report of a drug overdose at the compound.
There were emotional scenes at the sprawling Kennedy compound on Friday morning, where family members were seen hugging and embracing each other as they came to terms with the latest tragedy to befall the Kennedy family.
Law enforcement officials were also seen at the compound speaking with family members as the investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death continues.
Police vehicles and a large media presence could be seen at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts on Friday
Multiple generations of the Kennedy family have lived at the compound, which famously served as President John F. Kennedy’s summer White House. The compound has around six homes on Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port
In later years extended members of the Kennedy family have gathered there for various family events including one on July 4
Saoirse’s second cousin, Katherine Schwarzenegger, the daughter of Maria Shriver, looked anguished as she left gym in Los Angeles on Friday morning as more news of the young woman’s death began to emerge
Just days before her death, the Boston College student had spent time with her family at their famed Massachusetts estate.
In an Instagram photo captured by her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the 22-year-old was seen enjoying the sunny day as she jumped into the water.
Saoirse’s aunt Kerry Kennedy paid a touching tribute to her niece on Instagram, sharing the official family statement on her death, along with several images of the 22-year-old in happier times.
One of Hill’s relatives, former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who is now an advocate for substance abuse and mental health treatment, tweeted in tribute to her Friday.
‘Saoirse will always remain in our hearts. She is loved and will be deeply missed,’ he wrote.
Tributes poured in for the young student on Friday, including one from her cousin, Maria Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy, who wrote on Twitter: ‘Life is fragile and heartbreaking. It turns upside down in a minute. Love your children, hold them tight. Love your family, hold them close.
‘Love your friends, keep them near. Be gentle with others, as so many are fragile and struggling. #ivebeenthinking.’
However some family members understandably did not want to comment on the tragedy. When approached by DailyMail.com, her uncle, Douglas Kennedy, said: ‘I appreciate your call but I really have no comment.’
‘Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse,’ the Kennedy family said in a statement. ‘Her life was filled with hope, promise and love’
Saoirse is seen with her mother Courtney Kennedy Hill at the family compound in 2016. She was Courtney’s only child
Saoirse is seen on the family’s boat in an Instagram photo posted by her uncle Robert F Kennedy Jr over the weekend
Saoirse spent part of her childhood in Ireland, and often said she was proud of her Irish heritage. Her father, Paul Hill, is one of the Guildford Four, who were falsely accused of involvement in Irish Republican Army bombing. They are pictured together above
Saoirse’s father is Paul Hill, an Irishman who was one of the Guildford Four, a group of men wrongly convicted of bombings carried out by the IRA in 1974. Hill and Courtney Kennedy (above together) married in 1993 and welcomed their only daughter in 1997
Paramedics responding to a call of a suspected overdose just after 2.30pm Thursday arrived at the scene (pictured) and found the patient in cardiac arrest
Her passing is being investigated by Barnstable police and State Police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office.
While in high school, Kennedy Hill wrote for a student newspaper about her struggles with depression and mental illness.
The Times reported that she marched last year as part of a nationwide protests against gun violence.
She was described as a ‘gifted student’ in the Class of 2020 at Boston College where she studied Communications in the Morrissey College of Arts and Science, the school said in a statement.
‘We extend our condolences to her family on this tragic loss,’ a Boston College official said. Unsurprisingly given her family history, she also served as vice president of the College Democrats.
She was expected to graduate next year and previously attended the private preparatory school Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.
The Kennedy Compound consists of multiple homes across six acres of waterfront property along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port
Ethel Kennedy is pictured with his wife Ethel when he was a newly elected Senator at La Guardia Airport in November 1964
Courtney Kennedy Hill is pictured in a loving embrace with her only daughter Saoirse in a recent Facebook image
While she was attending boarding school at Deerfield Academy in 2016, Saoirse penned an article for the student paper about her struggles with depression and mental illness.
She revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a friend during her junior year and attempted to take her own life.
Saoirse underwent treatment for depression before returning to school. In the article, which she penned during her senior year, she described feeling unsettled and lonely because few people on campus knew about her illness.
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.’
She did not go into further detail about the person who broke her ‘sexual boundaries’ or state whether she reported any alleged assault.
But 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.
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.
Saoirse Kennedy is pictured aged 12 greeting people waiting in a three hour line to pay their respects to Senator Edward M. Kennedy at a memorial following his death at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston in August 27, 2009
Saoirse and Courtney Kennedy are seen outside the White House in 2015 during Pope Francis’ official visit to The White House
Saorsie is pictured at the age of 18 before her high school prom in May 2016, looking stunning in a long red dress
The 22-year-old is seen (third row, fifth from the right) at the Kennedy compound with family
The incident reportedly took place at 28 Marchant Avenue, a home belonging to Ethel Kennedy
A Barnstable Police cruiser sits at the top of Marchant Avenue as police investigate the death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill
People walk down the dock at the Hyannis Port Yacht Club by the Kennedy Compound as police begin their investigations
The lights were on at the Hyannis Port Yacht Club by the Kennedy Compound where police are investigating the death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill
Professor Breen claimed that Saoirse once asked him to speak to her out after a class conversation on feminism and rape culture, asking him whether the issues were appropriate for the classroom given that some students may have been survivors of sexual assault.
‘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.’
Hill and Courtney Kennedy married in 1993 and welcomed their only daughter – whose name means ‘freedom’ in Irish – 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 meaning freedom.
The overdose incident took place at 28 Marchant Avenue, a home belonging to Ethel Kennedy, the 91-year-old widow of late US Senator Robert F Kennedy.
Despite the tragedies that befell two of their most notable members, the Kennedy family remains active in politics.
Congressman Joe Kennedy III, a grandson of RFK, entered the House of Representatives in 2013. The Kennedy Compound consists of multiple homes across six acres of waterfront property along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port.
It has been home to multiple members of the political powerhouse Kennedy clan for several decades. Joseph and Rose Kennedy, parents to John, Robert and Edward, bought the first home at 50 Marchant Ave in 1928.
Ted Kennedy added the second home at 28 Marchant Ave in 1955 and sold it to his brother Robert in 1961. It is worth an estimated $2.3 million.
Kennedy Hill’s death is the latest tragedy suffered by the Kennedy family, which is arguably the nation’s most famous and storied political dynasties.
In 1963, then-President John F Kennedy was assassinated. JFK’s brother, presidential candidate and US Senator Robert F Kennedy was killed by an assassin five years later in 1968.
Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, and Saoirse’s aunt posted several pictures of her niece on Instagram
‘Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse,’ Kerry wrote in one touching tribute
She also shared pictures of Saoirse from her younger years, such as this picture with an elaborate headress
Kerry Kennedy’s Instagram posts paint a picture of a happy-go-lucky girl in the prime of her life
The family are pictured together on a previous trip to Ireland, with Saoirse, her mom Courtney Kennedy and father Paul Hill
Another brother, Joseph P Kennedy Jr was killed in World War II, and their sister Kathleen Cavendish died in a plane crash in 1948.
The president’s son, John F Kennedy Jr, was killed in a plane crash in 1999 off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, along with his wife and sister-in-law.
Robert F and Ethel Kennedy’s son David Anthony died of an overdose at age 28 in 1984. Their other son, Michael Kennedy, died aged 39 in a skiing accident in 1997.
Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy was involved in an accident in Martha’s Vineyard in 1969 that left a young woman dead.
The US senator drove off a bridge on the tiny island of Chappaquiddick. He got out of the water but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not.
Ted pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury.
Kopechne was a respected political operative who had worked on the presidential campaign of Robert F Kennedy.
The Kennedy family is no stranger to tragedy, having lost several members under unusual circumstances over the years. In 1963, then-President John F Kennedy was assassinated. JFK’s brother, presidential candidate and US Senator Robert F Kennedy was killed by an assassin five years later in 1968. The brothers are pictured together in 1963
The Kennedy Compound consists of multiple homes across six acres of waterfront property along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port
The Kennedy clan is seen celebrating the Fourth of July at the compound earlier this month
Saoirse’s father Paul Hill and the three other members of the Guildford Four served 14 years of a life sentence for the attack which killed five people and injured 65, before their convictions were overturned in 1989. Hill is seen arriving at appeals court that year with Courtney Kennedy (center) and her mother Ethel (right)
Saoirse is seen placing a white rose at the Eternal Flame, President John F Kennedy’s gravesite, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in 2000
Saoirse’s father Paul Hill and the three other members of the Guildford Four served 14 years of a life sentence for the attack which killed five people and injured 65, before their convictions were overturned in 1989.
The high-profile deadly attack in Guildford – along with ones in Woolwich and Birmingham – in 1974 became better known for the huge miscarriages of justices they led to in the aftermath, with the public demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice.
Hill, Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson were jailed in 1975 for the attack on the Horse and Groom pub in Guildford which killed four soldiers and a civilian and injured scores more. Hill and Armstrong were also jailed for the Woolwich bombing in which two people died.
In a separate trial, The Birmingham Six – Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker – were convicted for carrying out the Midlands bombings.
Later Giuseppe, and members of the Maguire family – who became known as the Maguire Seven – were arrested and jailed for possessing and supplying the IRA with the explosives for the bombs.
But all those involved protested their innocence and after years of campaigning their convictions were overturned.
In October 1989 the Court of Appeal quashed the sentences of the Guildford Four after they had served 14 years behind bars, amid doubts raised about the police evidence against them.
An investigation into the case by Avon and Somerset Police found serious flaws in the way Surrey Police handled the case.
In July 2000 the Prime Minister Tony Blair became the first senior politician to apologise to the Guildford Four.
In a letter sent to Paul Hill’s wife, Courtney Kennedy, he wrote: ‘There were miscarriages of justice in your husband’s case, and the cases of those convicted with him. I am very sorry indeed that this should have happened.’
The acclaimed 1993 film In The Name Of The Father, starring Daniel Day Lewis, was based on the Guildford Four.
- If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.
- For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local branch. See www.samaritans.org for details.
- For confidential support in Australia LIFELINE: 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au or Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800