Kerry Kennedy on Her Mother Ethel’s Extraordinary Life

Next Question with Katie Couric · Oct 29, 2026 · 1h 11m

Ethel Kennedy was pregnant with her 11th child when her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968. She spent the next five decades raising her children, keeping her faith, and fighting for the causes they shared. In a new book, Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy, Kerry Kennedy tells her mother’s story, from Ethel’s rough-and-tumble childhood and the legendary parties at Hickory Hill to the fearless advocate she became in her own right.

Kerry sits down with Katie to talk about growing up in a house full of chaos and love, learning that her father had been shot…