Taylor Swift's Connection to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Explained

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It wouldn't be considered an "invisible string," but Taylor Swift has had a connection to controversial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for more than a decade.

Swift — who has long had an affinity for the Kennedy family — most notably dated RFK Jr.'s son, Conor Kennedy, from July to October 2012, when she was 22 and he was 18.

Their highly-publicized relationship was one filled with all of the trappings of a New England summer: time spent on boats, in patriotic bathing suits, and at the Kennedy family's compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Swift even purchased her own home next to the Kennedy's famed Cape Cod estate during their romance. ("I'm happy that we'll be neighbors. I'm thrilled," Ethel Kennedy — RFK Jr.'s mother and Conor's grandmother — told People that same year.)

However, Swift's romance with Conor wasn't just about appearances and Camelot and luxury. The pair began dating just two months after Conor's mother, Mary Kennedy, died by suicide in May 2012. (She had separated from RFK Jr. two years earlier.) For Conor, a source told Us Weekly at the time, the singer-songwriter was a "real shoulder to cry on." Swift, for her part, was "really smitten" with Conor. The two even spent time in Mt. Kisco, New York, a neighboring town of Conor's hometown of Bedford — where he grew up with his parents and three siblings.

Though the couple went their separate ways that fall — "It was just a distance thing," an insider told Us Weekly at the time — Swift immortalized their romance on her 2012 album Red with the record's closing song, "Begin Again."

The hit record also contained "Starlight" — Swift's ode to RFK Jr.'s mom, Ethel, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, Sr.

"I met Bobby on the boardwalk summer of '45," she sings on the song, describing the beginning of the iconic Kennedy couple's romance.

Rory Kennedy — one of RFK Jr.'s sisters — told People at the time that Swift "really just loves my mother, which is so sweet," noting that Swift was "inspired" by their family "and wrote a song."

In February 2012, Swift told Vogue that one of the only people she has ever been "starstruck over" was Ethel, who is now 96. (Swift, for her part, is 34.)

"I got to spend the afternoon with Ethel a couple of weeks ago," the 14-time Grammy winner told Vogue at the time, gushing over RFK Jr.'s mother and father. "She is one of my favorites because you look back at the pictures of her and Bobby [Kennedy Sr.], and they always look like they are having the most fun out of everybody. You know, 11 kids, all these exotic animals on their property."

Since Swift's split from Conor in late October 2012, it doesn't seem like she has crossed paths with the Kennedy family all that often — becoming her own version of American royalty not only on her own, but also with boyfriend Travis Kelce.

Swift and RFK Jr. also appear to have opposing politics — at least when it comes to COVID-19 precautions. While John F. Kennedy's nephew has touted vaccination conspiracy theories since 2020, Swift spoke out against anyone trying to go against COVID-19 safety precautions during the pandemic.

"God, you hope people would respect it and would understand that going out for a night isn't worth the ripple effect that it causes," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2020. "But obviously we're seeing that a lot of people don't seem to have their eyes open to that — or if they do, a lot of people don't care, which is upsetting."

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