Tatiana Schlossberg shouts out cousin RFK Jr as she announces she has cancer

Tatiana Schlossberg condemned her cousin robert kennedy jr. Skeptical about his vaccine when it was announced her terminal cancer diagnosis.

The 35-year-old environmental journalist shared the heartbreaking news in an article new yorker An article on Saturday, Nov. 22, said she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and doctors gave her just one year to live.

Schlossberg was initially diagnosed in May 2024 after giving birth to her daughter, whose name she kept secret. (Schlossberg and her husband, George Moranand a son, Edwin, 3 years old. ) She spent several weeks at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City, receiving a bone marrow transplant and later received home chemotherapy.

Schlossberg explained in her article that her diagnosis coincided with the time her 71-year-old cousin RFK Jr. paused his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump 2024. The vaccine skeptic eventually accepted a job as Health and Human Services secretary in the Trump administration.

“In August 2024, he suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, who said he would ‘drive Bobby crazy’ over his health,” Schlossberg wrote. new yorker. “My mother wrote a letter to the Senate trying to block his confirmation; my brother has been speaking out against his lies for months. I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby was confirmed to this position in the face of logic and common sense, even though he had never worked in medicine, public health or government.”

The reporter recalled that at the moment she relied on around-the-clock care, the entire medical panic system was “tense (and) crumbling.”

Schlossberg reflected on the added pressure on her husband, George, a physician at Columbia University. (Trump Administration $400 million in grants withdrawn In March 2025, a complaint was filed against Columbia University over its response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus. A deal was later reached to restore some of the funds. )

“Columbia was one of the first targets of the Trump administration’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism on campus; in May, the university laid off 180 researchers following cuts in federal funding,” she wrote. “If George changed jobs, we didn’t know if we would be able to get coverage because I already have a medical condition. Bobby is a known vaccine skeptic, and I was particularly concerned that I would not be able to get my vaccine again, leaving me, along with millions of cancer survivors, young children and the elderly, to live out the rest of their lives immunocompromised.”

Schlossberg also criticized her relative’s controversial 2023 remarks on “The Lex Friedman Podcast” that “there is no safe and effective vaccine.” (Kennedy later played down those comments, insisting he was “pro-safety” and not “anti-vaccine.”)

“Bobby may not remember that millions of people were paralyzed or died from polio before the vaccine became available,” she added. “My father grew up in New York in the 1940s and ’50s, and he really remembers it. Recently, I asked him how he felt after getting the vaccine. He said it felt like freedom.”

Elsewhere in her poignancy new yorker In the article, Schlossberg admitted that she was shocked to be diagnosed with cancer when she was nine months pregnant.

“I don’t – can’t – believe what they’re talking about about me. I swam a mile in the pool the day before when I was nine months pregnant. I’m not sick. I’m not feeling sick. I’m actually one of the healthiest people I know,” Tatiana wrote in the letter. new yorker. “I have a son that I love most and a newborn that I need to take care of.”

Schlossberg was far from the first member of the Kennedy family to speak out against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Five members of the Kennedy family—— Katherine Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy — issued a joint statement condemning their brothers for supporting Trump in August 2024.

“We want America to be filled with hope and united by a shared vision of a brighter future defined by individual freedom, economic commitment, and national pride,” they explain.

Their letter continued: “Our brother Bobby’s decision to support Trump today is a betrayal of the values ​​our father and our family held most dear. It is a sad end to a sad story.”

during an interview CNNRobert believes the political divisions within his family are no different than those faced by millions of Americans.

“I have a big family,” he said. “I don’t know of any family in America that agrees with them on everything.”

Following Robert’s nomination to the HHS department in early 2025, Tatiana’s mother caroline kennedy criticize nomination Because her cousin lacked “any relevant government, financial, managerial or medical experience.”

“His views on vaccines are dangerous and deliberately misleading,” added Caroline.

Tatiana’s brother, Jack Schlossberg, Even pranking Robert’s wife, Cheryl HinesJuly 2025.

“I’ve never met Cheryl Hines, but if I did, I would tell her she looks extremely dehydrated,” Schlossberg, 32, quipped byX July 23rd.

Earlier this month, Jack announced plans to run for Congress in New York’s 12th Congressional District in the 2026 midterm elections.

“I’m not running because I know all the answers to our problems. I’m running because the people of New York 12 know. I want to hear your struggles, hear your stories, amplify your voices, travel to Washington and execute on your behalf,” he wrote via Instagram.

Jack continued: “There is no place I would rather be fighting for my hometown than in the arena. Over the next eight months, on the campaign trail, I hope to see as many of you as possible. If you see me on the street, say hello. If I knock on your door, I hope we can talk. Because politics should be personal.”