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oan Bennett, former wife of Senator Ted Kennedy, was born on September 9, 1936, in Manhattan. Bennett married Ted Kennedy on November 29, 1958. Her private struggle with miscarriages and alcoholism became public after she was arrested for drunk driving in 1974. For decades Bennett wrestled with sobriety. She is currently in treatment under her children's care.

Kennedy, in a book scheduled to be released Monday, provides an intimate picture of a dysfunctional family and some of its well-publicized struggles with alcoholism and mental health issues — and what he describes as a blanket of secrecy that papered over their problems...The book, which Kennedy will discuss on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, is bound to rile other members of the famous family. “I know how some of them are going to react,” Kennedy says in a brief excerpt from the show released by CBS. “They’re angry.” He describes a drunken sailing trip in 2000 that turned out...

Complete Headline: Breaking the Kennedy code of silence: Patrick goes on national TV to expose his family's secrets as he launches book describing how 'disabling alcoholism' killed his father Ted, his mom and his sister Patrick Kennedy has broken the political dynasty's 'code of silence' by describing how he turned to drink at 13 to deal with the multitude of his family's problems. The former Congressman told CBS' 60 Minutes how his alcoholic mother Joan would walk around in a bathrobe 'inebriated' during the day while his father, Senator Ted Kennedy, would self-medicate by drinking. The 48-year-old politician said the...

<p>Getty image removed by ModNewer wife dressed in black behind older model dressed in white.</p>

Another Kennedy is in trouble with alcohol and the court system. Joan Kennedy was taken to a Boston hospital over the weekend after caretakers appointed by a Barnstable court decided she was too intoxicated for her own good, according to a report in the Boston Herald today. The 71-year-old Kennedy, who is the ex-wife of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital after she became drunk at a social event Friday night, the Herald reported. Her caretakers were appointed as part of a deal with her children to head off a court battle over her Hyannisport home....

Joan Kennedy’s battle with alcoholism has again landed her in treatment after a Friday night drinking binge, a heartbreaking setback that could spell more legal trouble for the ex-wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Herald has learned. Kennedy allegedly became intoxicated at a weekend social event and was taken to a Boston hospital by her caretakers. She is under a judge’s order to refrain from drinking alcohol, part of a deal struck with her children last year in Barnstable family court. Her latest troubles occurred Friday night when her caretakers took her to a charity meeting in Boston, during...

The National Enquirer splashes this week with a shocking story about Sen. Ted Kennedy’s secret love child with a Cape Cod woman whom the mag says he dated during his days as a swinging single. According to the tabloid’s source, the boy, named Christopher, just celebrated his 21st birthday and is “mature enough to make his own choices about his background and biological father.” A Kennedy family confidante told the Enquirer, “This is one of the biggest secrets in the Kennedy family and known to only a few people including Ted’s ex-wife, Joan.” As for the senator, his spokesgal Melissa...

Check out the new "Fatboy Ted Kennedy" website at http://fatboy.cc/ It's terrific. The "Kennedy Girls" page is pretty far out there, most are naked.... Howie Carr has done it again, but even better!

The Connecticut cousin at the crux of a bitter legal battle between Joan Kennedy and her children said they are exacting ``misery'' on the 68-year-old alcoholic by robbing her of the legal right to run her own life. ``I don't know why they would put their mother through this misery,'' said Webster E. Janssen, a financial planner who began last August to take legal control of his second-cousin's estimated $9 million estate. The Herald reported yesterday that a Barnstable Probate & Family Court judge late Friday approved a settlement agreement crafted by lawyers for Joan Kennedy and her kids -...

Joan Kennedy's alcoholism has spiraled so out of control that she has consumed ``massive amounts'' of mouthwash, prompting a judge to halt her from selling her Cape Cod estate and to put her under strict court supervision, the Herald has learned. Under an 11th-hour deal struck in Barnstable Probate & Family Court on Friday, Kennedy's $6 million Hyannisport home has been taken off the market. In addition, the court dissolved a trust established by her second cousin, Webster E. Janssen, who had put the house up for sale without the knowledge of her three children. The house, along with Kennedy's...

Next week, Joan Bennett Kennedy is set to face her children when at least two of the three are expected to take the witness stand in a Barnstable County courthouse to say that she needs a permanent guardian, according to a Kennedy family friend.

Joan Kennedy's embarrassing alcohol-fueled collapse on a Hub sidewalk has sparked an emotional legal custody battle pitting the ex-socialite against her three chldren. Barnstable Probate and Family Court Judge Robert E. Terry yesterday ruled the 68-year-old former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Jr. is a danger to herself and incompetent, a source close to the case said. Terry extended by 90 days an order giving her children custody over her finances, health care, housing and other personal decisions and - in what one source called an ``unprecedented move,'' set a full trial to decide whether that guardianship should be...

Patrick Kennedy Will Not Run for Senate By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-R.I., on Wednesday ruled out a run for the Senate in 2006, saying he could better serve his constituents by staying in the House and serving on the Appropriations Committee. Kennedy has been in Boston caring for his mother, Joan Kennedy, who was hospitalized with a concussion and a broken shoulder after a passer-by found her lying in a street Tuesday. In a statement, Kennedy did not cite family responsibilities as a reason for his decision, but...

BOSTON - The neighbor who found Joan Bennett Kennedy lying on a sidewalk this week said she had no idea the woman she helped was a member of one of America's best-known families. Kennedy, 68, the former wife of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was recovering Thursday at Massachusetts General Hospital after suffering a concussion and broken shoulder. It remained unclear exactly what happened to Kennedy, who has battled alcoholism for years. There was an ambulance call record but no police report on the incident and family members have declined to give any details. Constance Bacon, 35, who lives in...

As his mother recovers in the hospital after being found passed out on a Hub street, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy has nixed an anticipated bid to join his dad in the Senate.      In a statement released to the media, Kennedy (D-R.I.) said, ``my family means everything to me,'' thanked the public for the ``outpouring of support'' for his 68-year-old, alcoholic mother Joan and asked for ``privacy.''      He said he will continue his work as a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.Kennedy said Rhode Island has landed a half-billion dollars in federal funding during his tenure.      ``I am grateful for...

Constance Bacon was walking home from the gym in a driving rain Monday, when she spotted a woman lying on the sidewalk on Beacon Street in the Back Bay, raindrops soaking her black pants and long wool overcoat. When Bacon called an ambulance, she said she had no idea it was Joan Bennett Kennedy, a member of one of America's best-known political families. Kennedy, 68, had apparently tumbled, injuring her shoulder and leaving a gash on her head. When Bacon found her about 5 p.m., Kennedy could not pull herself up from the sidewalk. So Bacon, 35, an artist who...

Joan Kennedy, Ex-Wife of Mass. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Recuperates From Concussion, Broken ShoulderBOSTON Mar 30, 2005 — Joan Kennedy, the former wife of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, is in the hospital recuperating from a concussion and a broken shoulder after a passer-by found her lying in a street, according to her son. Kennedy, 68, was taken to Tufts New England Medical Center about 3 a.m. Tuesday, said Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. "We're indebted to some anonymous pedestrian who found her and picked her up and got her help," Patrick Kennedy told the Boston Herald for its Wednesday editions.Details of exactly what...

BOSTON -- Joan Kennedy, the former wife of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was hospitalized with a concussion and a broken shoulder early Tuesday morning after a passer-by found her lying in a Boston street, said her son, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy. Joan Bennett Kennedy, former wife of Sen. Edward Kennedy Kennedy, 68, was taken to Tufts New England Medical Center at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday, said Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. "We're indebted to some anonymous pedestrian who found her and picked her up and got her help," Patrick Kennedy told the Boston Herald. "I'm enormously grateful for whoever it...

BOSTON - Joan Kennedy, the former wife of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), is in the hospital recuperating from a concussion and a broken shoulder after a passer-by found her lying in a street, according to her son. Kennedy, 68, was taken to Tufts New England Medical Center about 3 a.m. Tuesday, said Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-R.I. "We're indebted to some anonymous pedestrian who found her and picked her up and got her help," Patrick Kennedy told the Boston Herald for its Wednesday editions. Details of exactly what happened and how she...

February 25, 2005 Kennedy kin get custody of mother THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The children of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy have taken legal guardianship of their mother, Joan B. Kennedy, to ensure she receives treatment for her alcoholism, her son U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said yesterday. "My brother, sister and I, love our mother very much. She has done so much for us throughout our lives and we will take whatever steps necessary to ensure she gets the medical treatment and care she needs and deserves," Patrick Kennedy said in a prepared statement. A spokesman for Patrick...