The high-profile marriage of Andrew Cuomo and Kerry Kennedy unified two political powerhouses
and earned the nickname "Cuomolot," but the fairy tale crumbled under waves of controversy,
scandal, and gossip.
This is the true story of how it all fell apart.
Like many Kennedy unions, the courtship between Andrew Cuomo and Kerry Kennedy had the hallmarks
of a fairy-tale - according to the press, at least.
As journalist Michael Shnayerson described in a 2015 piece for Vanity Fair, the pair
met in the late 1980s, when Cuomo launched a non-profit to help the homeless, and Kennedy,
a noted human rights activist, was setting up her own non-profit, the Robert F. Kennedy
Center for Human Rights, named after her father.
With similar interests and aspirations, the coupling made sense, but it also served as
a symbolic melding of two American political dynasties: the noblesse-like Kennedys and
the ambitious Cuomos, whose patriarch, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, typified the intergenerational
immigrant success story.
Although the romance between the two seemed genuine, Andrew also knew a union between
them would be valuable political capital.
According to Shnayerson, he purportedly secretly met with select members of the press to ask
their opinions on a Cuomo-Kennedy engagement before he even proposed.
Shnayerson wrote of the discussions,
"Some of the journalists were acquaintances at best.
Appreciative as they were of candor, the pre-proposal talk struck them as odd.
Why would he share this intimate plan with them before he broached it to Kerry?
And why worry about how the media would perceive it?"
Some sources believe Cuomo's strategizing may have foretold the implosion of the marriage
before it even began.
Andrew Cuomo and Kerry Kennedy wed in 1990, and their union became known as "Cuomolot"
in the press - a nod to Kerry's uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, and his administration's
association with the Camelot of Arthurian legend.
But the marriage proved to be anything but a peaceable kingdom.
According to the Cuomo biography, The Contender, also written by Vanity Fair reporter Michael
Shnayerson, this alliance was fraught with infighting and cataclysmic tension behind
the facade of political royalty.
Red flags were present from the very beginning.
According to Shnayerson's book, Cuomo placed an embargo on family toasts at the couple's
wedding reception.
That decision reportedly bucked a long-held Kennedy tradition and left the family aghast.
Shnayerson wrote,
"No toasts?
The Kennedys were astonished.
Toasts were the best part of a wedding, the more irreverent the better.
But that, it seemed, was exactly why Andrew forbade them.
He didn't want the risk of any off-color stories.
This is no fun, the Kennedys muttered among themselves."
Unfortunately, the dynamic only worsened from there.
Andrew Cuomo never gelled with the extended Kennedy clan and was allegedly disdainful
of the family's relaxed camaraderie.
According to biographer Michael Shnayerson,
"He hated the gatherings in Hyannis; he always felt like the odd man out.
The joshing around, the freewheeling talks - Andrew was just too tightly wound to join
in."
At one point, Cuomo reportedly stopped going to the Kennedy family compound on Cape Cod
entirely, thus distancing his wife Kerry from her family as well.
When Cuomo began working for President Bill Clinton's administration as the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development, he allegedly forbade friends and family members from socializing
in his and Kerry's home.
According to Shnayerson,
"The new rule reinforced the doubts the family had had about Andrew from the start: he wasn't
fun; he didn't get fun.
He was, to put it mildly, a spoilsport."
All that criticism could arguably be attributed simply to scuttlebutt and challenging family
dynamics, but an unexpected and painful loss may have played a big role in what appeared
to be Andrew and Kerry's steep marital decline.
Some say Andrew Cuomo's behavior following a Kennedy family tragedy created an irreversible
schism between the governor and his in-laws.
In 1997, after 39-year-old lawyer Michael Kennedy was killed in a skiing accident, the
Kennedy family decided to close ranks and mourn in private.
Cuomo reportedly took a different tack when he and his brother, Chris Cuomo, slipped away
from a gathering in the Kennedy family's Hyannis Port compound to speak to the press lurking
outside.
Author Michael Shnayerson claims the grieving family was traumatized by the actions of the
brothers Cuomo.
Rory Kennedy, who was with Michael the day her brother died and who attempted to save
her brother's life at the scene, reportedly asked Andrew why he spoke to reporters.
According to Shnayeson's account, it was Andrew's opinion that,
"...the family was lucky that he was there to handle the moment.
Speechless, Rory fled to her room upstairs."
According to Douglas Kennedy, Andrew's actions on that day marked a turning point.
That's reportedly when he started to think of Kerry Kennedy's husband as nothing more
than an opportunistic "bully."
Andrew Cuomo's strained relations with his wife's family must have been tough, but when
combined with the pressures of a failed gubernatorial bid, what remained of "Cuomolot" soon crumbled.
Cuomo's first attempt to follow in the steps of his famous father - former three-term New
York Gov. Mario Cuomo - was more or less a disaster.
Voters were expected to favor Andrew's 2002 gubernatorial campaign, but instead, the Democrat
reportedly upended his chances after sharply criticizing Republican incumbent George Pataki's
leadership in response to 9/11.
According to The New York Times, quote, "Mr. Cuomo rejected the suggestion that he was
trying to use the terrorist attack for political advantage."
But regardless of intent, Cuomo's tactic for taking down Pataki backfired.
Cuomo reportedly pulled out of the gubernatorial primary in an effort to save face from a shattering
defeat by Carl McCall, who eventually lost to Pataki.
The day after the primary, on Sept. 11, 2002, Kerry Kennedy demanded a divorce.
According to The Contender,
"She had lived up to her side of the deal, she told friends, being the loyal candidate's
wife throughout the campaign, not letting a hint slip of the true state of their marriage.
But now, enough was enough."
Even though Andrew Cuomo's failed 2002 campaign for governor of New York reportedly played
a significant role in the unraveling of his marriage to Kerry Kennedy, some sources allege
that politics wasn't the only reason their union unraveled.
According to The Contender, the gubernatorial campaign,
"...made Kerry appreciate Andrew's capacity for hard work, and she had no doubt that he
would make a good governor.
Her problem with her husband was strictly personal."
The book claims that she wanted more time with her family, as well as more love and
support from a romantic partner.
Perhaps Kennedy found what she was looking for in professional polo player Bruce Colley
because the tabloids had a field day reporting on an alleged affair between Kennedy and the
very married athlete.
They were referred to unflatteringly in the press as "polo-playing Romeo" and "cheatin'
Kerry."
According to Cuomo's divorce lawyer, the politician felt betrayed and saddened by his wife's conduct
with someone he'd apparently considered a friend.
Kennedy supposedly told Cuomo to pound salt and move out.
While their divorce marked the proverbial fall of "Cuomolot," the aftershocks have continued
to shape political discourse.
The breakup between Andrew Cuomo and Kerry Kennedy dragged on for years, and the reputations
of both parties have taken some punches.
They allegedly locked horns over child support for years, with Kennedy's camp reportedly
accusing Cuomo of holding out on his three daughters.
In 2014, Kennedy went to trial and was acquitted of a DUI after testifying that she accidentally
took the wrong prescription pills the day she swerved off the road into another vehicle.
"I want to apologize to the driver of the truck, who I apparently hit."
Both exes are still active in high-profile social circles.
She's authored books about Catholicism, human rights, and her family legacy and serves as
president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights foundation.
Meanwhile, Cuomo's briefings on the coronavirus in New York state has considerably raised
his profile in the national spotlight.
Neither Kerry nor Andrew remarried after their divorce, and though "Cuomolot" did not endure,
their marriage changed the course of American politics in ways that are still measurable
today.
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