Cheryl Hines says political criticism is ‘next level’ compared to Hollywood backlash

Actress Cheryl Hines, wife of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., addressed the “next level” criticism she has faced since her transition from Hollywood to the political arena, highlighted by her recent appearance on ABC’s “The View.”

“In Hollywood… I didn’t experience that [level of criticism],” she said Monday on “Fox & Friends.” “It would be on a different level, right? You have a movie, it comes out, it’s joyful, everybody’s talking about it. There might be some chatter of, ‘oh, it’s not a good film’ or this or that. But politics is next level.”

The “Unscripted” author sparred with ABC’s Sunny Hostin during her October appearance on “The View” where the pair debated her husband’s qualifications to lead HHS. 

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Cheryl Hines is seen outside “The View” on Oct. 14, 2025, in New York City. Sunny Hostin attends a discussion of “The View’s” “Behind the Table” podcast at 92NY on Oct. 8, 2024, in New York City. (
Raymond Hall/GC Images; Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)

Hostin told Hines her husband was “the least qualified Department of Health and Human Services head that we’ve had in history.”

Hines responded by explaining that Kennedy has spent his career fighting for people’s health. On “Fox & Friends” she pointed out that “90% of the HHS secretaries have not been doctors. And one of them was an economist.”

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Hines said that when tensions run high, she tries to keep things calm “and really tries to connect with someone, because I think that’s part of the problem.”

“People put up their barriers, and they don’t really want to listen or connect. So I was just trying to listen,” she said. Hines explained that she wants to understand why someone thinks the way they do and engage with them over facts.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives with his wife, Cheryl Hines, for the inauguration of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who was reelected for a second term, in Quito, Ecuador on May 24. (Karen Toro/Reuters)

“But you know, it’s difficult… some people don’t want to engage that way,” she said.

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When asked if she has lost friends over her husband’s involvement with the Trump administration, she shared that she has friends she hasn’t spoken to since the election.

Kennedy “had a lot of support” in Hollywood when he worked as an environmental attorney, according to Hines, but when he turned to politics to more directly make a difference in public health, “it has been a different reception, simply because of the administration and how people might feel one way or the other about President Trump.”