Joan Bennett Kennedy
Virginia Joan Kennedy (née Bennett, born September 2, 1936) is an American socialite who was the first wife of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.
This article is about the first wife of Ted Kennedy. For other people named Joan Kennedy, see Joan Kennedy (disambiguation).
Joan Bennett Kennedy
September 2, 1936
Early life[edit]
Virginia Joan Bennett was born at Mother Cabrini Hospital in New York City.[1] She was raised in a Roman Catholic family[1] in suburban Bronxville, New York. Her parents were Virginia Joan Stead (1911–1976) and Harry Wiggin Bennett Jr. (1907-1981)[1] Her father was a graduate of Cornell University and worked as an advertising executive. She grew up with one younger sister, Candace (“Candy”), born 1938. She attended Manhattanville College (then a Sacred Heart college), in Purchase, New York.[1] Manhattanville was also the alma mater of her future mother-in-law Rose Kennedy and future sisters-in-law Jean Kennedy Smith and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. In 1982, Bennett received an MA in Education from Lesley College, now known as Lesley University. As a teenager, she worked as a model in television advertising.[2]
Later life[edit]
In 1992, she published the book The Joy of Classical Music: A Guide for You and Your Family. Kennedy has worked with children's charities, remains an accomplished pianist and has taught classical music to children.[12]
Kennedy's later years have been shaped by chronic alcoholism, which developed during her marriage. The alcohol problem escalated with sporadic, uneven sobriety, repeated drunk-driving arrests,[2] court-ordered rehabilitation,[2] and a return to drinking. This ultimately led to kidney damage, with the possibility of dialysis[3] and protracted complications. In July 2004, her son, Ted Jr., was appointed her legal guardian; in 2005, her children were granted temporary guardianship. That year she was hospitalized with a concussion and a broken shoulder after being found lying in a Boston street near her home.[2][13][14] In 2005, she requested that her second cousin, financial planner Webster E. Janssen of Connecticut, establish a trust to control her estate. This was in violation of her sons' guardianship.citation needed Her children later took successful legal action against Janssen, removing him as trustee and later filing a complaint against him with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[15] That October, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery.[16] She agreed to strict court-ordered guardianship and her estate has since been placed in a new trust overseen by two court-appointed trustees.[3]
Apart from a brief relationship shortly after her divorce, she has neither remarried nor pursued another relationship.[3] She attended Ted's funeral at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port.[17] As of 2005, she resided in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cape Cod.[2]