Joan Kennedy, First Wife of Ted Kennedy, Dies at 89

Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who endured a long and troubled marriage marked by family tragedies, her husband's infidelities, and her own struggles with alcoholism and mental health, died on Wednesday. She was 89, reports the AP. The former Joan Bennett was a model and classically trained pianist when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958. Their lives would change unimaginably over the next decade and a half. Brother-in-law John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and assassinated three years later. Brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy served as attorney general under JFK, was elected to the US Senate in 1964, and was assassinated while seeking the presidency in 1968.

Her husband was elected to the US Senate and became among the country's most respected legislators, despite initial misgivings that he was capitalizing on his family connections. But Ted Kennedy also lived through scandals of his own making. In 1969, the car he was driving plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his young female passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy, who swam to safety and waited hours before alerting police, later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. Chappaquiddick shadowed him for the rest of his life, weighing against his own chances for the presidency.

Joan Kennedy had three children with her husband but also had miscarriages, including one shortly after the Chappaquiddick accident. She stood by her husband through the scandal, but their estrangement was nearly impossible to hide by the time of his unsuccessful effort to defeat President Carter in the 1980 Democratic primaries. They'd been separated by then and would later divorce. One bumper sticker from the campaign read "Vote for Jimmy Carter, Free Joan Kennedy."

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"Mrs. Kennedy was a classically trained pianist, an advocate for mental health and addiction recovery, and a quiet pioneer in publicly addressing challenges with alcoholism and depression at a time when few others would," her son Patrick Kennedy and his wife, Amy, said in a statement. "Her courage and candor helped break stigma and inspired others to seek help and healing. Her impact on the arts, mental health advocacy, her beloved Boston community, and the nation will be remembered by many," the statement noted.