Joan Bennett Kennedy
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Joan Bennett Kennedy was born September 2, 1936 in Riverdale, New York as Virginia Joan Bennett. She was the daughter of Henry Wiggin Bennett, Jr. and the former Virginia Joan Stead. She attended Manhattanville College, a Sacred Heart Academy, along with several Kennedy daughters. Through them, she met her future husband, Edward Moore Kennedy.
[edit] Marriage and divorce
Ted and Joan were married on November 29, 1958, in Bronxville, New York. They had three children: Kara Kennedy Allen (born February 27, 1960), Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr. (born September 26, 1961), and Representative Patrick Joseph Kennedy (born July 14, 1967). In July 1969, while pregnant with another child after two miscarriages, Joan stood beside her husband in court a few days after a car he was driving plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his young female passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne; she suffered a third miscarriage shortly thereafter. Two of Ted and Joan's children, Kara Kennedy Allen and Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr., would develop cancer early in life but would survive; it is quite likely that her children's illnesses further exacerbated her mental health and worsened her alcoholism.
While she showed a public display of unity during Ted's failed 1980 presidential campaign, the marriage was falling apart after a long, slow decline, allegedly due in part to womanizing on his part and alcoholism on hers. On December 6, 1982, the divorce was finalized.
After her divorce, Joan became an accomplished musician and spent time as a grandmother to her four grandchildren from Kara and Ted Jr. In addition, Kennedy worked as an advocate for the mentally challenged and cancer research and was a supporter of the Children's Hospital and the Pine Street Inn, a Boston-based homeless shelter.
[edit] Severe alcoholism
She has been arrested on at least four occasions for drunk driving. In 1974, she was arrested in Virginia. In 1988, she was arrested in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Her sister-in-law, Jacqueline Kennedy persuaded her to seek treatment for her drinking problem. Joan found it easy to discuss her problems with Jackie.
She was ordered to undergo treatment following a 1991 arrest in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 2000, she was arrested in Barnstable, and charged with DUI and failure to provide a license or registration. In the 2000 case, she was sentenced to 2 years probation.
In February, 2005, the press revealed her children were granted legal guardianship over her because of her ongoing struggle with alcoholism.
On March 30, 2005, Kennedy was hospitalized with a concussion and a broken shoulder after a passer-by found her lying in a street in Boston. Details of exactly what happened to Kennedy and how she ended up in the street remain unclear.
She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery. As of now, treatment is progressing smoothly.
