Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the 70-year-old independent presidential candidate who has pitched himself as the sprightly, virile antithesis to his aging rivals, has faced previously undisclosed health issues — including a worm that he said ate part of his brain, according to The New York Times.
Kennedy spoke about some of the medical issues in a 2012 deposition, which the Times reviewed, during divorce proceedings from his second wife. He argued then that his earning potential had been negatively affected by cognitive issues.
According to his deposition, Kennedy was experiencing severe brain fog and memory loss in 2010 and received brain scans. One doctor believed that the scans indicated “a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy said. After more testing, doctors concluded that the dark spot seen in the scans was a cyst with indeed a dead parasite.
According to his deposition, Kennedy was experiencing severe brain fog and memory loss in 2010 and received brain scans.
Around the same time, Kennedy found out he had mercury poisoning — a condition that’s also associated with memory loss — as well, likely from a fish-heavy diet. He also said in the deposition that he had been hospitalized multiple times for atrial fibrillation, a heart issue.
“I have cognitive problems, clearly,” Kennedy said in the deposition. “I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”
Kennedy told the Times that he has bounced back from his cognitive issues and that he had no lingering effects from the worm in his brain, which he said did not need treatment.
Still, the Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, offers a more complicated picture of Kennedy’s health than the version he has gone to lengths to present. As concerns about President Joe Biden and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s age and cognitive abilities continue to weigh on voters, Kennedy has portrayed himself as a youthful, more robust, even more masculine alternative. His campaign has promoted videos of him weightlifting in jeans, skiing with professional snowboarder Torah Bright and diving with sharks.
Kennedy’s campaign dismissed any concerns that he may not be as fit for the presidency as he paints himself out to be, with campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear telling the Times: “That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition.”