A rumor claiming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified in his 2012 divorce proceedings that brain damage prevented him from holding a job, in order to avoid paying alimony, spread across Threads, Facebook and X. The claim traces to a 2024 New York Times report describing a deposition in which Kennedy reportedly said a worm ate part of his brain and died, and argued his cognitive struggles diminished his earning power.
Snopes could not locate the actual deposition cited by the Times, and the one divorce-related document it did find — a 2011 affidavit alleging abuse by his second wife — contained no mention of brain damage affecting his earning power. The Times report also did not specifically state Kennedy claimed he couldn't hold a job, only that his earning power was diminished.
Kennedy has previously acknowledged the brain worm publicly, joking during his 2024 presidential campaign that he'd eat five more and still outdebate Trump and Biden. Snopes left the specific alimony claim unrated pending further documentation.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.