What Happened to Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy’s Widow?

It has been more than 15 years since U.S. Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts died from brain cancer. The stalwart Democrat became known as "The Lion of the Senate" during his 47 years in the upper chamber.

Born on February 22, 1932 in Boston, Kennedy lived for a time in the shadow of his older brothers, President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom died at the hands of assassins.

Ted Kennedy died at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts on August 25, 2009. He was 77. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Kennedy married Joan Bennett in 1958. They divorced in 1982. The Kennedys had three children: Kara, Edward Jr. and Patrick II.

Sen. Kennedy married Victoria Anne Reggie in 1992. Reggie, born on February 26, 1954, in Crowley, Louisiana, graduated from Newcomb College and Tulane University Law School and specialized in financial law as a practicing attorney.

Reggie married Grier Raclin in 1981. They divorced in 1990. The couple had two children.

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The Washington Post reported Kennedy and Reggie began dating in 1991 after meeting at a party. They were engaged in March 1992 and married four months later.

Following Kennedy's death in 2009, his widow resisted repeated prodding to seek his U.S. Senate seat, though she remained somewhat active in politics.

In 2022, President Joe Biden appointed Victoria Reggie Kennedy U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Austria, where she remains today.