Health and Human Services SecretaryRobert F. Kennedy Jr.reflected on his decades in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse during a podcast appearance, admitting that he used to snort cocaine off toilet seats.
Kennedy made the admission and spoke about his recovery on Theo Von's podcast "This Past Weekend" that aired Feb. 12. Kennedy said he and the comedian podcaster met during morning recovery meetings before the COVID-19 outbreak and later formed a "pirate" group that continued meeting during the pandemic.
"I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats," Kennedy disclosed. "Like, if I don't, if I don't treat it, which means for me going to meetings every day. It's just bad for my life."
Though the admission might come as a surprise to some, Kennedy has spoken about hisprevious experiences with drugsin the past.
During a speech in front of thousands of health care, law enforcement and business officials at the Rx and Illicit Drug Summit in Nashville in April 2025, Kennedy said that hispolicy perspectives were influencedby the 14-year heroin addiction he overcame.
"I know that the only way I stay sober is through taking responsibility for my daily actions," Kennedy said at the time. "I accept the things I can’t control and try to practice gratitude for them. I can have control over my behavior, my daily conduct, but not the world around me.”
By his own account, Kennedy's first experience with drugs happened in the summer following hisfather's assassination in 1968. He took the hallucinogen LSD at a party, and while walking home later, he was introduced to opioids by his neighbors.
"They said, 'Try this,' and it was a line of crystal meth," he said during his speech in Nashville. "I took it, and all my problems went away. My addiction came on full force. By the end of the summer, I was shooting heroin, which was my drug of choice the next 14 years."
Kennedy said in his speech that his recovery began after he was arrested in 1983 and sought treatment.
"I knew I needed a spiritual awakening," he continued. "I did not want to be that person."
Source: Drudge Report
