The Kennedy family is in mourning this morning. Joan Kennedy, the first wife of Ted Kennedy has died at the age of 89. Joan Kennedy was married to Kennedy for 22 years and during those years she suffered through many challenges due to her husband’s immoral actions. People Magazine reported more on Joan Kennedy’s death: Joan Bennett Kennedy, the first wife of Sen. Ted Kennedy, died early in the morning on Oct. 8, PEOPLE confirms. She was 89 years old. GoLocalProv published an obituary announcing the news, revealing that she died peacefully in her sleep at her Boston home. Joan, a talented classical pianist with a master’s degree in education, divorced Ted in 1983, but continued to be known as the long-suffering wife of the youngest Kennedy son to whom she was married for 22 years. Joan was born in New York City on Sept. 2, 1936, and raised in the suburbs by a Roman Catholic family. She met Ted in 1957, when his older sister Jean Kennedy introduced them. Both Jean and Joan were students at Manhattanville College. Within the year, the two became engaged. Although both Joan and Ted expressed reservations about getting married, Ted’s father, the powerful patriarch Joe Kennedy, insisted they go through with it. They wed on Nov. 29, 1958, in Bronxville, N.Y., the tiny suburb where Joan grew up. Joan was 22 years old. Together, they had three children, Kara, Ted Jr. and Patrick. BREAKING: Joan Kennedy, wife of Sen. Ted Kennedy who was by his side during Chappaquiddick scandal, dead at 89 pic.twitter.com/ScXVvphWi7 — Fox News (@FoxNews) October 8, 2025 Hand it to Joan Kennedy, she STOOD BY Ted KennedyShe suffered a miscarriage shortly after Ted plunged a car off a Massachusetts bridge & killed Mary Jo Kopechne.She stood by Ted’s side as he attended the funeral, & later pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. pic.twitter.com/POAIl74jEj — Marla Hohner (@marlahohner) October 8, 2025 ABC News reported Joan was an advocate for sobriety after suffering from alcoholism for many years: She also became one of the first women to publicly acknowledge her struggles with alcoholism and depression. “I will always admire my mother for the way that she faced up to her challenges with grace, courage, humility, and honesty,” Ted Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “She taught me how to be more truthful with myself and how careful listening is a more powerful communication skill than public speaking.” Virginia Joan Bennett was born into a prominent Bronxville, N.Y., family and as a teen she worked as a model in TV ads. She was a classmate of Jean Kennedy, the future senator’s sister, at Manhattanville College, where her exceptional beauty caught Ted Kennedy’s eye when he visited the campus for a building dedication in 1957. They married a year later, but Joan Kennedy struggled from the start to fit in to the high-powered family. “Joan was shy and a really reserved person, and the Kennedys aren’t,” Adam Clymer, author of “Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography” said in an 2005 interview with the AP. Kennedy is survived by her two sons, nine grandchildren and other 30 nieces. Her daughter, Kara, died in 2011.