RFK's granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, died of accidental drug overdose, officials say
Officials on Friday, November 1, revealed that accidental drug overdose was the reason behind the death of Saorise Kennedy Hill, the 22-year old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy who passed away in August.
She had a mix of methadone, fluoxetine, norfluoxetine, diazepam, nordiazepam, and alcohol in her system at the time of her death on August 1, according to a report by Fox News. Hill was attending Boston College and was expected to graduate in 2020.
As reported by CNN, first responders were called to a medical emergency at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at 2:30 p.m. on August 1. Hill was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital at 3:14 p.m, according to her death certificate.
"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse," the family had said in a statement following her death. "Her life was filled with hope, promise, and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel."
The family in their statement had also said that Hill had volunteered to build schools in Mexico and was "moved by the causes of human rights and women's empowerment".
Deadline said the statement was issued by Brian Wright O’Connor, a spokesman for Saoirse Hill’s uncle, former Massachusetts congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.
Hill had previously written about her depression for the Deerfield Scroll, the student newspaper for the Deerfield Academy boarding school in Massachusetts. The opinion piece was published in 2016 where she wrote: "My depression took root at the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life. Although I was mostly a happy child, I suffered bouts of deep sadness that felt like a heavy boulder on my chest. These bouts would come and go, but they did not outwardly affect me until I was a new sophomore at Deerfield."
In addition, she also encouraged the students and faculty to not hold back and talk openly about mental illness and depression. "People talk about cancer freely; why is it so difficult to discuss the effects of depression, bipolar [sic], anxiety, or schizophrenic disorders?" Hill wrote. "Just because the illness may not be outwardly visible doesn’t mean the person suffering from it isn’t struggling."
"Let’s come together to make our community more inclusive and comfortable,” she had written.
