A close look at Tatiana Schlossberg's viral New Yorker essay, A Battle with My Blood. It is an emotional piece that blends grief, legacy, and quiet fury, and it signals a deeper shift inside the Kennedy family. The episode walks through the layers of the essay and the choices behind it. From the shock of Schlossberg's leukemia diagnosis, to the way she describes the strained healthcare system, to her understated but unmistakable criticism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., this story becomes both a personal account and a moral document. This episode explores why the timing mattered, why the family dynamics matter, and why this essay reshapes the public conversation around RFK Jr. as Olivia Nuzzi's forthcoming book adds another external blow. The episode closes with a look at the media cycle, the political stakes, and the long arc of the Kennedy legacy.
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Episode Transcript
Did you read the essay?
The one that broke throughevery corner of the internet and
should have lived quietlyinside the New Yorker, but
instead it became a culturallightning strike.
Tatiana Schlossberg's A Battlewith My Blood is one of the most
(00:26):
emotionally charged piecespublished in recent memory.
She begins by saying, quote,when you are dying, at least in
my limited experience, you startremembering everything.
And that line sets the tone.
This is not a story from a safeplace.
One that's right down themiddle.
It is written from the edge.
(00:47):
And when someone writes from ajagged edge, we take it in
differently.
This week on the PR BreakdownPodcast, I want to look at that
essay.
Let's break it down from thedifferent layers.
There's grief, there's alegacy, but there's also anger.
The essay is raw andunflinching.
(01:08):
I included a link in the shownotes if you haven't read it.
But there are so many sentencesin there that jump out and put
you in a place.
I looked at that essay andthought, I can't imagine going
through this.
Schlosschberg wrote, I did notbelieve that they were talking
about me, describing the shockof hearing she had leukemia.
(01:29):
And this was just hours aftergiving birth to her second
child, a daughter.
She had talked about her sontrying to drive her hospital bed
around like a bust.
You can just picture a youngboy, that age, with that kind of
rambunctious energy.
She talks about her sister Roseholding her arms out for hours
(01:49):
while donating stem cells.
And she talks about the momentthat really defines the legacy.
She wrote, quote, now I haveadded a new tragedy to her life,
to her family's life, andthere's nothing I can do to stop
it.
That her, of course, is hermother.
Carolyn Kennedy is married toEd Schlossberg.
And honestly, let me just giveyou my inside perspective on
(02:13):
this.
I think it's a rite of passageto grow up in an Irish Catholic
family.
You are told to revere theKennedys.
You are given books about theKennedys.
I remember when I was young, abook was given to me titled From
Feast of Famine.
And it was about every greatIrish American.
And then there on the cover wasJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy.
(02:35):
The Kennedys, they're one ofmany political families that you
would consider a politicaldynasty, along with the
Roosevelts and the Bush family.
Many people still look at themwith reverence.
It's two entirely differentfamilies that kind of fall under
the same umbrella.
So anything that is kind ofthat RFK side of the family is a
(02:56):
little more reckless.
They were kind of left out ontheir own.
So that's why it's no surprisethat we have an RFK Jr.
wreaking havoc in health andhuman services.
But Jackie Kennedy, shecertainly chose to raise
Caroline and John Jr.
a lot differently.
It's no surprise that CarolynKennedy is doing the same with
her three kids.
Her oldest is Rose, who bears astriking resemblance to her
(03:19):
grandmother, Jackie Kennedy,Tatiana is the middle child.
And then there's JackSchlossberg, who is the youngest
child.
He's now running for Congressin New York.
He's a little bit of a, I'llcall it like a loose canon right
now, if you've been followinghim online, which I have.
He's a little all over theplace.
But now he's buckling down andhe's running for Congress at a
(03:40):
time when his sister is reallysuffering from a health crisis.
This is where the story widens.
Because once you get past theheartbreak, you see something
deeper.
This essay is not only apersonal record, it's also a
correction of sorts, a signal ofrecentering of a dynasty.
(04:00):
And the timing tells you that.
She published it on a Saturday,November 22nd.
And also the New Yorker, it'snot that mainstream.
But if you want to make acultural impact and come at it
from a more elevated layer, youchoose the New Yorker, as
opposed to People magazine,which was generic, more
(04:24):
pedestrian, more pop culture.
She went with an established,more of a stuffy publication,
but it landed widely just thesame.
To publish it on theanniversary of her grandfather's
assassination, not acoincidence.
That timing is a message aboutlegacy, memory, and perhaps
(04:48):
moral responsibility.
First, what the essay actuallydoes.
As I mentioned, TatianaSchlossberg is the granddaughter
of President John F.
Kennedy.
And she is the first cousinonce removed of Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., currently theSecretary of Health and Human
Services.
This family matters because inthe essay she draws a quiet but
(05:12):
unmistakable line between thevalues she believes in and the
worldview that RFK Jr.
is selling.
She never calls him out by namein an angry way.
Instead, she lays out herexperience.
She tells us the healthcaresystem on which I relied felt
strained, shaky.
She lists the research cuts,the dismantling of scientific
(05:34):
programs, and the attacks onmedical experts.
And then she says the line thatreally stops the reader cold.
Quote, Bobby, in the face oflogic and common sense, was
confirmed for the position.
She doesn't refer back to whenher mother came out.
She does not refer back to thevideo her mother posted back in
(05:58):
January.
Take a listen.
Compare that to this essay.
Tatiana doesn't rant.
She doesn't sermonize.
She describes, and herdescriptions become the
indictment.
She writes about being saved bya drug that is currently under
review because of pressure fromthat same cousin who is now
(06:19):
shaping national health policy.
She wrote, I freeze when Ithink about what would have
happened if that drug had notbeen available.
That is the power of her voicein the written word.
She does not tell you thatRobert F.
Kennedy Jr.
is dangerous.
She shows you what danger lookslike in real life.
And when you read her words, Idon't know how you cannot think
(06:43):
anything other than what if thishappens to me.
Now let's add another layer.
Olivia Nutzi's book is comingout at the same time.
This is a book that is exposingthe chaos, the ego, and the
conspiratorial thinking insideRFK Jr.'s orbit now.
Word is she doesn't refer tohim by name really either.
(07:04):
He's just the politician.
But this book is really goingto be a problem for RFK Jr.
He's going to have to dodge itand dance around it.
Cheryl Hines, his wife, herbook already came out earlier.
She has already worked ondamage control for this book
coming out, but the timing ofthis book after this essay is
horrible for RFK Jr.
(07:26):
The timing couldn't be worsebecause it is where the
collision happens.
Nutzi hits his politicalcredibility.
Tatiana hits his moralcredibility.
We don't know what Olivia Nuziis going to say about their
relationship.
Nutzi wrote for New Yorkmagazine, Lizza for Politico.
(07:46):
Those two collided.
That relationship broke down.
Now Ryan Lizza has his wholepoint of view on it, which is
against Olivia.
Olivia has the book coming out.
Now this book is being sent tome, so there will be more on
this book in the future.
But the timing could not beworse for RFK Jr.
and Tatiana Schlossberg becausehe cannot defend against both,
(08:10):
not without looking eitherheartless or dishonest.
He's going to go underground asdeeply as he can and probably
not comment at all and hope allof this passes.
Now let's look at the mediacycle.
Right now, we're still in theemotional wave of this story.
(08:30):
It's now been well over a week.
Any parent reading that, ithurts.
And me as a parent, Iimmediately thought about young
(08:53):
kids when I had young kids, andI can't imagine thinking about
leaving them when they're young.
But I resonated more withCarolyn Kennedy, the mother.
I can't imagine losing a childto leukemia in her 30s.
It's just devastating.
So it's not surprising thatthis story went everywhere.
But once the emotional piece ofit hit, the next wave is
(09:19):
calling out RFK Jr.
about the cuts to cancerresearch.
Then you're going to get thestories about well, what is the
inversion three mutation, therare genetic anomaly from this
form of leukemia?
What is acute myeloid leukemia?
What does this terminal cancerdiagnosis mean?
Because people want to know,oh, is this something that I
(09:40):
could potentially have or myfamily potentially have?
Then after that, you're goingto get these stories that are
really more pointed towards RFKJr.
This story, as they say, isgoing to have legs, which is
exactly why she wrote it in thelayers that she wrote it.
She knew it would land.
(10:01):
And not just her, it'sabsolutely her whole family was
looking at this.
They knew it was going to landin a certain way.
They just knew it to time itwith the assassination.
So first is that emotionalwave.
The writing becomes this moraldocument.
But then comes the politicalframing.
You know, a Kennedy breaksfamily science.
Tatana Schlossberg's essay is awarning.
(10:22):
Inside the Kennedy Divide,there's going to be more of a
spotlight on RFK Jr.
Why?
Because she gave journalistspermission.
She is a journalist.
She's an environmental writer.
She worked for the New YorkTimes coming out of Yale.
She was the editor of the Yalenewspaper.
I think her first job out ofYale was working at a local
(10:44):
paper in New Jersey.
And she worked hard, you know,for as entitled as she was.
She was really working hard asa reporter and then a writer.
She accomplished much at such ayoung age.
But this personal essay opensthe door to everyone to come in
and report on anything.
She has an essay that has allthe dots out there, and anyone
(11:08):
is open to connecting them wherethey see fit.
From the policies that RFK Jr.
is making that cuts cancerfunding to the real human cost.
And the last piece is a legacy.
The Kennedy mythology comesdown to three things service,
sacrifice, and belief inscience.
Tatiana stands firmly on thatground.
(11:30):
RFK Jr.
does not.
When she writes, I watched asBobby cut nearly a half a
billion dollars for research,she's not listing numbers.
She is showing a rupture, asplit in values between two
branches of the same famousfamily.
And if you know the Kennedyfamily well, you know those two
branches are very different.
(11:51):
When you split Caroline Kennedyfrom JFK, RFK, then RFK Jr.
up to RFK, and then hismother's Ethel Scakeel.
And he comes from that large,large family, I believe, of 12
kids.
And all those kids who losttheir father at a very young
age, Rory Kennedy, the youngest,he died before she was even
(12:11):
born.
She was named after him.
They didn't grow up with afather.
And if you read anything aboutthe Kennedy's, you know that
they just ran wild, includingRFK Jr.
This essay, without everraising her voice, I believe is
the real Kennedy legacy.
Science, compassion, courage,not the chaos her cousin has
(12:31):
aligned himself with.
So the long tail, here's whathappens next.
Reporters will quote her essayevery single time RFK Jr.
comments on vaccines,healthcare, or science.
She writes, quote, believe inmiracles and cures and healing
wells.
She writes of hope in the faceof sabotage.
Historians will place her essaynext to the moments that
(12:51):
defined her family's public lifebecause the essay isn't the
whole story.
We still have the second halfof this essay when it's no
longer written by TatianaSchlossberg.
It was written by the lateTatiana Schlossberg.
When that news hits, RFK Jr.
is going to have a lot moreproblems that he has to deal
(13:13):
with.
Added to all of this, whichisn't part of the conversation
yet, but will be, in February,Ryan Murphy has a television
show coming out about JFK Jr.
and Carolyn Bassett Kennedy,their relationship, and what led
to those two being killed inthat plane crash that he was
piloting from New Jersey on theway to Martha's Vineyard in July
(13:35):
of 1999.
If Tatiana's death transpiresaround that time frame, I mean,
my goodness, the Kennedy name isgoing to overtake the news
cycle.
Analysts and political analystsare going to use her passing to
mark the break between theKennedy mythos and the RFK
(13:57):
Junior fringe movement.
I think we're going to reallyget this severing from that
family.
And voters who once saw him asan outsider will face a harder
question.
What kind of outsider ignoresthe suffering inside his own
extended family?
I don't see RFK having apolitical future after this,
after he leaves thisadministration.
So if you want the shortversion, here it is.
(14:19):
Olivia Nuzi with this bookcoming out soon, she's hitting
him with truth from the outside.
Tatiana is hitting with truthfrom the inside.
And when the inside voicespeaks in pain, everyone's gonna
listen.
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