R.I.P. Christopher Kennedy Lawford –
Sept. 5, 2018 – In fact, Lawford, who died Tuesday at age 63, was not the only member of the famed political family to battle addiction. David Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel and a cousin to whom Lawford was closest, died of a drug overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida, hotel room in 1984. “David and I were just best buddies. It’s really hard when you lose someone you care about,” Lawford told PEOPLE in 1991 about David, who had been in and out of drug treatment programs multiple times.David’s drug problems began early on. He bought heroin for the first time at age 15 with the money he and Christopher got panhandling in New York’s Grand Central Station, according to David’s obituary published by PEOPLE in 1984.
