Tig Notaro Calls Cheryl Hines’s MAGA Turn ‘Very Strange’

Not all friendships can survive political differences. On The Best People podcast, Tig Notaro explains why she fell out with her former podcast co-host, Cheryl Hines, calling her shift to becoming MAGA “very strange” as her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., began his right-wing political career. “My friendship with her predated Bobby,” Notaro began. “There were things he thought and felt that I didn’t agree with, but he didn’t have the platform he got in the pandemic. I think that I needed to stop doing the podcast, because it was so ridiculous, it was so stupid — our show — that it was hard to be doing that when he was gaining momentum and speaking.”

The backlash against RFK Jr.’s political career started breaking through to Notaro’s stand-up shows, with people heckling her about him. “People would interrupt my stand-up shows and yell, ‘Bobby is crazy!’” Notaro explained. “I was telling Cheryl that I know it’s a small percentage that pushes back online or yells out at shows, but I was like, ‘Man, this is not my world. I don’t do this. I don’t want to be a part of this.’ And she was like, ‘I understand,’ but she wanted to keep doing the podcast. I had to step away, but I loved her so much.” Eventually, Notaro left Tig and Cheryl: True Story in April 2023, and Hines attempted to continue the podcast with a new co-host, Rachael Harris, a few months later.

While Notaro hoped to keep her friendship with Hines separate from her relationship with RFK Jr., Notaro soon realized their frienshipship was becoming one-sided. “What was most upsetting to me is we were in such opposing places, but I continued to reach out to her and send her love and support because I didn’t know what was going on behind closed doors. Then things shifted very severely. I realized one day that she doesn’t ever reach out to me anymore,” Notaro added. “She responds to me, but she doesn’t reach out to me. I had to kind of shake myself out of denial that, ‘Oh, she’s gone,’ and, ‘Okay, I need to let this go. I need to let it go.’ What was a bummer is that there’s some interviews claiming I dumped her and left her in the dust because of Bobby, but I was trying to be a friend to her even though I didn’t feel like I could continue with the podcast. It’s been very strange, and I think I’ve moved past the confusion and sadness.”

Hines has seemingly lost several friendships over her husband’s political career. Larry David, who played Hines’s onscreen husband on Curb Your Enthusiasm, no longer talks to her. The Daily Mail also claims that many of Hines’s Hollywood friends were shocked by the heel turn. One source stated, “It’s so hard to make sense in my head because she was so liberal before.”