Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr admitted to snorting ‘cocaine off of toilet seats’ before his sobriety.
In a candid conversation on Theo Von’s podcast, This Past Weekend, Kennedy said his past drug use was the reason he could not be afraid of germs.
‘I’m not scared of a germ,’ he said Thursday. ‘I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.’
Kennedy met Von during 7am recovery meetings in Los Angeles.
The meetings, which Kennedy attended daily, stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Kennedy and a group of ‘pirate’ recoverees held in-person meetings during lockdown, despite restrictions being in place at the time.
‘I said I don’t care what happens, I’m going to a meeting every day…’ he said.
‘I know this disease will kill me, right? Like, if I don’t treat it, which means for me going to meetings every day, it’s just bad for my life. For me, it was survival.’
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr admitted to doing cocaine off of toilet seats before his sobriety
Kennedy spoke about his experience with addiction on a podcast on Thursday
Kennedy has been open about his past drug use. The cabinet member was previously addicted to heroin for 14 years.
With 43 years of sobriety under his belt, he has explained that his addiction began after his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968.
According to USA Today, Kennedy Jr. took LSD at a party that summer and was quickly introduced to opioids.
‘They said, “Try this,” and it was a line of crystal meth,’ Kennedy said in April 2025
‘I took it, and all my problems went away. My addiction came on full force. By the end of the summer, I was shooting heroin, which was my drug of choice for the next 14 years.’
The 72-year-old told The Shawn Ryan Show in 2024 that substance abuse ‘hollows out your whole life.’
Theon Von, who hosted the show, met Kennedy while attending recovering addicts meetings
Kennedy was arrested and charged with heroin possession in 1983. He pleaded guilty to a felony drug possession charge.
He was sentenced to two years’ probation and community service.
Kennedy has said the arrest helped him get sober, calling it ‘the best thing that could have happened.’
He added that his policies are informed by his history with addiction.
‘I know that the only way I stay sober is through taking responsibility for my daily actions,’ he said, addressing the Rx and Illicit Drug Summit last April.
‘I accept the things I can’t control and try to practice gratitude for them. I can have control over my behavior, my daily conduct, but not the world around me.’
