Cheryl Hines stepped into a challenging environment this week as she appeared on ABC’s The View to stand by her husband, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., amidst intense scrutiny.

The 60-year-old star of Curb Your Enthusiasm faced off with The View’s co-host Sunny Hostin on Tuesday. Hostin questioned Kennedy’s lack of a medical background and accused him of disseminating misinformation to the American public.

Hines, who has been married to the 71-year-old Kennedy since 2014, remained steadfast during the probing questions about her husband, despite their relationship having weathered an ‘affair’ scandal the previous year.

Though the exchanges between Hines and The View’s panel appeared tense on air, sources revealed to the Daily Mail that the show’s cast holds Hines in high regard and would gladly have her return.

“Cheryl was aware she was entering a tough arena and anticipated the challenges,” an insider exclusively told the Daily Mail. “She was prepared, as she fully supports her husband and is committed to defending him at every turn.”

‘She accepts the trade-off and her personal and professional life has suffered through it,’ the source continued.

‘The women of The View aren’t going to ruin her day. They are more mad at Robert. They don’t hate her, but they highly disagree with him and wanted to make it clear. They have problems with her sticking by his beliefs and tried to find some reason in there, and Cheryl expected that.’

The comedian, known for her role as Larry David’s wife in the HBO comedy series, appeared on the talk show to promote her upcoming memoir, Unscripted, due for release in November.

Unsurprisingly, Hines sparred with The View co-hosts over RFK Jr’s controversial health opinions, including his anti-vaccine approach and his recent unsubstantiated links between Tylenol and autism.

The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, 69, called out RFK Jr’s lack of credentials to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, as she told Hines: ‘He’s not a doctor and he’s not a professional.’

In response, Hines pointed out her husband’s career as an environmental lawyer, noting he ‘sued DuPont, he sued Exxon and he sued these companies for health reasons because they were causing health problems.’

Then Hostin, 56, chimed in, calling RFK Jr the ‘least qualified Department of Health and Human Services head that we’ve had in history.’

Hines fiercely defended her husband’s ability to serve as health secretary, hitting back: ‘He spent his career studying toxins, studying people’s health, fighting for one guy who was using Roundup for his job.’

Hostin then accused RFK Jr of spreading ‘a lot of misinformation, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion,’ to applause from the audience.

Hines attempted to defend her husband once again, but Hostin interrupted her by saying RFK Jr appeared to ‘connect circumcision to autism’ – much to the frustration of Hines.

‘May I finish?’ the actress snapped back.

While the heated exchange left many viewers on-edge, the inside source maintained to the Daily Mail that the ladies of The View ‘treated her with respect during the commercial breaks’ and they would ‘welcome her back 100 percent.’

Their off-camera pleasantries with Hines may have also come with an ulterior motive, as the source shared they ‘want more Republicans on the show,’ including her husband RFK Jr.

A second source confirmed the ‘majority of the hosts were respectful’ to Hines behind the scenes, despite their fiery display on stage.

‘From Cheryl’s perspective, the segment was great even though it was heated at times,’ the second source explained. ‘She’s absolutely not holding a grudge against them.’

The View’s executive producer Brian Teta suggested as such when he discussed Hines’s appearance with co-hosts Joy Behar and Sara Haines during this week’s episodes of The View: Behind The Table podcast.

Behar, 83, revealed she went into Hines’s dressing room ‘to try to make her feel a little bit better’ before the show.

‘It was tough on her,’ she said. ‘We invite these Republicans to come on and they don’t come.’

RFK Jr – a member of one of the Democrat Party’s most powerful families – notably endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election after ending his independent campaign for president.

During The View, Hines acknowledged that RFK Jr was a Democrat when they met in 2006.

‘So for Bobby to go in the course of a year and a half, two years, from a Democrat to now working with President Trump, that’s a long leap,’ she said.

‘I have not been a political person,’ she added. ‘I haven’t posted anything on social media, other than to go out and vote. I never told people who they should vote for. I just said, ‘This is important, you should vote.’

‘So with Bobby, that was a very difficult decision to make with President Trump.

‘At the end of the day, President Trump and Bobby sat down and talked, and yes, they did have a lot of common goals.’

Meanwhile, Haines, 48, applauded Hines for coming on the show, and stressed the importance of inviting guests with opposing viewpoints.

‘I think she did a great job,’ Haines said on the podcast. ‘I mean she was coming to a table where her husband has been a hot topic for a long time and so I commended her for just showing up.

‘But then I found that her comedic sense was a good buffer for her because she joked throughout even though we were asking her tough questions.

‘I had some people write me and say, ‘You went easy on her Sara, why didn’t you go harder?’ I don’t think people always appreciate the ensemble of a table.

‘We want people at our table. We want people with different views at our table, and there’s points where you’re in a group and you watch things getting tense then you try and keep the balance of what the producers’ intentions were, which is to cover a lot of stuff.’

As the heated on-screen debate continued to go viral, the cast of The View was apparently left reeling in the days after Hines’s appearance on the show.

According to a third source, it seemed Goldberg ‘still couldn’t get over what had happened’ when she made a remark to the audience on Wednesday, thanking them for their continued support.

‘The hosts from The View were in a much lighter mood on Wednesday and appeared to have taken a step back from asking hard-hitting political questions,’ the third source told the Daily Mail.

‘The hosts were laughing and joking a lot.’

The only mention of the ‘incident’ with Hines, the insider said, was when Goldberg allegedly ‘made a telling comment to the audience’ during a commercial break, saying ‘how much she appreciated them rooting for the hosts and being on their side.’

Goldberg referenced Hines’s appearance when she allegedly told the crowd, ‘If the audience doesn’t agree with us, we can’t get our point across, and then we’re stuck with [shocked faces], like what happened recently,’ per the source.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Hines and The View for comment.

It wasn’t just Hines’s sparring match on The View that had the actress making headlines this week.

Also on Tuesday, it was reported that former New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi had plans to release a memoir about her ‘digital affair’ with RFK Jr.

In September 2024, reports surfaced that the 32-year-old political correspondent had been ’emotionally involved’ with RFK Jr while writing a feature on his presidential campaign.

Though RFK Jr and his representatives denied any inappropriate relationship – claiming he met Nuzzi only once during an interview – sources previously described their connection as ’emotional and digital in nature, not physical.’

An internal investigation by New York Magazine found ‘no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias’ in Nuzzi’s reporting on RFK Jr, but the controversy nevertheless resulted in her departure from the magazine.

The scandal offered a fresh humiliation for Hines, who had already been facing intense scrutiny for backing her husband amid his anti-vaccine claims and his Trump endorsement. 

At the time, sources told the Daily Mail that Hines was even ‘considering filing for divorce’ from RFK Jr after being ‘blindsided’ by the scandal.

In her first public address one month after the scandal, Hines said she’s not concerned about the ‘rumors’ flying around but assured fans ‘it will all be in my book.’

Nuzzi’s memoir, which will reportedly lay bare the intimate details of her alleged sexting with RFK Jr, is expected to be released in December – one month after Hines’s memoir hits bookshelves.