Cheryl Hines Says She Broke Out in Hives After Meeting Donald Trump

Cheryl Hines is sharing the surprising physical reaction she experienced during her first encounter with Donald Trump.

In her new memoir Unscripted, the actress and wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. describes meeting Trump shortly after he survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July 2024. At the time, Kennedy was still in the presidential race, and Trump asked him to fly to Milwaukee ahead of the Republican National Convention.

Hines booked her own flight intending to meet Kennedy afterward, but his security team escorted her directly to the meeting when Kennedy requested her presence. She was brought to a hotel suite where Trump greeted her and recounted the attack.

During the meeting, Trump asserted that Kennedy should receive Secret Service protection. Hines wrote that he dictated the order to Susie Wiles, now Trump’s chief of staff, and posted a message about it on Truth Social — despite having no authority to grant such protection while Joe Biden was still president.

Once she stepped out of the suite, Hines said she suddenly developed hives across her arms and abdomen — something she had never experienced before. A member of Kennedy’s staff later joked she might be “allergic to President Trump.”

About 20 minutes after Trump’s post, Hines and Kennedy learned the protection would be approved after Biden issued an executive order. But Hines quickly found out that it applied only to Kennedy — not to their children or her — a break from what she described as tradition for presidential candidates’ families. Her stress levels rose, and the hives continued spreading down her legs.

As agents discussed bomb sweeps for the family home, the reaction intensified. By dinner that evening, her bottom lip had swollen drastically. She recalled thinking that she looked like a “Botched” patient, referencing the show about plastic surgeries gone wrong.

Still concerned, Hines visited a walk-in emergency clinic where a doctor ruled out an allergic reaction and instead asked whether she was under unusual stress. When she admitted she was, the doctor advised her to find ways to reduce it. Hines was given steroids and an EpiPen before returning home, hiding her swollen lips on the plane and monitoring her breathing.

She wrote that the ordeal marked “the perfect kick-off” to her new effort to manage stress — even if she sarcastically noted that it sounded easier said than done.

Hines has recently appeared on several media platforms to promote her book, including The View. After her October 14 visit, she questioned whether the co-hosts had read the memoir beforehand, saying on the Hot Mics with Billy Bush podcast that the interview focused more on Kennedy than on her personal story. “But, you know, that’s okay,” she added.