Saoirse Kennedy Hill allegedly didn't party, was getting help for depression before her death
Saoirse Kennedy Hill’s loved ones say the late 22-year-old wasn’t a “partier.”
The Boston College student and the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, died of a suspected overdose at Cape Cod Hospital on Thursday, according to the New York Times. She was found unconscious at her 91-year-old grandmother Ethel Kennedy’s compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.
Video: Kennedy Family Grieves After Loss of 22-Year-Old Saoirse Kennedy Hill
As a family friend told Page Six on Friday, “There’s never been any sign to the family that Saoirse was drinking or taking drugs. She wasn’t a partier or anything.” The source said that most members of the Kennedy family don’t drink alcohol.
The source added that “...Saoirse had a very troubled, unstable childhood and life” before Courtney and her father Paul Hill divorced in 2006 and said, “This girl is very sweet and a very shy girl who has struggled a lot with depression since her early teens.”
On Friday, Tara Miltimore of the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office told Yahoo Lifestyle in a statement, “An autopsy performed today has revealed no trauma inconsistent with lifesaving measures. The cause and manner of death are pending the toxicology report. The matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office.”
Luciana Klosterman, a family friend, told the Daily Mail, “Saoirse was a beautiful girl and full of life. She was very, very close with her mother. She was different from the others — she was more beautiful, more spiritual, with more sparkle.”
Klosterman says Courtney opened up about her daughter during a recent conversation. “Maybe two or three months ago, I talked to her over the phone,” she told the Daily Mail. “She was in California. She was trying to find a place for Saoirse there, to help with her depression.”
In 2016, while attending high school at Deerfield Academy, Saoirse wrote an article for the student newspaper The Deerfield Scroll about her mental health.
“My sense of well-being was already compromised, and I totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me,” she wrote. “I did the worst thing a victim can do, and I pretended it hadn’t happened. This all became too much, and I attempted to take my own life.”
Page Six reported that on Friday, Saoirse’s grieving family, including Ethel and Courtney, were seen riding a golf cart and had taken a ride in their yacht “Glide.”
Family members posted social media tributes to Saoirse, who was a communications major and #MeToo supporter.
Cousin Maria Shriver shared on Instagram, “A brave young woman left our world yesterday. she left a gaping hole in the lives of all of those who loved her dearly...”
She wrote in the caption, “...I think it’s best to assume everyone is struggling, so treat everyone with love, tenderness, and compassion.”
Cheryl Hines, star of Curb Your Enthusiasm and the wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Saoirse’s uncle) posted a snap of the two hugging in Hyannis Port, writing, “My beautiful Saoirse.”
And RFK Jr. wrote on Instagram, “We’ve lost our daughter and our children, their sister. Saoirse was fierce, both in her love for her family and yearning for justice. A fearless adventurer, she inspired curiosity and daring in her friends. But her greatest gift was to find humor in everything and to give us all the gift of her laughter - and our own. The gaping hole that she leaves in our family is a wound too large to ever heal.”
If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill, 22, fuels ‘Kennedy Curse’ rumors
Widow dies rock climbing in Hawaii during ‘healing vacation’ with daughter, 3
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