'My husband's opinions are not my own': Robert F Kennedy Jr's wife Cheryl Hines distances herself from his Anne Frank comments after he was roundly criticized for 'exploiting the tragedy of the Holocaust' to peddle anti-vax conspiracy theories

 Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines has distanced herself from the wild of comments her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who linked vaccine mandates to Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

Hines, 56, said the opinions of Kennedy, 68, were 'not a reflection of my own' after he suggested vaccine mandates were worse than both the Holocaust and the experience Anne Frank had in hiding from the Nazis.

The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy faced backlash on Sunday for telling a crowd of anti-vaccine mandate protesters that life was like 'Hitler's Germany.' 

Hines tweeted: 'My husband's opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.'

She then agreed with a social media user that nobody should compare anything to the Holocaust and said her husband was wrong.

Twitter user Bradley Dlatt suggested a statement to tell her husband. He said: 'How about this? "No one should compare anything to the horrors of the Holocaust. My husband was wrong to do so."' 

Hines replied: 'Yes, I agree with you.' 

Actress Cheryl Hines (right) has tried to distance herself from her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr's (left) comments, that vaccine mandates were worse than both the Holocaust and the experience Anne Frank had in hiding from the Nazis

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at a rally and march protesting vaccine mandates on the National Mall in Washington DC on Sunday. Kennedy used an analogy to the Holocaust at the event

Hundreds of anti-vaxxers attended the march, holding signs such as 'the final variant is tyranny' and 'I love someone injured by a vaccine'. Covid vaccines protect people from dying of the virus and make them less likely to catch it, which helps stop it spreading

Kennedy has become one of the biggest sources of anti-vaccine misinformation and has been vocal in his fight against the coronavirus vaccination campaign.

The Children's Health Defense, Kennedy's anti-vaccine group, more than doubled their revenue to $6.4million last year, according to an investigation by the Associated Press. 

Meanwhile, in November he released his a book called 'The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,' which became a bestseller on Amazon.    

At the rally on Sunday morning Kennedy went into a conspiracy theory-laden rant, concerned for a future world where vaccine mandates, 5G technology, digital currency and low orbit satellites would be used to establish authoritarian rule. 

'What we're seeing today, what we're seeing today, is what I call turnkey totalitarianism,' Kennedy told the rally. 

'They are putting in place all of these technological mechanisms for control we've never seen before. 

'It's been the ambition of every totalitarian state from the beginning of mankind to control every aspect of behavior, of conduct, of thought, and to obliterate dissent. None of them have been able to do it. They didn't have the technological capacity.'

He then compared this future to that of Nazi Germany.  

'Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,' Kennedy said. 

'I visited in 1962 East Germany with my father and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped, so it was possible — many died doing it, but it was possible.' 

Anne Frank did hide from the Nazis but in a cramped Amsterdam attic with seven other persecuted Jews for 761 days during the Nazi regime before she and her family were found and sent to die in concentration camps. 

Kennedy complained 'the minute they hand you that vaccine passport, every right you have is transformed into a privilege contingent upon your obediences to arbitrary government dictats'. 

'It will make you a slave,' he said. 

Kennedy wasn't alone in his allusions to the Holocaust, as at least one person was seen displaying a yellow Star of David, which Jews were required by law to wear as an identifier in Nazi Germany.  

It wasn't just Kennedy making comparisons to the Holocaust at the rally. One marcher used a star of David to show off their lack of vaccination

Anne Frank famously hid in the Netherlands with her family to avoid the Nazis during the Holocaust

Kenney was heavily criticised on social media for his Anne Frank analogy, including by the Auschwitz Memorial Museum.

'Exploiting the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured, and murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany - including children like Anne Frank - in a debate about vaccines and limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decay,' the museum tweeted.

Others roasted Kennedy for his comparison. Writer Helen Kennedy said on Twitter: 'Finish the book next time. Also the attic was, and still is, in Amsterdam.'

Meanwhile bestselling author Don Wislow commented: 'Your father would be repulsed by what you said today about the Holocaust. Repulsed. WTF happened to you?'

The account AvengerResister pointed out Kennedy Jr. had held a party at his home requiring vaccinations: 'Just a reminder, anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. hosted a party at his house and required his guests to be vaccinated before arriving.'

Kennedy blamed the party's restrictions at the time on his wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines. 

Some used his marriage to make the point that Curb creator Larry David - who introduced the couple to one another and is himself Jewish - might not be thrilled by the comparisons to Anne Frank either. 

Doug Heye wrote: 'I'm imagining Larry David calling Cheryl Hines to tell her she can't be on the next season of Curb: 'Sorry Cheryl, but your husband is pretty...pretty...pretty...pretty...insane.''

Kennedy is a member of the 'Disinformation Dozen' - 12 individuals who disseminate about two thirds of the anti-vaccine content on social media, according to a study conducted by The Center for Countering Digital Hate and Anti-Vax Watch alliance. 

Kennedy was banned from Instagram last year 'for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,' a spokesperson for parent company Facebook explained at the time.   

'While coerced submission with experimental medical products is clearly government-sponsored violence, the anti-mandates movement is committed to nonviolent resistance,' Kennedy said this week in a statement. 

Kennedy also likened Fauci to Mussolini, with the audience erupting into a chant of 'lock him up!' 

Like other Covid restrictions aimed at reining in a disease that has infected more than 70 million people in the United States, killed more than 865,000 and brought much of daily life around the globe to a stuttering halt for two years and counting, vaccine mandates have become a deeply polarizing political issue.