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RFK Jr. says doctors concluded parasite ate part of his brain: NYT

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 30: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station on March 30, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The 70-year-old candidate is pushing Latino outreach in a long shot Independent bid in the 2024 presidential race. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — Doctors discovered a worm had eaten part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s brain after he complained of experiencing memory loss more than a decade ago, according to a new report.

The incident came to light during a 2012 divorce deposition as he made the case that his earning potential had been reduced by brain damage, The New York Times reported after reviewing the deposition.


In 2010, Kennedy told a friend he was experiencing memory loss and mental fogginess, which prompted him to seek medical treatment that doctors first believed was a tumor, the New York Times reported.

However, while Kennedy prepared for a procedure at Duke University Medical Center, he received another opinion from a doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who believed he had a dead parasite in his head.

In the deposition, Kennedy said the doctor thought the “abnormality” on the scan “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and died,” the New York Times reported.

In an interview with the New York Times, the 70-year-old said he’s since recovered and isn’t experiencing any aftereffects of the parasite. While he doesn’t know what kind of parasite he contracted or where he got it, Kennedy speculated it may have been during a trip to South Asia.