Joan Kennedy, first wife of Sen. Edward Kennedy, has died

"BOSTON (AP) - Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who endured a troubled marriage marked by family tragedies, her husband's infidelities and her own decades-long struggles with alcoholism and mental health, died on Wednesday. She was 89. The former Joan Bennett, one of the last remaining members of a family generation that included President John F. Kennedy, was a model and classically-trained pianist when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958."

"Their lives would change unimaginably over the next decade and a half. Brother-in-law John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and assassinated three years later. Brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy served as attorney general under JFK, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964 and assassinated while seeking the presidency. Her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate and became among the country's most respected legislators despite initial misgivings that he was capitalizing on his family connections."

Joan B. Kennedy died at 89 after a life shaped by public drama, personal struggle, and political prominence. She was a model and classically trained pianist who married Ted Kennedy in 1958. Her life included sibling assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and her husband's Chappaquiddick crash and guilty plea for leaving the scene. She and Ted had three children and experienced miscarriages, including one shortly after Chappaquiddick. She endured her husband's infidelities, long struggles with alcoholism and mental health, and an eventual separation and divorce as his 1980 presidential bid faltered.

Read at Boston.com