According to family, Ethel Kennedy was hospitalized after suffering a stroke

Ethel Kennedy, a human rights activist and widow of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, is recovering after suffering a stroke last week, her grandson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ethel, 96, is the sister-in-law of former President John F. Kennedy.

“Unfortunately, she suffered a stroke in her sleep Thursday morning,” her grandson, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Massachusetts, said on X. “She was taken to an area hospital where she is now receiving treatment.”

“She is comfortable, receiving the best care possible and surrounded by her family,” Kennedy said of his grandmother. “She is, as you may know, a strong woman who has lived a remarkably full life. We’ll take care of them here.”

The matriarch of the Kennedy family is the mother of eleven children, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and has several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“She had a great summer and transition into fall,” Kennedy III wrote in his statement. “She was able to go out on the water, visit the pier and enjoy many family lunches and dinners.”

The former congressman concluded his statement by asking for privacy for the family.

Ethel founded the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights in honor of her late husband a year after his assassination during his presidential run in 1968.

She became a widow at the age of 40, had 10 children and was currently pregnant with the couple's 11th child. She never married again.

Among other human rights organizations with which she was involved, Ethel served as co-chair of the Coalition of Gun Control.

In 2014, former President Barack Obama presented Ethel with the Congressional Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest honor for a civilian official, saying at the time that her “love for family is surpassed only by her devotion to her nation.”

“She is a symbol of enduring faith and enduring hope, even in the face of unimaginable loss and unimaginable grief,” Obama said during the White House ceremony. “And she touched the lives of countless people around the world with her generosity and grace.”