New FRONTLINE Documentary Explores the Rise of RFK Jr.

The Rise of RFK Jr.

Watch the documentary at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting Oct. 21, 2025, at 7/6c, or on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c. It will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

 

How did the namesake of one of America’s most storied Democratic families end up a powerful player in the MAGA movement and Republican President Donald Trump’s administration?

FRONTLINE tackles that question in a new, two-hour documentary, The Rise of RFK Jr., exploring how the scion of the famous Kennedy dynasty endured tragedy and scandal, broke with the Democratic Party and his family, stoked conspiracy theories, and is reshaping government and public health.

Almost a year in the making, The Rise of RFK Jr. premieres Tues., Oct. 21, 2025, on PBS and online and draws on rich archival footage and two dozen interviews that include Kennedy’s lifelong friends, his cousin, top political advisors, close allies in the anti-vaccine movement, scientists he has clashed with, and some he has pushed out of the government. The film is a revelatory examination of Kennedy’s life — his darkest moments, his triumphs, and the influence he’s now exerting.

The special documentary is part of a FRONTLINE tradition of investigative biographies of some of the most consequential figures in American politics, and is from an award-winning team led by Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser that has also produced profiles of Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Clarence Thomas, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Barack Obama and others.

The Rise of RFK Jr. offers a powerful portrait of how President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services became who he is today — starting with his childhood in the public eye as a nephew of John F. Kennedy and son of Robert F. Kennedy.

Young Bobby Kennedy bore “witness to moments in history that most of us just read about in history books,” The New York Times’ Rebecca Davis O’Brien says in the film. “That has a pretty powerful effect on a young person in the sense of a mandate to do something with their lives.”

But then came the assassinations of his uncle and then his father, tragedies that people close to Kennedy say fueled his problems with drug addiction in his teens and twenties.

“He just wanted to get away from his life,” Blake Fleetwood, who has been friends with Kennedy since the latter’s days as a student at Harvard, tells FRONTLINE. “There’s an absolute direct relationship between the tragedies and his addiction.”

Through interviews with a wide range of Kennedy’s friends, family, close associates and allies; his adversaries; high-ranking former CDC and FDA officials; and journalists who have reported on him for years, The Rise of RFK Jr. explores Kennedy’s worldview and how, observers say, he came to see himself as a crusader in a battle against dark forces — among them, the government agency he’d later come to run. The film charts Kennedy’s transformation from troubled youth, to environmental crusader, to anti-vaccine activist and promoter of conspiracy theories, to his alliance with President Trump, the rise of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, and the polarizing actions he’s taking at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“If he continues in the current approach, it will make decisions to get vaccinated more difficult. As you see an erosion of people’s trust, you’ll see the numbers of people getting vaccinated going down, and you’ll start to see the numbers of illnesses coming back up,” says Dr. Daniel Jernigan, one of several former CDC officials who resigned and speaks out in the film. “And that’s an awful thing to think about in a country that has put so much into protecting Americans with vaccines so far.”

But Kennedy’s die-hard supporters, especially from the anti-vaccine movement, insist he is bringing welcome changes to America’s health system.

“I mean, who’s in charge, right? In this case, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in charge! He’s trying to triage the worst health situation this country has ever found itself in,” says Del Bigtree, a podcaster, vaccine critic and a close friend of Kennedy. “You don’t have time to have disagreement around you. Get someone in here who agrees with where we’re going, and let’s do this.”

Timely and gripping, The Rise of RFK Jr. is a must-watch documentary on one of the most prominent and controversial people in U.S. politics right now, and his impact on the country. It will be available to watch at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting Oct. 21, 2025, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcast episodes and more related to The Rise of RFK Jr.

Credits

The Rise of RFK Jr. is a FRONTLINE production with Kirk Documentary Group, Ltd. The director is Michael Kirk. The writers are Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser. The producers are Michael Kirk, Mike Wiser, Vanessa Fica and Elliott Choi. The reporters are Vanessa Fica and Brooke Nelson Alexander. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

About FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® as well as every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 110 Emmy Awards and 34 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Support for The Rise of RFK Jr. is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation.

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