*Holly Robinson Peete is no stranger to the topic of autism. As a mother of an autistic child and an autism advocate, the actress is active in going to bat for her child as well as other autistic individuals and the families who love and take care of them.
Upon hearing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial comments about a recent CDC study about the rise of autism diagnoses in the country, Peete let him have it, noting how wrong he was in his assessment of autistic children and their effect on their family. Particularly a list of ‘nevers’ that gained criticism from a slew of people who shared Peete’s outrage over someone in charge of the HHS who has no medical degree or background, yet labeling autism as a “disease.”
“I don’t even know where to start. I really don’t even know where to begin. So much to unpack,” Peete said at the beginning of a nearly 8-minute video that addressed RFK remarks. “Let’s start here. Okay. I am not an expert. I’m not a doctor. I’m just somebody’s mama and someone who’s been advocating for the autism community, a community that I care deeply about, for 25 years. And I don’t know everything, but I do know this: autism is not a disease. It is a disorder, a developmental disorder. And it is important to get that right if you are the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
“So that, off the top, really triggered me. And then came the list of nevers,” she continued, referring to RFK Jr.’s false claims of things autistic kids will “never” do.
Taking note of the condition, the National Institute of Mental Health defines autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a “neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave,” according to Too Fab.
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Too Fab notes the thumbs down to Kennedy’s press conference centered on his widely inaccurate comments about the day-to-day lives of autistic children, as well as how it affects their loved ones.
“Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this,” he said. “These are kids who will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
Commenting on the “nevers” Kennedy brought up, Peete recalled a previous situation when her son RJ was diagosed in 2000. The “21 Jump Street” alum mentioned a laundry list of “’nevers’” the developmental pediatrician rolled out “that RJ would never do, never be, never have, never achieve,” noting that they “call it the ‘never’ day.”
“She said he would never mainstream in school, have friends, have meaningful employment, drive, live on his own, never say ‘I love you,’ never play team sports. I mean, this lady had a long list of things that she said he would never do. And so when the Secretary of Health and Human Services just ran off another never list, it triggered me in ways I can’t even describe,” Pete voiced, taking the fact that her son “actually checked off and shattered most of those nevers off of that list.”
My 27-year-old son with autism didn’t ‘destroy our family’—he gave us purpose and unity… oh, and he pays taxes. https://t.co/r0cgdf718J
— Holly Robinson Peete ??♍️ (@hollyrpeete) April 16, 2025
For the record, Pete went on to mention that RJ pays his taxes, uses the toilet on his own, and has written her poems, not to mention he has been gainfully employed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 seasons.
“So when I hear someone like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. say, and describe our children as ‘family destroyers,’ I felt the weight of every parent who’s ever had to fight three times, four times as hard just to prove their child’s worth. And it just plays into every stereotype and stigma that every person with autism has ever had to fight to overcome,” she added.
“As an advocate, I’ve had to fight against it, as well, and [as] a mom, because what he’s peddling here, it’s not just ignorance, it is institutionalized hopelessness,” the “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” star continued, putting a telling label on Kennedy and what he’s promoting with his rhetoric. “Lemme say that again. It is institutionalized hopelessness from the very office that’s supposed to protect public health. We’re getting fear, and, shame, and blame, and misinformation. This is not okay. Autism didn’t break my family. It made us braver, it made us closer, it made us more compassionate. If anything, I think my son didn’t rob me of having a normal child, he gave me a new lens of what it means to love unconditionally. A new lens on that.”
“…any official that’s tasked with leading this nation’s health policies, they should be celebrating the resilience of families that have overcome things, not dismissing them and giving us another ‘never’ day.”
Pete’s video is among a series of social media posts slamming Kennedy. In a “call to action to Kennedy,” the former “Talk” co-host advised the Trump administration member to take steps to better understand autism and those who deal with the issue daily on a personal and professional level.
“If you’re gonna speak for us, learn from us. Walk into a classroom or a nonprofit or a therapy center, or our family’s living room, and talk to autistic adults who are thriving, contributing, and redefining what it means to live fully in a world that doesn’t accept them,” Peete declared. “And listen before you speak, because your words carry weight. And right now, they’re just crushing the very people you’ve been entrusted to protect. Now, I know this administration doesn’t really think highly of words and how they impact people, but this is very important.”
She then shared a message for “every parent, to every educator, to every advocate, every self-advocate listening to this, and especially families who are just getting the diagnosis today.”
“Please do not let one man’s ignorance drown out the truth that we live every single day. And don’t ever let anybody define the possibilities for your child,” Peete said. “Autism is not a family-destroying tragedy, the negative way that people speak on it, that’s the tragedy.”
With multiple posts on her social media, Peete is beyond upset as she included a curse word in at the end of her video to get her point across.
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She ended her video with a powerful message, and also threw in a curse word she said she’d been holding in.
“Look, having autism, having a loved one with autism is not easy. It’s not easy. And it can be very, very hard. But different families have different ways of overcoming it. And what we’re not doing is sitting here and labeling and limiting the potential of our children,” Peete said. “You know, I always say I would never change RJ for the world, but I will always try to change the world for RJ. And what we’re not gonna do is talk down on autism families and give them no hope.”
“So we gotta do better because this is some bulls–t that I just heard,” she concluded. “You know, I was dying to cuss this whole time. … It’s not okay.”
For more on Holly Robinson Peete’s response to RFK Jr.’s views on autism and autistic children and their families, click here.
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