Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s accusations about his estranged wife’s behavior before her suicide amounted to “a brutal psychological weapon,” her family says.

Mary Richardson Kennedy’s relatives issued a statement saying an affidavit in the Kennedys’ divorce case, disclosed Sunday, was “scurrilous” and “full of vindictive lies.”

In the affidavit, dated September 2011, Robert Kennedy accused Mary of abusing his children from an earlier marriage and stealing from them and him.

It asked a judge for an order of protection to keep her from physically attacking him, showing up uninvited at his homes and denigrating him to their children.

Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, also asked that his wife be required to remain sober in front of their children and not threaten suicide in their presence.

Mary Kennedy hanged herself last month at the family’s estate in Bedford. The divorce was pending.

One of Mary Kennedy’s brothers tried to get custody of her body before she was buried near the Kennedy compound in Massachusetts.

The Richardson family’s statement said the affidavit, posted online by The Daily Beast as part of a Newsweek article, “was written by Bobby Kennedy as part of a contentious custody battle and was nothing more than a brutal psychological weapon in the divorce case.”

It said the document’s release was proof of the “emotional and psychological abuse that Mary endured during the last years of her life, and also in death.”

Arquette has his bar mitzvah at 40

David Arquette got more than he bargained for during his first trip to Israel.

The actor came to shoot a segment for his travel show, “Mile High,” and ended up having a bar mitzvah ceremony, too.

Arquette, 40, completed the Jewish rite of passage Monday in Jerusalem.

Arquette, who split last year with actress Courteney Cox, is the youngest of the five acting Arquette siblings: Rosanna, Richmond, Patricia and Alexis (who was born Robert).

While their father became a Muslim, their mother was born Jewish, making the children Jewish under religious law. Jewish boys typically celebrate their bar mitzvahs at 13, when they are obligated to perform Jewish commandments.

While filming in Jerusalem, Arquette attended a bar mitzvah and was asked whether he would like to have one as well. Arquette read his first Torah portion ever and placed phylacteries on his head and tattooed arm in front of the Western Wall.

Morning host faces new health fight

Five years after being treated for breast cancer, “Good Morning America” co-host Robin Roberts has a new health fight on her hands.

Roberts said Monday she was beginning chemotherapy treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease once known as preleukemia. She is expected to get a bone marrow transplant sometime this fall.

Her older sister, Sally Ann Roberts, an anchor for WWL-TV in New Orleans, is regarded as a perfect match to donate marrow and will do so.

“My doctors tell me I’m going to beat this, and I know it’s true,” Roberts, 51, said on the show Monday.
Roberts developed MDS as a result of her breast cancer treatment – a manner of transmission so unusual it affects only a few hundred people per year, said Dr. Richard Besser, ABC’s medical correspondent.

The prognosis for many MDS patients is dire, but that’s largely due to the disease primarily affecting people over age 60, Besser said. Between Roberts being young and healthy, and having already located a good donor in her sister, Besser said things look promising for her.

Roberts has contributed to “Good Morning America” since 1995, and was named co-anchor in 2005. The former Southeastern Louisiana basketball star worked at ESPN for 15 years.

Dancing in road leads to ‘Jersey Shore’ arrest

Police are releasing details about the arrest of “Jersey Shore” cast member Deena Cortese in the town where the MTV show is based.

Cortese, 25, of New Egypt was arrested for disorderly conduct on Sunday afternoon in Seaside Heights. Police said Cortese and other cast members were in a Mexican restaurant before Cortese went into a roadway and began dancing and impeding traffic. After her arrest, she was released to her mother. Cortese could face a fine up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail.

The series is currently in production. An air date for the sixth season hasn’t been announced.

— From news services