Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, passed away last week, and the 22-year-old will be laid to rest on Monday, Aug. 5.
The Boston Globe reports that Hill’s funeral will take place at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville on Cape Cod, with a private burial ceremony to follow.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The Boston College student was found unresponsive at her family’s compound in Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Thursday, Aug. 1, and was later pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital, with her death the result of a suspected overdose. Her death is still under investigation and the cause is pending a toxicology report.
“An autopsy performed today has revealed no trauma inconsistent with lifesaving measures,” prosecutors said in a statement, via PEOPLE. “The cause and manner of death are pending the toxicology report.”
In 2016, Hill had written about her struggle with depression in a column for her school’s newspaper, The Deerfield Scroll.
In her essay, Hill revealed that her depression began when she was in middle school and began to strongly affect her when she was a sophomore at Deerfield Academy and again before she began her junior year.
“My sense of well-being was already compromised, and I totally lost it after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me,” she revealed. “I did the worst thing a victim can do, and I pretended it hadn’t happened. This all became too much, and I attempted to take my own life.”
Hill, the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill and Paul Hill, took medical leave shortly after beginning the fall semester and returned to the Massachusetts prep school for her senior year after going to treatment for her depression.
“Coming back from medical leave was definitely not what I expected,” she wrote. “I saw a stark contrast between my treatment facility — a place full of aware and accepting people — and my experience at Deerfield. Although my friends were extremely supportive, they seemed to be the only ones who knew what had been going on in my life for the past year.”
Her essay also reflected on the culture surrounding mental health at the school, with Hill writing that she hoped to help make the community a place of acceptance.
“Many people are suffering, but because many people feel uncomfortable talking about it, no one is aware of the sufferers,” she concluded. “I am calling all members of the Deerfield community to come forward and talk freely about mental health issues. We are all either struggling or know someone who is battling an illness; let’s come together to make our community more inclusive and comfortable.”
Photo Credit: Instagram / @kerrykennedyrfk
