Christopher Kennedy "Chris" Lawford (born March 29, 1955) is an American author, actor, and activist. He is a member of the prominent Kennedy family, and son of actor Peter Lawford.

Biography

Marriage and children
In November 1984, Lawford married Jeannie Olsson, a sales advertising assistant for New York magazine. They have three children: David, Savannah and Matthew. They divorced in 2000.

In May 2014, Lawford married Mercedes Miller, a yoga teacher, in Maui, Hawaii.


Religion
Lawford was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. In a 2009 interview, Lawford admitted that he left the church in 1968 stating:


"[...] I left the Catholic Church when I was 13 years old after my Uncle Bobby was assassinated, saying I would never go back, and I didn't really have a need for God and I didn't really believe in God. He wasn't useful to me. But I had gotten an understanding that there were spiritual people. My grandmother, Rose Kennedy, was a devout Catholic, but she was also a very spiritual person. She walked and meditated every day of her life. Her faith and spirituality got her through enormous trauma. That was not lost on me. My grandmother was this beacon of equilibrium in a world that was crazy. [...]That's [Roman Catholicism] just not something that speaks to me. I have my own tradition. I go to an ashram. I meditate. I chant. I do all that kind of stuff [...]"
Art sale
In March 2010, Lawford sold at auction a 1965 Picasso painting, Femme au Grand Chapeau. Buste. The painting was estimated to sell at Sotheby's for between $8 million to $12 million and ended up bringing $8.2 million, or $9.3 million with Sotheby's buyer's commission.