As life slipped away, Ted Kennedy had a teary reunion with first wife Joan, downed his last Chivas and murmured: "It was my fault…I’m going to tell Mary Jo that."
Before Sen. Ted Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer on Aug. 25, he made a final conscience clearing deathbed confession, asking for forgiveness for causing the death of young Mary Jo Kopechne in the tragic Chappaquiddick accident 40 years ago.
"Mary Jo’s death haunted Ted throughout his life," revealed a family friend. "He never made amends with her parents before they died, and it weighed heavily on him."
But as he drifted in and out of consciousness in his final hours, Ted seemed to find peace as he spoke of seeing Mary Jo again and finally being able to tell her he was sorry for leaving her to die in the water.
The startling confession – as well as the poignant untold details of the 77-year-old senator’s final days and hours – was revealed exclusively to The ENQUIRER by close Kennedy family sources.
"Ted achieved his dying wish not to pass away in a hospital," continued the family friend. "He died in his own bed, with his three dogs at his feet. And from a window, he was able to see his boat bobbing at the dock in the moonlight.
"He defied his doctors’ expectations and lived 14 months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. It gave him a chance to reflect and say his goodbyes."
One of the people Ted asked to see in his final days was first wife Joan.
"A week before he died, he sent her a message and she slipped quietly into his home in Hyannis Port," divulged an insider. "Ted told Joan that before he died, he wanted her forgiveness for the way he’d treated her.
"He had always agonized over whether his behavior that night at Chappaquiddick and his continual drinking had anything to do with her becoming an alcoholic.
"He said he prayed Joan would be strong enough to beat her problems with alcohol."
As Ted was too weak to attend the memorial service for his beloved sister Eunice Kennedy the rapidly fading Lion of the Senate was so disoriented from his morphine drip that Ted asked a family member: "Is it MY funeral that’s taking place?’"
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