Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has revealed why he works out wearing jeans.
On Tuesday, during an appearance on Fox News, host Jesse Watters asked Kennedy what he called “the question that everybody is wondering about.”
“Why do you wear jeans when you work out?” asked Watters.
“Well, I just started doing that a long time ago because I would go hiking in the morning, and then I’d go straight to the gym, and I found it was convenient, and now I’m used to it, so I just do it,” said Kennedy.
“There were a lot of theories, but that makes perfect sense,” said Watters.
Kennedy was questioned about his exercise habits after taking part in a workout challenge alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In a video, published by the Department of Defense Monday, the pair took part in what they called the “Pete and Bobby Challenge,” in which they had to complete 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in under 10 minutes.
“It’s all about making America healthy again. We’re gonna be fit, not fat,” Hegseth said in the video. “We want recruits that are ready to go.”
“Pete and I are going to do our part to encourage American youth to do this challenge,” Kennedy added.
While Hegseth wore shorts and t-shirt, Kennedy was in a t-shirt with a pair of jeans. The video shows them completing the pull-up and push-up challenge in under six minutes.
Kennedy challenged Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to do the challenge next, while Hegseth called out the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, as well as his former Fox News colleague Will Cain.
“We hope Americans will take this challenge and you’ll pass it along so that we’re ready to be fit the way we need to be healthy and to have a healthy fighting force,” said Hegseth.
Kennedy took part in the fitness challenge as he pushes his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, an echo of President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. It includes a focus on public health issues, with the MAHA movement emphasizing reducing artificial additives in food and beverages and reassessing health choices for children, such as vaccines.
On Sunday, comedian John Oliver dissected the MAHA movement on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, noting that it’s “not just Republicans” who have gotten caught up in the movement, with many parents looking to feed their children healthier foods.
Experts agree with Kennedy’s claim that American children are getting sicker, with a U.S. child being 15 to 20 percent more likely to experience a chronic condition in 2023 compared to 2011.
However Oliver pointed out that even when Kennedy “and his movement can be right about identifying a problem, their solutions can range from the superficial to the outright dangerous.”
Under the leadership of Kennedy, HHS has begun defunding mRNA vaccine research, with one expert calling it “the most dangerous public health decision I have ever seen made by a government body.”
