Inside Andrew Cuomo’s bitter child support battle with ex Kerry Kennedy

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been privately battling ex-wife Kerry Kennedy for years over “substa𝓡ntial’’ child support payments for their three c꧙hildren, The Post has been told.

Two sources close to the Kennedy family — both well-known individuals — told The Post that Cuomo, 58🉐, and Kennedy, 56, have been involved in at-times-bitter, lawyer-assisted go-rounds over “substantial amounts’’ of child support payments for the past 2½ ye🃏ars, and reached an agreement on some of the financial obligations only two weeks ago.

Since then, the sources said, a battle has continued over payments for “education costs and health care’’ for 20-year-old daughters♒ Cara and Mariah, who attend Harvard and Brown universities, respectively, and Michaela, 18, who recently graduated from high school a few months after being taken to the Westchester County Medical Center after an unexplained incident in which she was found unconscious at her mother’s home.

The remai﷽ning dispute apparently was re🍸solved Friday evening — just a few hours after The Post made inquiries about what is, for Cuomo, a politically embarrassing situation.

One of the sources said he had, in fact, hoped that knowledge that The Pos𒁃t♛ was working on a report about the situation would convince the governor to quickly settle the dispute with Kennedy, daughter of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — if only to avoid what was certain to be adverse publicity.

“Kerry has been at the end of h💫er ropes over this because nothing seemed to convince him [Cuomo] to do the right thing,’’ said a source close to Kennedy.

“Andrew didn’t pay child support or alimony for the past 2½ years until a 🎃few weeks ago, and then he continued to leave out the payments for education and health care, which he’s required t🅘o pay.

“🦩It was just a kind of drip, drip, dri💧p,’’ the source said.

The second so𒁏urce, who has been close to Kennedy for years, said he had learned over many months about Cuomo’s alleged conduct, which he said he found shocking.

Cuomo, who is paid $179,000 a year as governor, is certainly not hurting for cash. He earned $550,000 in 2014 from his salary, and received just less than $377,000 for his book, “,’’ which was published last fall by HarperC😼ollins.

He also received free housing at the executive mansion in Albany and lives in a $1.2 million Westchester home owned by his longtime girlfriend, Food Network celebrity chef Sandra Lee.

Cuomo, a former New York attorney general, and Kennedy jointly issued two statements denying🔴 they have had financial disputes, on 🍬Friday evening, shortly after The Post’s initial inquiry, and then again on Saturday.

“We are aware that the Post h🗹as asked whether we are having any 🍬difficulty in co-parenting our three girls,’’ the first statement began.

“Let us be⛄ crystal-clear; in terms of education, occupational or financial decisions and relations we have no issues of dispute. Over the past 10 years we have successfully adjusted to the needs and growth of our children.

“Our three gir𒅌ls are healthy and blessed and they could not be doing any better. As far as the Post hearing rumors of discord, they are just that, unfounded and untrue gossip, and as such their publication would be hurtful and inaccurate,’’ it concluded.

The secon♐d statement insisted, “Kerry speaks for herself and only she would know the truth.’’

One of The Post’s sources said Kennedy agreed to si💝gn on to the joint statement with Cuomo “[because] he finally agreed to make the payments that he hadn’t been making,’’ and “out of a desire to shield her daughters from as much of this as possible.’’

Tensions between Cuomo and Kennedy simmered for years while the two were married, and exploded into an ugly divorce battle in 2003 — a year after Cuomo, a former federal housing secretary, lost his first race for governor — following revelations that Kennedy was having an affair with a married🌠 and wealthy polo-playing family friend, Bruce Colley.