New York magazine's Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi is currently on leave from her position at the magazine after she admitted to having "a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign." The statement from the magazine did not name the person with whom Nuzzi had the personal relationship, but a source told CNN that the subject was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was previously running for president as an independent candidate and later endorsed Donald Trump.
Per CNN, a spokesperson for RFK Jr. has said that Kennedy only met with Olivia Nuzzi, 31, one time and it was for an interview. Nuzzi told the publication that "the relationship was never physical." In her statement shared with the news outlet, she did not name RFK Jr.
"Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal. During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source," she shared with CNN in a statement. She added that she "deeply [regrets]" not disclosing the relationship right away.
The Daily Beast has reported that the alleged "personal relationship" between Nuzzi and Kennedy involved sexting, according to an unnamed source. Per the publication, RFK Jr. allegedly boasted about possessing nude photos of Nuzzi. Per New Jersey newspaper The Two River Times, Nuzzi previously worked for The Daily Beast.
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Before joining New York magazine, Nuzzi was hired by The Daily Beast and covered politics for the news website. She has been interested in politics since she was a kid, and knew that she wanted to write about politics, The Two River Times reported.
After writing for a few publications while in high school, she attended Fordham University. She also interned for the mayoral campaign of former politician Anthony Weiner and wrote about the experience for NSFWcorp.
In a blog post, she wrote about Weiner allegedly calling multiple interns "Monica." She recalled the time when Weiner introduced himself to the interns working on his campaign. He asked the interns to introduce themselves, then said he would "go back around and repeat your name to you."
More than once, he incorrectly guessed "Monica." "We all laughed nervously. Monica is an interesting intern name to pick out of the air," Nuzzi wrote at the time.
Monica Lewinsky was an intern in President Bill Clinton's White House, and had an affair with him.
While studying at Fordham, Nuzzi was offered a job at The Daily Beast. She took the job before graduating. She covered the Republican candidates on the primary campaign trail, according to the Two River Times, and was reportedly not welcome at Donald Trump's campaign events at the time.
“I’m not a welcome sight at Trump events," Nuzzi told the publication in 2016. "I just think he’s hyper-sensitive; it’s obvious. I think he takes it personally."
Through her coverage, she also began to understand some of the people who supported Trump, she said at the time. "They just feel like they’ve been left behind and feel like they haven’t gotten their fair share," she previously told the Two River Times.
In February 2017, Nuzzi began working for New York magazine, the New York Post reported.
Nuzzi was previously engaged to fellow journalist Ryan Lizza. Lizza, 50, was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017 and lost his job at The New Yorker. He is currently the chief Washington correspondent for Politico. Nuzzi and Lizza had been engaged since 2022, but Lizza recently seemed to confirm that they are no longer together.
Writing for Politico Playbook, Lizza said on Friday, September 20, that he would no longer be reporting on RFK Jr. due to a conflict of interest. In the statement, he referred to Nuzzi as his "ex-fiancée."
"Because of my connection to this story through my ex-fiancée, my editors and I have agreed that I won’t be involved in any coverage of Kennedy in Playbook or elsewhere at Politico," Lizza shared.
