New York Magazine's star political reporter, Olivia Nuzzi, has been placed on leave following allegations of an affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom she met while profiling him for the publication last year. Nuzzi told her editors that she had "engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign," the outlet confirmed.
As news emerged overnight about the 31-year-old journalist, who frequently appears on CNN, and her relationship with the 70-year-old former presidential candidate, social media erupted, with Nuzzi's name rapidly trending on X. Meanwhile, Nuzzi, the Washington reporter of the magazine is engaged to Ryan Lizza, Politico's chief Washington correspondent, who is 50.
Controversial Career
"The nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal," Nuzzi said in a statement to the Daily Mail and also claimed the relationship was never physical.
Despite the recent attention on Nuzzi, this isn't the first time the political journalist, known for her early career rise as a genius, has been in the spotlight.
Over the past year, she's made headlines for her detailed account of former President Donald Trump's bullet-grazed ear and a revealing article published after President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race, highlighting the extent of his decline—a piece that sparked backlash from Democratic insiders.
So, who exactly is Olivia Nuzzi? Nuzzi grew up in New Jersey and attended Fordham University.
Her writing career began in 2011 when, as a teenager, she started a monthly political column for the local New Jersey publication triCityNews.
In 2013, while still a student at Fordham and just 20 years old, Nuzzi interned for disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner during his ill-fated New York City mayoral campaign.
Shortly after, she penned a series of columns that served as exposés on her experience with Weiner, who had resigned from Congress in 2011 after a sexting scandal, despite being married to Huma Abedin, an aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Nuzzi quickly gained internet fame after Weiner's communications director, Barbara Morgan, lashed out at the young reporter in an interview with Talking Points Memo, using offensive slurs to describe her.
"Barbara Morgan started ranting, calling me a 'slutbag,' which I'd never heard before, a 'f—ing twat,' and a 'little c—' who 'sucked' at my job," Nuzzi later recalled, describing the call from a TPM reporter who had asked her for comment.
Although Morgan later apologized, claiming she thought the conversation was off-the-record, Nuzzi immortalized the aide's harsh words in her Twitter bio: "Slutbag, t***, and c***."
Controversial Star
In 2014, while still in college, Nuzzi was hired by The Daily Beast, where she reported on Trump's political rise. She eventually left Fordham to work full-time at the publication.
That same year, she shared a DailyMail.com exclusive about a book alleging that Bobby Kennedy had ordered Marilyn Monroe's death by lethal injection.
Nuzzi was later named a "breakout media star" by Politico for her coverage of the presidential election. In a 2015 social media post, which has resurfaced to haunt her, Nuzzi slammed Hollywood portrayals of journalists using their sexuality to get ahead.
"Why does Hollywood think female reporters sleep with their sources?" she asked, linking to an article about the portrayal of women in the media as 'slutty ambition monsters'.
In 2017, New York Magazine hired Nuzzi as its Washington correspondent, a position that earned her a spot on Forbes' 2018 "30 Under 30" list at just 24 years old.
The same year, she received a NEXT Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors. However, in the interim, Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, contemplated legal action against her after she entered his office without permission in 2018.
Nuzzi explained to the Columbia Journalism Review that she briefly entered Lewandowski's townhouse in an effort to interview him for an article about former White House staffer Hope Hicks.
In 2022, Nuzzi became engaged to Ryan Lizza, 50, who is the chief Washington correspondent for Politico. She announced her engagement on Instagram, sharing a series of videos where she showed off a large solitaire-cut diamond ring on her finger.
Lizza has two children from his previous marriage to Dr. Christine Gillespie. He was previously a writer for The New Yorker but was fired in 2017 due to a #MeToo scandal involving accusations of "improper sexual conduct."
Nuzzi reportedly met father-of-six RFK Jr. during a hiking trip last year for a profile she wrote for New York Magazine.
In her piece, she described meeting the former presidential candidate at the $7 million California home he shares with his wife.
She portrayed RFK Jr. as an anti-establishment candidate, suggesting he was "turning the presidential election upside down."
