New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi mentioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on numerous occasions after their romantic relationship is believed to have begun, while her cavalier attacks on those who accuse journalists of having affairs with their sources have backfired.
The 31-year-old star political reporter was placed on leave after admitting to a non-physical “personal relationship” with a former 2024 campaign man while reporting on the presidential campaign. The magazine said Thursday afternoon.
Neither Nuzzi nor the magazine would disclose her identity, but sources told The Post that the Washington correspondent had allegedly been sexting Kennedy while she was engaged and he was married.
Their alleged affair began sometime after Nuzzi wrote a profile about Kennedy that was published in November 2023. STATE news reportedciting sources.
Another source told the outlet that the relationship is believed to have begun around New Year's.
Since then, Nuzzi has mentioned Kennedy's name in at least four articles published by New York magazine under his name.
His name appeared twice on it. January story titled “Trump Haters Became Trump Voters.”
Nuzzi also mentioned it twice in a April Article on the Arizona Senate race and once again in a You can trim which focused on the Trump campaign.
More recently, Nuzzi referenced Kennedy's endorsement of Trump in a piece published on September 9.
In it, he noted how the Republican candidate was now “talking about food quality, public health and chemicals forever – topics of enormous interest to Kennedy’s eclectic base.”
Nuzzi's references to Kennedy in his articles all appeared to be in the context of reporting facts, such as his poll numbers, rather than offering a personal opinion on the former independent presidential candidate.
She too tweeted several times about Kennedy after his profile was published, including several posts about the possibility of him receiving Secret Service protection while he was still a candidate.
Nuzzi, who has covered the 2024 presidential campaign extensively and has been behind some of the magazine's most high-profile profiles, has stressed that he never used Kennedy as a source for any of his articles, a source told STATUS.
He also insisted in his statement that the relationship in question was never physical in nature.
Still, a tweet she posted in 2015 has since resurfaced, in which Nuzzi shared a link to a New York magazine article about the on-screen depiction of female journalists as “monsters of filthy ambition.”
“Why does Hollywood think female journalists sleep with their sources?” Nuzzi wrote in X In the post from years ago, he added: “I actually don't want to know why you think that is, people. That's just the gist of this article.”
“This has aged well,” one follower wrote after the scandal broke, while another sarcastically asked: “Update?”
The magazine, for its part, said it had conducted a review of interviews from Nuzzi's published work following the relationship coming to light, and that “no inaccuracies or evidence of bias” were discovered.
“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” they said in a statement.
“He is currently on leave from the journal and the journal is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”
Kennedy has been married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines since 2014.
Nuzzi, for his part, was engaged to journalist and Politico contributor Ryan Lizza in 2022, but the couple recently split, sources told The Post.
