Olivia Nuzzi, star political reporter for New York magazine She has been sent on leave after admitting that she was “involved in a personal relationship” She was reporting on a key figure in the 2024 presidential race, who has been identified in reports as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But this isn't the first time the veteran journalist has found herself in the headlines.
Nuzzi first made the news more than a decade ago when her boss called her a “sl-tbag” while she was still an undergraduate.
“Slutbag”-gate
Olivia Nuzzi, 31, was born in New York City and raised in Middletown Township, NJ. According to a profile in the Two River Times,
After her name was published in local publications at the start of high school, Nuzzi returned to the Big Apple, where she enrolled at Fordham University.
She was a junior in college when she volunteered as an intern for the mayoral campaign of disgraced New York politician Anthony Weiner — an experience she wrote about Blog post for NSFWcorp,
In a post dated July 28, 2013, Nuzzi alleged that Weiner called her and another female intern “Monica”—possibly a reference to Monica Lewinsky—and that his campaign manager had resigned after lying to him.
Nuzzi turned the buzz he received from the blog posts into a July 30, 2013, cover story for the New York Daily News, in which he further reported that several of his fellow interns were hoping to use the Weiner campaign – through Weiner's wife Huma Abedin – as a base for the Hillary Clinton camp.
That same day, Weiner Communications Director Barbara Morgan issued a profanity-laced critique of Nuzzi in a talking points memo.
Morgan, who later claimed he believed the interview was off the record, denounced the then-college student as a “bitch”, “c–t”, “tee–tee” and finally “sl–teebag” — an inventive phrase that thought-provoking ideas generated Your own.
Morgan apologized to Nuzzi, who accepted the apology Interview with The Atlantic on July 31, 2013,
rising star
Nuzzi was hired by the Daily Beast in May 2014, shortly after the Weiner scandal.
He left Fordham early to take the position, and in 2016 was selected as one of Politico's “16 Breakout Media Stars” in that year's presidential election.
Nuzzi was hired as New York magazine's Washington correspondent in February 2017. He sparked controversy in early 2018 when he admitted to entering the home of former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski without permission.
Nuzzi said she had taken a photo at the residence, while Lewandowski accused her of also taking a photo album that belonged to him. Fox News reported,
“I texted my boyfriend, ‘You know, I broke into the house because nobody was answering the door.’ And he said it probably wasn’t legal and that I should leave. I was like, ‘F—,’” Nuzzi told the Columbia Journalism Review about the questionable move.
New York magazine publicly sided with its star reporter and told Fox it did not believe “she did anything wrong.”
Later, in October 2018, Trump personally invited Nuzzi to a special meeting in the Oval Office, which was later revealed as Published by New York Magazine,
That year, he was also named in Forbes' prestigious “30 Under 30” list.
Power Couple
Nuzzi got engaged to Ryan Lizza, 50, Politico’s chief Washington correspondent, in September 2022 in Italy. According to his Instagram,
It's unclear when the couple got together, but Liza Photo taken on Nuzzi's Instagram In early January 2018 — shortly after he was fired from The New Yorker due to allegations of “inappropriate sexual conduct,” The New York Times reported last month,
Sources told The Post this week that the two had recently split.
RFK 'sexting' scandal
On Thursday, New York magazine announced the Nuzzi was placed “on leave” after admitting she was involved in a “personal relationship with a former subject related to the 2024 campaign.”
The former subject in question was reportedly former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Status Newsletter reported,
Sources told the Post that Nuzzi and RFK Jr. — the son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy — were allegedly sexting,
A Kennedy spokesman stressed that the 70-year-old Kennedy had met Nuzzi only “once” when he wrote about her in October 2023.
In his statement, Nuzzi acknowledged that the relationship between him and a former subject had “become personal,” but insisted the relationship was “never physical.”
According to New York magazine, Nuzzi would have been barred from covering the presidential election if his editors had known about the relationship, though the magazine did not mention Kennedy by name in its statement.
