Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s brags to friends that star reporter Olivia Nuzzi had sent him intimate photos was what led the scandal to explode into the open, the Daily Beast can reveal. The 70-year-old scion’s boasts became known to the 31-year-old New York magazine correspondent’s boss—who confronted her over the photos.
Nuzzi repeatedly denied an affair to David Haskell, New York’s editor in chief, but eventually came clean. Nuzzi has now been suspended, and is being investigated over her journalistic ethics by an outside party.
Puck News reported Friday night that Nuzzi allegedly sent “demure” nudes of herself to RFK Jr. during their “sexting” affair.
Haskell confronted Nuzzi about the affair during a 5:30 p.m. meeting at the magazine’s downtown Manhattan offices on Sept. 13, a source familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. The meeting was limited to just Nuzzi and Haskell.
Haskell told Nuzzi, 31, that he was informed by a source of his that Kennedy had bragged about his relationship with Nuzzi to others, including possessing photographs of her and that they were in a romantic relationship.
Nuzzi initially—and repeatedly—denied the relationship, the source familiar told The Daily Beast. Haskell gave Nuzzi the option to come clean on the matter, and she eventually confirmed the relationship.
Star Reporter Probed Over Sexting RFK Jr. Behind Cheryl Hines’ Back
New York magazine did not comment. Nuzzi declined to comment. RFK Jr. did not return requests for comment.
Kennedy had forcefully denied on Thursday ever meeting Nuzzi aside from her November 2023 profile of the conspiracy theorist after news of their affair broke. “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece,” a Kennedy spokesperson told CNN.
A source familiar with the matter said the two had met multiple times, though they cautioned those meetings included public functions and maintained Nuzzi and Kennedy’s relationship was never physical.
Nuzzi has established herself as a force among political reporters. A Daily Beast employee from 2013 to 2017, she was named among Forbes’ 2018 “30 Under 30,” and she was awarded the American Society of Magazine Editors’ “NEXT” award, which honors breakthrough journalists under the age of 30, in 2019.
Her work in 2024 was no exception. Nuzzi broke in July how President Biden’s advisors had worked to shelter the president so that audiences would not pick up on his cognitive decline, a piece that helped tilt the coverage of Biden’s age (much to the ire of Democrats, whose complaints about Nuzzi led to Bloomberg nixing their press campaign for her show “Working Capital.” Bloomberg did not respond to a request for comment.)
She followed that up with a report earlier this month on a sobered Trump, using the former president’s wounded ear as a narrative device into a man addled by one (now two) assassination attempts.
Olivia Nuzzi attends the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 29, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images
News of the pairing sent shockwaves across the media industry after Status reporter Oliver Darcy revealed Nuzzi’s romantic relationship with Kennedy. The report recounted their monthslong affair and how Nuzzi failed to disclose the boundary-crossing dynamic to her editors.
Nuzzi admitted to the relationship in a statement to The Daily Beast and acknowledged it crossed journalistic red-lines, even if it was never physical. Nuzzi had spoken about Kennedy repeatedly throughout 2024, including reporting on his attempts to get Secret Service protection and describing the presidential race as a “three-man race” in March.
“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal,” Nuzzi said. “During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”
Kennedy, who has allegedly cheated on multiple past lovers, has been married to Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines since 2014. Nuzzi was engaged to Politico chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza, who revealed their separation in a note to Politico readers on Friday afternoon. The Kennedy news did not appear in the outlet’s morning edition of Playbook, which Lizza co-writes.
Olivia Nuzzi, left, and Ryan Lizza attend the CBS News White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Party on April 29, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for CBS News
“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,” he said in a statement. The two broke up last month.
The magazine said on Thursday Nuzzi was “engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign,” which violated the publication’s editorial standards. The magazine told readers an internal review of her 2024 work found “no inaccuracies or bias,” though it still placed her on leave pending a third-party review.
Haskell informed staff Thursday night about the news, and he said in a newsroom memo the third-party review would factor into Nuzzi’s future at the award-winning magazine.
“We are engaging an independent third-party to run their own review of her 2024 writing, which I believe will help us see with clear eyes if there is more we need to disclose or anything we need to correct,” he wrote in a memo obtained by Semafor.
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