A well-known American political reporter was placed on leave after admitting to having a personal relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his presidential campaign.
Olivia Nuzzi, the 31-year-old Washington correspondent for New York Magazine, is accused of sending sexual text messages to the 70-year-old independent candidate after visiting him for an interview at his home in California.
After the news website Status made allegations of a relationship on Thursday, Nuzzi admitted that “some communications between me and a person who was previously the subject of coverage were of a personal nature.”
Kennedy ran for the White House as an independent candidate, but suspended his campaign in August.
EVAN VUCCI/AP
She added: “During that time, I did not report directly on the subject, nor did I use her as a source. The relationship was never physical, but it should have been disclosed to prevent appearance of a conflict.”
The magazine said a review of Nuzzi’s work found no evidence of bias, but called the relationship a “violation of the trust of our readers” and its own standards. “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, it would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” it added.
Although Nuzzi did not identify the other person in the relationship, it was widely reported to be Kennedy, with the magazine simply referring to “a previous issue relevant to the 2024 campaign.”
According to the New York Post, Nuzzi had been “sexting” with Kennedy, who is married to Cheryl Hines, who Curb your enthusiasm actress when Nuzzi was engaged to Ryan Lizza, chief Washington correspondent for the website Politico. The couple called off the wedding a few weeks ago, the newspaper reported.
Cheryl Hines and Kennedy have been married since 2014
FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES
A spokesman for Kennedy said: “Mr. Kennedy met Olivia Nuzzi only once in his life for an interview that she requested and which earned him a smear article.”
Nuzzi’s Kennedy profile was published by the magazine last October on the anniversary of the assassination of his uncle John F. Kennedy, claiming that he could “turn the presidential campaign on its head.”
In August, Kennedy withdrew from the White House race and endorsed Donald Trump, ending a campaign that lurched from one bizarre confession to another, including the revelation that his brain had been eaten by worms. He also admitted to dumping a dead baby bear in New York’s Central Park for fun in 2014.
On Saturday, during his campaign appearance for Trump in Arizona, Kennedy announced that he was being investigated for the beheading of a dead whale 20 years ago.
Kennedy with Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona
EVAN VUCCI/AP
The story came to light in 2012 when Kennedy’s daughter Kathleen told Town and Country magazine that her father used a chainsaw to cut off the whale’s head after the carcass washed ashore, strapped it to the roof of their minivan and drove home.
During the five-hour drive, Kathleen recalled, “Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would run into the car windows, which was the most disgusting thing in the world… We all had plastic bags over our heads with holes cut in them for our mouths, and people on the highway would give us the middle finger, but that was just normal everyday life for us.”
The National Marine Fisheries Service confirmed that an investigation was ongoing but declined to comment.
Kennedy has been married to Hines since 2014. He was accused of extramarital affairs during his second marriage to Mary Richardson before the two separated in 2010.
Nuzzi has worked for New York Magazine since 2017 and wrote a profile on Trump in September after visiting his Mar-a-Lago resort.
