Robert F. Kennedy Jr. boasted to friends that star reporter Olivia Nuzzi had sent him intimate photos, and that was the trigger for the scandal, as the Daily Beast reveals. The 70-year-old’s boast reached the ears of the 31-year-old new York The boss of the magazine correspondent – ​​who confronted her about the photos.

Nuzzi repeatedly denied an affair with David Haskell, new YorkEditor in Chief, but ultimately told the truth. Nuzzi has since been suspended and is being investigated by an outside party for her journalistic ethics.

Puck News reported Friday night that Nuzzi allegedly sent “modest” nude photos 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 offices in downtown Manhattan on Sept. 13, a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Beast. The meeting was attended only by Nuzzi and Haskell.

Haskell told Nuzzi, 31, that he had been informed that Kennedy had bragged to others about his relationship with Nuzzi, including possessing photographs of her, and that the two were in a romantic relationship.

Nuzzi initially — and repeatedly — denied the relationship, the source told the Daily Beast. Haskell gave Nuzzi a chance to admit the truth, and she eventually confirmed the relationship.

new York The magazine had no comment. Nuzzi declined to comment. RFK Jr. did not respond to requests for comment.

On Thursday, after news of their “affair” broke, Kennedy strenuously denied ever having met Nuzzi privately. “Mr. Kennedy met Olivia Nuzzi only once in his life for an interview she requested that produced a defamatory article,” a Kennedy spokesman told CNN.

However, a source familiar with the matter said the two met several times, but pointed out that those meetings included public events and stressed that the relationship between Nuzzi and Kennedy was never physical.

Nuzzi has made a name for herself among political reporters. She was a staff writer at the Daily Beast from 2014 to 2017, was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in 2018, and received the American Society of Magazine Editors’ “NEXT” award in 2019, which honors groundbreaking journalists under the age of 30.

Her work in 2024 was no exception. Nuzzi revealed in July how President Biden’s advisers had worked to shield the president so audiences wouldn’t notice his cognitive decline, a post that helped distort reporting on Biden’s age (much to the chagrin of Democrats, whose complaints about Nuzzi led Bloomberg to shut down his press campaign for her show “Working Capital.” Bloomberg did not respond to a request for comment.)

She then published a report on a sobered Trump earlier this month, using the former president’s injured ear as a narrative device and portraying a man confused by one (now two) assassination attempts.

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News of the pairing sent shockwaves through the media industry after Status reporter Oliver Darcy revealed Nuzzi’s romantic relationship with Kennedy. The report detailed their months-long affair and how Nuzzi failed to tell her editors about the cross-border dynamic.

Nuzzi acknowledged the relationship in a statement to the Daily Beast, acknowledging that it crossed journalistic boundaries, even though there was never any physical altercation. Nuzzi had spoken repeatedly about Kennedy in 2024, including about his attempts to obtain Secret Service protection, and referred to the March presidential campaign as a “three-man race.”

“Earlier this year, communications between me and a former reporting individual became personal in nature,” Nuzzi said. “During that time, I did not report directly on the individual nor use him or her as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to avoid the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I have disappointed, especially my colleagues at new York.”

Kennedy, who allegedly cheated on several former lovers, was married to Curb your enthusiasm Star Cheryl Hines since 2014. Nuzzi was engaged to Politico Chief Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza, who announced their separation in a note to Politico readers on Friday afternoon. The Kennedy news did not appear in the morning edition of the network’s Playbook, which Lizza co-writes.

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 will not participate in coverage of Kennedy in Playbook or elsewhere at POLITICO,” he said in a statement. The two separated last month.

The magazine said Thursday that Nuzzi “had a personal relationship with a former individual relevant to the 2024 campaign during her coverage of the 2024 campaign,” which violated the publication’s editorial standards. The magazine told readers that an internal review of her 2024 work found “no inaccuracies or bias,” but she was placed on leave pending a third-party review.

Haskell informed staff of the news Thursday evening, saying in a newsroom memo that the third-party review would have an impact on Nuzzi’s future at the award-winning magazine.

“We are engaging an independent third party to conduct its own review of their 2024 writings. I believe this will help us clearly see if there is more we need to disclose or correct,” he wrote in a memo obtained by Semafor.