A star reporter who covered Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign was placed on leave after admitting to having a relationship with a former reporter.

New York Magazine said in a statement on Thursday that Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi failed to disclose a “personal relationship” with an unnamed campaign participant during her coverage of the 2024 election.

This was a violation of the newspaper’s standards, which allow journalists to disclose personal interests that could influence their reporting, it said.

“Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” the statement said. However, the magazine said it had reviewed her work and found “no inaccuracies or evidence of bias.”

“She is currently on leave from the journal and the journal is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this breach of trust from our readers,” it added.

Nuzzi said in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday, without elaborating on the exact nature of their relationship, that earlier this year “some conversations between me and a former individual who was the subject of a news story became personal.”

She said that despite previous coverage on the issue, she did not report directly on him during that time.

“The relationship was never physical, but it 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 in New York,” she said.

NBC News reached out to Nuzzi overnight for comment.

While neither Nuzzi nor New York Magazine provided the name of the person in question, both CNN and the New York Times reported that it was Kennedy.

Stefanie Spear, Kennedy’s spokeswoman, said in a brief statement to NBC News: “Mr. Kennedy met Olivia Nuzzi only once in his life for an interview she requested, which resulted in a defamatory article.”

Nuzzi wrote a long article about Kennedy in November 2023 with the headline, “The Mind-Bending Politics of RFK Jr.’s Spoiler Campaign.” The subheading read, “He’s a conservative. He’s a liberal. And he could turn the presidential campaign on its head.”

A recent article by Nuzzi, an interview with Trump, was published on September 9. The online version was updated with a “note to readers” linking to the New York Magazine statement.

Kennedy, who rose to prominence first as an environmental lawyer and then as a leading anti-vaccination activist, dropped out of the race last month and announced he would support Trump.