New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi was recently put on leave after disclosing her “personal relationship” to former Independent presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Since joining the magazine’s staff in 2017, the 31-year-old reporter has garnered a reputation for her vivid, incisive features on political figures as well as deeply reported presidential campaign stories. At times, Nuzzi has become a part of the story, such as when she wrote about texting with Rudy Giuliani in 2019 or caught fire for entering former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski’s office without permission in 2018.
She also had a cameo in Billions and recently released a documentary series called “Working Capital” with Bloomberg, interviewing the likes of billionaire Mark Cuban among others.
In recent months she’s published reporting on the Democratic “conspiracy of silence to protect” surrounding then-candidate President Biden and a recent, illuminating conversation with former President Donald Trump, which was one of the magazine’s cover stories last week. Each of these stories has since been updated with a note from the publication, indicating that all of Nuzzi’s 2024 reporting is under review.
On Thursday, the 31-year-old reporter was placed on leave by the magazine in light of what they called a “violation of our readers’ trust,” according to a statement. By engaging in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while reporting on the campaign trail, the publication said Nuzzi violated the publication’s editorial standards.
They added, “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign.”
New York Magazine editor David Haskell wrote in a Friday staff memo, stating that the publication planned on using an “independent third-party” to review Nuzzi’s 2024 writing to see if there is anything the publication must disclose or correct with the reporter’s “relationship” with the 70-year-old anti-vaxxer coming to light.
He added that their findings will influence their “final disciplinary decision” regarding Nuzzi. However, this comes after the magazine conducted an internal review of Nuzzi’s 2024 campaign trail writing, finding “no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias.”
Haskell noted that the magazine learned about the relationship “a few days ago,” and promptly “took her off the 2024 campaign.” Although the magazine did not publicly disclose who the subject was, media reporter Oliver Darcy identified him as Robert F. Kennedy Jr in his Status newsletter. Darcy cited an unnamed source alleging the relationship didn’t begin until after Nuzzi’s 2023 profile of the then-candidate was published.
At the time, she wrote a lengthy profile of Kennedy, when the politician was still running as an Independent candidate for the 2024 presidential race. She chronicled accompanying him on a hike with his dogs as well as driving with him and his dogs in a dilapidated minivan. She later disclosed to the magazine that the “personal relationship” spanned from December 2023 to August.
In a statement shared with several outlets from CNN to the New York Times, Nuzzi acknowledged a relationship with one of her sources but denied that it escalated to anything physical.
“Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal,” she 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.”
Although, the Kennedy scion has not publicly commented on the alleged relationship. A spokesperson for the politician told the New York Times he only met the reporter “once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
Kennedy has been married to Curb Your Enthusiasm alum Cheryl Hines since 2014. Meanwhile, Nuzzi has been engaged to reporter Ryan Lizza since 2022.