Olivia Nuzzi had to pause an awkward interview after being intensely questioned about her alleged affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
During the Tuesday, December 2, episode of “The Bulwark” podcast, host Tim Miller directly asked about how Nuzzi’s memoir, American Canto, addressed her alleged tumultuous romance with Kennedy, 71.
“He was trashing you. He’s being nominated to HHS Secretary. You had information that you could have shared — and you didn’t share anything about him,” Miller pointed out. “Why? Did you still love him?”
Nuzzi, 32, admitted she didn’t “know how to responsibly handle this on camera.”
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“I am writing in that scene about how I felt privately about my private reaction,” she noted about how the memoir captured her point of view.
Miller continued to press Nuzzi to elaborate on her claims about Kennedy. “You admit in the book that you’d acted to help him over the course of the campaign. And so once you realized that he was screwing you over, you didn’t take any counteraction. You just let him walk over you,” he said. “Do you see clearly [now]?”
While reflecting on that period of time in her life, Nuzzi agreed with Miller’s perspective, saying, “You are reading about it now. … I agree with you. That is the correct assessment. I don’t know what to do with the question you are asking me. Because it is making a lot of assumptions. I write about what I did wrong.”
Miller went on to claim Nuzzi ceased “to become a journalistic actor” amid her interactions with Kennedy. Nuzzi appeared emotionally affected by the assessment.
“I lost my job. I was fired and I was in hiding. I was afraid, I was terrified,” she fired back as she started to cry. “I was terrified of a man I could not marry. Could we pause this?”
Reports originally surfaced in September 2024 that Kennedy allegedly engaged in a sexting affair with Nuzzi, who was a political reporter for New York Magazine during the presidential election.
New York Magazine released a public apology at the time, explaining to readers that Nuzzi failed to disclose a “personal relationship” with an unnamed subject she profiled during her 2024 election coverage for the publication. The outlet — and Nuzzi — didn’t mention Kennedy by name.
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“The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict,” Nuzzi said in a statement to The New York Times. “I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”
A spokesperson for Kennedy denied Nuzzi’s version of events, saying, “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
While Kennedy has remained largely tight-lipped about the scandal, his wife, Cheryl Hines, recently opened up about dealing with rumors and speculation surrounding her marriage.
“I think you always have to consider the source, right?” she shared on an October episode of “The Katie Miller” podcast. “So that’s where I start. And then it ends with a conversation with Bobby.”
She continued: “Bobby had been running for president, and it was an exhausting year-and-a-half of headlines and rumors and articles and chaos. And at that time, I thought, ‘OK, this is more chaos and more rumors.’ And, um, it was a lot.”
When asked about Nuzzi’s memoir, Hines replied, “I don’t know this person. Don’t know their intentions. I could guess, but I won’t. But you can if you want.”
