The Olivia Nuzzi Scandal Just Got a Lot Juicier

Olivia Nuzzi has a book coming out in early December that details her affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., among other revelations. After being fired from New York Magazine for having a “digital affair” with a subject, the “journalist” has resurfaced as the new West Coast editor for Vanity Fair — because it’s 2025 and ethics in journalism apparently no longer matter. Nuzzi has already released an excerpt from the book to Vanity Fair, in which she discusses the digital affair with RFK Jr., where he told her he loved her, wrote her poems, and said he wanted her to have his baby.

Meanwhile, Ryan Lizza — her former fiancé and a former Politico writer — has stayed mostly quiet since Nuzzi made accusations against him after the RFK Jr. affair came to light. He left Politico and started his own Substack, Telos News. But ahead of Nuzzi’s book release, Lizza has decided to tell his side of the story — if she’s not staying quiet, neither is he.

He kicked things off yesterday with a piece detailing their relationship, which apparently began when Lizza helped Nuzzi end a relationship with Keith Olbermann, who he claims paid her rent, furnished her apartment, and showered her with lavish gifts — but with strings attached.

Lizza then described a quieter time in their relationship, when Nuzzi was spending more time in South Carolina covering a presidential race. That changed when Lizza discovered she was having an affair with a presidential candidate.

He was a famous politician, 32 years older than Olivia, and well-known for a sex scandal. But more importantly, he was a presidential candidate, a source, and the subject of Olivia’s recent profile for New York.

If you know RFK Jr.’s age and did the math, you’ll realize he’s 39 years older than Nuzzi. Lizza isn’t referring to her affair with RFK Jr. ahead of the 2024 election. He’s talking about a different presidential affair altogether.

I was sure our relationship was over. And certainly our book project was dead. She had crossed a journalistic red line. How could we write a book about the presidential campaign if Olivia had a sexual relationship with one of the candidates?

I looked at the date on her aborted letter to “Mark”: March 5, 2020 — just a few days ago.

I called my agent.

“We have a big problem,” I said. “Olivia is sleeping with Mark Sanford.”

Wait — what? She’s done this twice? And if that’s in her upcoming memoir, Ryan Lizza just spoiled it.

And that’s just Part 1.