Star reporter Olivia Nuzzi’s romantic relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was the “hardest thing” for New York Magazine editor-in-chief David Haskell to deal with in his five years on the job, he told Interview Magazine on Thursday. It is his first public comment on the alleged affair.
Haskell said Nuzzi — who developed a relationship with Kennedy while reporting on his presidential campaign and while engaged to Politico reporter Ryan Lizza — is “radically talented” and “published amazing journalism” during her time at the magazine.
“The main thing I would say is that secrets are the hardest thing for humans to deal with, and journalists traffic in secrets. Your job is to reveal them and it’s also to hold them,” Haskell told Interview. “I just came out of this with a much clearer appreciation for all the systems and culture and codes of conduct for a newsroom to help a reporter navigate through all that.”
He added: “Once I knew that she had had that relationship, it was clear that we would have to disclose it to our readers, and how we did that was an incredibly difficult process to get through. But I knew where we had to land.”
New York Magazine shared a blog post on Nuzzi’s “personal relationship” with Kennedy on September 19, hours after Status broke the news of the affair.
The news of Nuzzi and Kennedy’s relationship quickly became a massive media story after it was first reported in September, with outlets like The New York Post reporting on the pair having “incredible” FaceTime sex. (Both sides have denied the relationship was ever physical.)
Nuzzi and New York Magazine agreed to “part ways” in October. She’d been with the outlet for nearly eight years. New York Magazine said it had enlisted a law firm to review her work and had found “no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias” in her reporting. Nuzzi had profiled Kennedy for the magazine in November 2023.
The fallout from the digital affair was ugly between Nuzzi and Lizza, her ex-fiancé. Nuzzi had accused Lizza, who is taking a leave of absence from Politico, of organizing a campaign of blackmail and harassment against her after learning of her secret relationship with Kennedy. She filed a protective order against Lizza in October, but later withdrew her lawsuit against him in November.
“Olivia shamelessly used litigation with false and defamatory allegations as a public relations strategy. When required to do so, she refused to defend her claims in court last month. She then sought to hide my response to her claims from the public by seeking to seal the proceedings that she began,” Lizza said at the time.
Lizza had previously said Nuzzi told him that Kennedy — who is married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines — wanted to “possess,” “control,” and “impregnate” her.
“Olivia lied to me for almost a year,” Lizza added in his November statement. “She lied to her editors. She lied to her readers. She lied to her colleagues. She lied to reporters. And she lied to the judge in this case. I said I would defend myself against her lies vigorously and successfully and I am fully prepared to do so. But for now, I’m pleased this matter is closed.”
The post New York Editor Breaks Silence on RFK Affair With His Reporter appeared first on TheWrap.
