Vanity Fair is parting ways with its scandal-ridden West Coast editor Olivia Nuzzi, following fresh allegations about her affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to The Wall Street Journal.
Nuzzi and the magazine said in a joint statement they have “mutually agreed, in the best interest of the magazine, to let her contract expire at the end of the year.”
Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza unleashed a series of new claims about her alleged affair and her behavior as a political reporter in recent weeks on his Substack, including an affair with former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
Olivia Nuzzi parted ways with Vanity Fair after explosive allegations about her relationship with RFK Jr. were exposed by ex-Ryan Lizza. Emilio Madrid/Courtesy Simon & Schuster
Meanwhile, Nuzzi had signed on earlier this year as Vanity Fair’s West coast editor and she had launched her new book, titled “American Canto,” detailing her affair with RFK Jr. under the guise of an unnamed politician.
Nuzzi wrote a profile of Kennedy in 2023 when she was New York magazine’s Washington correspondent.
The magazine ousted her in late 2024 after news of her relationship with Kennedy prompted an investigation into her work.
A rep for Conde Nast did not return requests for comment to The Post.
Olivia Nuzzi was engaged to Politico reporter and collaborator Ryan Lizza in 2022, but they called off the marriage. Olivia Nuzzi / Facebook
Nuzzi had been put on review at Vanity Fair in late November, after Lizza published his first post, which claimed that she cheated on him with Sanford when she was covering his presidential campaign in 2020 .
Lizza, who is also a political journalist, has unearthed evidence such as a handwritten note penned by Nuzzi on hotel stationary to the GOP candidate.
“Mark, I am sorry. I can’t say that I wish I hadn’t touched you, hadn’t,” the incomplete, abandoned handwritten letter dated March 5, 2020, obtained by The Post read.
The Conde Nast-owned glossy said it was also taking another look at Lizza’s allegations pertaining to Nuzzi’s “sexting” relationship with Kennedy and other conduct. This included claims that Nuzzi transformed from a “journalist to a political operative” for Kennedy during their affair.
Lizza also claimed that Nuzzi fed Kennedy dirt from her sources and plottted ways to kill damaging stories during his doomed presidential bid, Lizza alleged.
Many criticized the book for not spilling enough juicy gossip on Nuzzi’s bizarre affair with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock
Lizza also claimed that Nuzzi and Kennedy planned to “consummate their relationship on August 23, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona, after he endorsed Donald Trump for president at a rally in nearby Glendale.
Nuzzi canceled the rendez-vous with Kennedy when Lizza learned of the bombshell affair, he claimed.
Kennedy, 71, who grabbed the role of US Secretary of Health & Human Service after Trump clinched the presidency, had denied ever associating with Nuzzi.
Lizza, who is also a political journalist, dumped Nuzzi in late 2024
Nuzzi broke down in tears during an interview with the Bulwark YouTube / The Bulwark
In the fallout, Nuzzi has stayed relatively quiet, appearing on The Bulwark’s podcast earlier this week.
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller grilled Nuzzi, 32, over why she didn’t share information she knew about Kennedy, 71, during his brutal confirmation process and pressed her on whether she still loved the Trump Cabinet member.
“I don’t know how to responsibly handle this on camera,” Nuzzi said after stammering a bit. “I’m writing in that scene that you’re talking about — about how I felt privately.”
In her new book, “American Canto,” Nuzzi described being in love with Kennedy, whom she described only as “the Politician.” But Miller noted that she also fessed up to taking steps to aid the Kennedy scion, whom he argued is now doing “bad things” in his powerful position.
Olivia Nuzzi’s book “American Canto” has been widely panned by critics. Emilio Madrid/Courtesy Simon & Schuster
“I lost my job. I was fired, and I was in hiding, and I was afraid,” Nuzzi insisted calmly before growing emotional. “I was terrified of the man I did not marry [Lizza], and I was very worried about people knowing where I was.”
The Vanity Fair West Coast editor then wept and pleaded for a pause in the interview before apologizing to a visibly uncomfortable Miller.
Nuzzi’s book, which went on sale on Dec. 2, has also been widely panned, getting torn to shreds by book critics.
Despite this momentum, the book “drops with a soft, disappointing thud,” Alexandra Jacobs wrote for the New York Times.
The newspaper’s headline described Nuzzi’s memoir as “self-serious and altogether disappointing.”
The “303-page bafflement” is “wafting and unfocused in a manner that makes you long for the sweet relief of a detailed policy paper,” she added.
While “Nuzzi is an astral force,” “this moon’s a lead balloon,” Jacobs wrote.