RFK Jr.'s Alleged Lover Olivia Nuzzi Accused of Sleeping With Famous Politician Twice Her Age

Olivia Nuzzi, the journalist and alleged sexting lover of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is now facing fresh allegations from her ex-fiancé.

On Monday, November 17, Ryan Lizza, 51, claimed in a Substack post that Nuzzi had an affair with another politician, this one twice her age, while they were in a relationship.

Lizza revealed that he discovered a love letter in 2020 written by Nuzzi, 32, to a well-known politician, 32 years older than her, and infamous for a past s-- scandal.

“[He is] a who was also a presidential candidate, a source and the subject of Olivia’s recent profile for New York,” Lizza wrote, identifying the man as Republican congressman and former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

According to Lizza, when he confronted Nuzzi about the alleged affair, she explained she had become “infatuated” with Sanford after interviewing him.

“She couldn’t get him out of her head, and that as her obsession intensified, she sent him increasingly risqué pictures and texts, secretly followed him on the campaign trail when she told me she was out covering other candidates and fantasized about a rendezvous, which was consummated at his home in South Carolina one night after she went dark on me and made up a story about how she was dealing with a crisis concerning her sick mother,” Lizza recalled.

At the time, Lizza said he and Nuzzi were in “a period of tranquil domesticity” when the shocking revelation came to light. Sanford, for his part, has a history of infidelity. In 2009, he admitted to an extramarital affair in Argentina and later divorced his wife, Jenny Sanford.

Despite the drama, Olivia and Ryan got engaged in 2022, though the engagement ended after the journalist’s affair with RFK became public in the summer of 2024. Now, Olivia’s upcoming tell-all, American Canto, set to release December 2, promises to reveal even more intimate details about her romance with Robert.

In the book, Olivia insists that her relationship with the anti-vaccine activist, who is married to Cheryl Hines, was much more than a fling.

“She said ‘I love you’ only after he said it first. He called her ‘Livvy’ and wrote her poems. He said he wanted her to have his baby. He promised to take a bullet for her,” she wrote, according to The New York Times, which obtained an advanced copy.

Olivia shrugged off the age difference, emphasizing the connection they shared. She described it as “common language, common skepticisms, common ideas about what was beautiful, common beliefs about what was valuable.”

She added, “They moved through the world with amused detachment and deep sensitivity, contradictions that worked somehow in concert.”

The book also reveals their quirky, human side, telling that while RFK loved her lips, Olivia was drawn to his nose.

Despite acknowledging his “particular complications and particular darkness,” she admitted she fell for him anyway.

Olivia also addresses the ongoing online jokes about Robert's so-called “brain worm,” saying she hated the memes and that he privately denied the rumor.

“He made me laugh, but I winced when he joked about the worm,” she wrote. “‘Baby, don’t worry,’ he said. ‘It’s not a worm.’”

She explained that Robert told her a trusted doctor reviewed his scans and believed the shadow wasn't actually a parasite. She added that the story had already become a “screwy legend,” but at least she didn’t have to worry about “the worm that was not a worm in his brain.”

According to The New York Times, the rumor stems from a 2012 deposition in which the politician said doctors originally thought he had a tumor. Later, another doctor told him there had likely been a parasite that “ate a portion of” his brain before dying. The dark spot seen on his scans, he said, was believed to be the result of that dead parasite.