Olivia Nuzzi's 2026 Tell-All: RFK Jr. Sexting Scandal Exposed

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Vanity Fair Editor Olivia Nuzzi’s Tell-All Memoir: Unpacking RFK Jr. ‘Digital Affair’ Amid Sexting Claims and Book Deal Buzz

Washington, D.C. – Nearly a year after a scandalous “digital affair” upended her career, Vanity Fair West Coast editor Olivia Nuzzi is penning a memoir that promises to lay bare her steamy online entanglement with married Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sources confirmed Tuesday.

The book, slated for a 2026 release—potentially timed for holiday buzz—will chronicle Nuzzi’s decade in political journalism, including profiles on Donald Trump and other power players, but the RFK Jr. saga takes center stage as her first public deep dive into the controversy.

Galleys are already circulating among insiders, with early buzz framing it as a raw reckoning of the “emotional and digital” liaison that never turned physical, according to multiple reports.

The affair ignited in late 2023 after Nuzzi, then 31 and New York Magazine’s Washington correspondent, interviewed Kennedy, 71, at his Brentwood mansion for a profile. What started as a professional rapport allegedly escalated during a hike where Kennedy “grabbed” her hand, sparking a year of flirtatious texts and explicit exchanges—while Nuzzi was engaged to Politico’s Ryan Lizza and Kennedy wed to actress Cheryl Hines.

Olivia Nuzzi

Explosive details emerged in court filings from Nuzzi and Lizza’s bitter breakup battle. Lizza alleged Nuzzi confessed Kennedy expressed desires to “control,” “possess,” and “impregnate” her, labeling the dynamic “toxic” and manipulative due to their age and power gap.

A source close to Kennedy fired back, claiming Nuzzi “bombarded” him with “pornographic” images and videos, even tricking him into unblocking her after he pulled away—prompting the politician to mull a lawsuit last fall.

Kennedy’s camp has long denied impropriety, insisting they met only once for the interview that birthed a “hit piece” on him. An internal New York Magazine probe cleared Nuzzi of bias or inaccuracies in her work, but the outlet parted ways with her in September 2024 amid the fallout.

Nuzzi vanished from the spotlight post-scandal, holing up in Los Angeles before resurfacing in September as Vanity Fair’s West Coast editor—a move hailed as a comeback but slammed by critics as tone-deaf.

The timing stings for Hines, whose marriage teetered amid the revelations; insiders say the book delivers “fresh humiliation” just as the couple mends fences.

X erupted with reactions, from snarky jabs—”You send a dude a pic of your tits and suddenly you land a book deal”—to partisan pile-ons branding Nuzzi a “slutbag” in a failed seduction bid. Others questioned if sexting equates to cheating, with one user demanding Kennedy’s resignation.

Nuzzi’s memoir arrives as Kennedy settles into his Trump administration role, where his vaccine skepticism already draws fire. For her, it’s catharsis meets career pivot: a Vanity Fair perch and a platform to reclaim her narrative in a saga that blurred bylines and boundaries.