A reporter whose career was derailed by an alleged digital affair with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has since been seen spending time with another high-profile, older figure.
Olivia Nuzzi, 33, the former New York Magazine reporter who was fired following an alleged “personal relationship” with the 72-year-old health secretary, has over the past few months been seen networking and spending time with Vice Media co-founder Shane Smith, 56, according to Status.
The outlet reports that the author of the tell-all book about her alleged affair with RFK Jr., American Canto, and the co-founder of the digital media and broadcasting company met in April at a West Hollywood gathering hosted by MAHA blogger Jessica Reed Kraus.
Smith is allegedly trying to revive Vice Media after it filed for bankruptcy in 2023, and a person familiar with conversations between him and Nuzzi suggested he was exploring a role for her, though a Vice spokesperson denied the claims.
Insiders told Page Six that Nuzzi and Smith are discussing far more than potential roles at the bankrupt Vice, claiming their relationship is “romantic” and began “immediately” after they met in April.
Neither Nuzzi nor Smith immediately responded to a request for comment.
Rumors of the alleged romance come two years after Nuzzi revealed she had been entangled in a sexting and messaging scandal with RFK Jr. during his 2024 presidential campaign, following a 2023 profile she wrote about him.
While Nuzzi has consistently maintained the affair never became physical, and RFK Jr. has denied the allegations, saying they met only once for an interview, her book American Canto describes claims that Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines, 60, told her he loved her, disclosed sexual fetishes, and said he wanted her to have his baby.
The fallout from the alleged affair led Nuzzi to being placed on leave by New York Magazine, and to the end of her engagement to fellow political reporter Ryan Lizza, 52, whom she was with at the time, resulting in a prolonged dispute between the two.
Lizza went on to write multiple Substack posts detailing further allegations about his ex-fiancée’s conduct, including one in which he claimed Kennedy was not Nuzzi’s first journalistic entanglement during their relationship, alleging a prior link to former Republican congressman and South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, 66.
Though Nuzzi was hired as Vanity Fair’s “West Coast Editor” in September last year, her contract expired at the end of the year and was not renewed, with her only published contribution to the magazine being an excerpt from American Canto.
