Scandal is swirling in the rarefied world of political journalism, as Vanity Fair’s Olivia Nuzzi dramatically accused her jilted ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza of unleashing what she describes as vicious ‘revenge porn’ just days before the release of her hotly-anticipated book, American Canto. The gloves are off as the former power couple’s tumultuous breakup spills into the public eye, complete with allegations, love letters, and lurid poetry involving some of the highest-profile politicians in America.
Lizza, now flying solo with his publication Telos News, went nuclear last week, publishing a string of explosive Substack posts that alleged his ex had strayed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – yes, the sitting Health and Human Services Secretary – and ex-South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. One post even exposed a steamy love letter purportedly penned by Nuzzi to Sanford back in March 2020, while she was on the campaign trail reporting the presidential race. The message, which Lizza says Nuzzi wrote, oozes longing: ‘If I swallowed every drop of water from the tower above your house, I would still thirst for you.’
But that’s not all – Lizza wasn’t finished there. In a subsequent entry, he claimed Kennedy, 71, had penned erotic prose for Nuzzi earlier this year while she was profiling him for New York magazine, quoting from the supposed note, ‘Yr open mouth awaiting my harvest. Drink from me Love.’
The fireworks didn’t stop with Lizza’s posts. Nuzzi hit back hard in the Feed Me newsletter by Emily Sundberg on Tuesday, skewering Lizza’s online exposé as ‘another attempt to harass, humiliate, and harm me until I am as destroyed as he seems to be. It is abuse that I am all too familiar with now relocated to the public square and dressed up as some sort of noble crusade.’ Nuzzi didn’t mince words, slamming Lizza’s revelations as ‘obsessive and violating fan fiction-slash-revenge porn’ that, she said, would never pass muster at any reputable newsroom. She even offered some journalistic advice, arguing that anyone truly interested in the public good would quietly hand off real bombshells to an impartial outlet, not chase clicks and subscribers with tawdry personal drama.
Lizza, for his part, fired back when reached by The Independent. His defense? ‘Telling the truth is not harassment.’
The drama neatly dovetailed with the publication of Nuzzi’s book on Tuesday, which notably chronicles her involvement with a mysterious ‘Politician’ – widely believed to be Kennedy. The plot thickens: Kennedy, married since 2014 to actress Cheryl Hines, has maintained through a spokesperson that he only met Nuzzi once, for a single interview she requested. Vanity Fair reported this denial back in September 2024. Meanwhile, The Independent reached out to Sanford for comment as rumors swirl.
With messy details and bold claims, this media love triangle just keeps getting wilder—proving, once again, that political reporting is never just about politics.
