RFK Jr’s ‘mistress’ Olivia Nuzzi makes dramatic court U-turn as ex accuses her of ‘lying to everyone’
Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s rumored mistress Olivia Nuzzi has thrown out her request for a protective order against her ex-fiancé.
The decision brings an end to a months-long legal battle against Ryan Lizza that began once news of her ‘digital affair’ with the former presidential hopeful came to light.
Nuzzi, 31, accused her former partner of trying to blackmail her and threatening her career over the infidelity.
In a new filing at the Superior Court in Washington DC, Nuzzi claimed launching her legal bid was her ‘last resort in her efforts to extract herself from a controlling and abusive relationship’.
The document added: ‘She narrowly sought to protect her physical safety and privacy.’
Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s alleged mistress Olivia Nuzzi has thrown out her request for a protective order against her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza
But the claims were dismissed as lies by Lizza, who said his ex, ‘shamelessly used litigation with false and defamatory allegations as a public relations strategy’.
‘Now, on the eve of a hearing at which she knew her lies would be exposed, she has taken the only course available to her and withdrawn her fabricated claims,’ Lizza, 50, told the Daily Beast.
‘Olivia lied to me for almost a year. She lied to her editors. She lied to her readers. She lied to her colleagues. She lied to reporters. And she lied to the judge in this case.
‘I said I would defend myself against her lies vigorously and successfully and I am fully prepared to do so. But for now, I’m pleased this matter is closed.’
Nuzzi recently parted ways with New York Magazine after she admitted to having an ’emotional and digital’ affair while covering Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines.
Politico correspondent Lizza has also taken a ‘leave of absence’ after the bombshell court filing alleged that he blackmailed Nuzzi over the rumored affair.
Nuzzi claimed in DC Superior Court that Lizza ‘explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation—a threat he has since carried out.’
Her latest filing to dismiss the case still takes aim at Lizza, accusing him of ‘improperly and irresponsibly using proceedings as part of his public relations and public defamation strategy’.
New York Magazine parted ways with Nuzzi after she’d admitted to her bosses to having an ’emotional and digital’ affair with Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines
Lizza was fighting to keep the legal battle public after Nuzzi filed a Civil Protective Order, of which Lizza was not aware until the press covered it
She believes that he wanted to cause her ‘further harm’ by ‘inciting more media interest with salacious claims that are relevant to the central issues.’
The documents filed Friday say she kept her filing ‘narrowly focused on only the two matters which led her to seek intervention from the court’, and to stop Lizza’s harassment and ‘electronic surveillance’ of her.
‘Since the filing of this matter, respondent’s harassment campaign has intensified,’ the papers state.
‘Respondent [Lizza] has engaged with this court in bad faith, using the process as a platform to enter into the public record destructive and defamatory statements.’
Nuzzi also accuses her ex-fiancé of ‘successfully exploiting’ the media interest to ‘create an even greater spectacle intended to harass and harm her.’
Her filing concludes that she ‘will garner the greatest protection by disengaging from this process’.
Lizza wanted to keep their legal battle public, after Nuzzi filed a Civil Protective Order, of which he was not aware until the press covered it. She wanted to seal the case so it could be ‘tried in court not in the media’.
His attorneys say that Nuzzi was unfairly trying to ‘silence Mr. Lizza from telling his side of the story.’
Kennedy, 70, and Nuzzi met while she was profiling him for New York magazine last year.
The former political candidate insisted they only met once and has denied their relationship was ever physical.
‘Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece,’ his spokesman told CNN.
Nuzzi had been suspended after she’d admitted to her bosses to having an ’emotional and digital’ affair with Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines. Kennedy and Hines are see in in January, 2024
Olivia Nuzzi was a star reporter at New York magazine and met Kennedy while profiling him for an article
A source added that the nature of the relationship was ’emotional and digital in nature, not physical’.
But insiders told the New York Post the pair had engaged in ‘sexting’ despite RFK Jr. being married and Nuzzi being engaged to Lizza at the time.
Nuzzi said that in early 2024, the nature of some communication between herself and a former reporting subject turned personal.
‘Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal,’ Nuzzi said.
‘During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source,’ she said.
‘The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.’
Kennedy’s wife has stuck by him throughout the controversy and during his decision to pull out of the presidential race.
At the time of the profile, Kennedy was running as an independent candidate before dropping out to endorse Trump.
Nuzzi met with him for the interview at the $7 million California home he shares with his wife.
She painted a picture of Kennedy as an anti-establishment candidate, ‘turning the presidential election upside down’.
‘Fear — and denial — is what Kennedy seems to inspire among the staid Washington Establishment supporting the incumbent president and the gangland anti-Establishment Establishment supporting the former president,’ she wrote.
She touched on conflict in the aspiring politician’s marriage over his appearance on Steve Bannon’s show and those of other right-wing personalities.
‘Bannon was only the beginning. Poor Cheryl,’ Nuzzi wrote.
However, Hines appears unconcerned about the allegations despite rumors she was planning to divorce her husband.