Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and wife Cheryl Hines are reportedly experiencing "shock and distress" over Olivia Nuzzi's forthcoming tell-all about her alleged digital affair with him while he was running for president in 2024. 

A source told the New York Post that Kennedy and Hines “fear the revelations” that could come in Nuzzi's memoir, which has been kept tightly under wraps by both her and publisher Simon & Schuster.

“Bobby and Cheryl initially went through marital hell last year when the affair was first revealed. She even considered divorce for a time, but they’ve since reconciled and had been relieved that the scandal had seemingly blown over,” the insider said.

Kennedy, 71, denied the affair and said he only met Nuzzi, 31, once when she interviewed him for New York Magazine.

The fallout

“Cheryl eventually and emphatically believed, without reservation, Bobby’s denial” of the affair, the source said.

During a Fox Digital interview on Monday, Hines said that Kennedy suggested they pretend to be separated after the allegations went public in order to shield her from the press.

Hines called the suggestion a "sweet notion" but said she didn't think it was "helpful."

After Nuzzi's claims about the affair went public, she lost her position with the magazine.

Her ex-fiance, former Politico journalist Ryan Lizza, said later in a court filing that Kennedy had wanted to “possess,” “control” and “impregnate” Nuzzi.

He claimed that Nuzzi had described Kennedy as a "sex addict" and that he had used his power to "manipulate" her.

"Going to generate public interest"

It is not clear whether any of this information will be in Nuzzi's tell-all, tentatively titled "American Canto."

The book is scheduled to come out on December 2, just a few weeks after Hines's memoir "Unscripted."

“Not to diminish Bobby and Cheryl’s negative reaction and fear about Olivia’s upcoming tell-all, but it really comes down to the old story — ‘He said, she said.’ So who’s to be believed?" a publishing source said.

“But one thing’s for certain, with the two women writing about their relationship with one man — a Kennedy with a long history of womanizing — it’s definitely going to generate public interest.”