Olivia Nuzzi is back in the headlines, and this time it's for a very similar reason to the last time she made the news, which had to do with an affair with HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This time, staffers at Vanity Fair are reportedly in an "uproar" over her being hired as the magazine's West Coast editor, as she was reportedly caught up in a "cheating scandal" earlier this week. 

She was famously fired from her high-powered position at New York Magazine, and had an alleged “online/digital” romance with RFK, who she had profiled in 2023.

When the news of her online affair with RFK broke in 2024, she was let go from the magazine. She originally blamed her ex, a former Politico writer by the name of Ryan Lizza for leaking it. As it would turn out, it was her mentor, Kara Swisher, who ratted her out to the brass.

What happened?

As far as Cheryl Hines is concerned (the wife of RFK), she tackled the unfortunate issue in her memoir, "Unscripted," saying she and her husband had "renewed the ties that bind" after the embarrassing situation.

Vanity Fair staffers ‘shocked’ over Olivia Nuzzi’s alleged affair with Mark Sanford: report https://t.co/WWbQz4SkhZ pic.twitter.com/UvKp9LlCue

— NY Post Business (@nypostbiz) November 20, 2025

Nuzzi also wrote a memoir in which she is widely believed to reference RFK as someone she referred to as "The Politician," saying that person wanted her to have his baby and that he loved her.

NewsNationNow noted:

Nuzzi, for her part, also wrote a memoir, “American Canto,” in which she claimed that while they only met in person once, someone referred to as only “The Politician” said over texts and phone calls that he loved her and wanted her to have his baby.

Vanity Fair staffers were more concerned about a "mic drop" by her ex, Lizza, who dropped an absolute bomb in his SubStack column about an affair he claims she had with another presidential candidate.

The outlet added:

Lizza wrote in his Substack that Nuzzi also had an alleged affair in 2020 with the then-presidential contender Mark Sanford, which came, once again, after an interview with the candidate at his home. This time, the affair was indeed physical, Lizza claims.

"With her past predilections for presidential nominees coming to light — how will she be able to cover people like Gavin Newsom appropriately? Or other powerful older men for that matter?" one insider reportedly asked.

Desperation

Some industry experts think that Vanity Fair, and other publications, are simply making poor decisions for the extra publicity, good and bad.

“What we’re seeing is the death throes of scale in media,” journalism professor Jeff Jarvis said recently. “You see a place like Vanity Fair say, ‘What can we do to get attention? Let’s hire Olivia Nuzzi, and she’ll make trouble.’ That’s a sad last gasp."

It is indeed a sad state of affairs. And it's only becoming worse.