Olivia Nuzzi's Ex-Fiancé Claims Reporter 'Cheated' on him with GOP Presidential Candidate Mark Sanford in 2020 — Three Years Before 'Affair' with Robert F. Kennedy Jr
Olivia Nuzzi had an 'affair' with GOP presidential candidate Mark Sanford, her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza has claimed.
Nov. 18 2025, Published 7:39 a.m. ET
The ex-fiancé of political reporter Olivia Nuzzi claims she cheated on him with GOP Presidential Candidate Mark Sanford in 2020.
RadarOnline.com can reveal Ryan Lizza, who split from Nuzzi in the aftermath of her "affair" with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, alleges he discovered their fling while sifting through notepads and papers which spilled out of her backpack fresh from a reporting trip.
Shock 'Affair' With Sanford
Nuzzi was 'infatuated' with Sanford after following him on campaign trail, claims Lizza.
"If I swallowed every drop of water from the tower above your house, I would still thirst for you," she had written in a note dated March 5, 2020, according to Lizza. Their home, he noted, had no water tower.
Writing in his Telos News letter, he revealed that another page named the recipient of the letter as "Mark," which he said confirmed what he feared: an alleged physical relationship with Sanford, now 65, a presidential candidate she had profiled months earlier.
By early 2020, the pair had signed a contract to write a book on the presidential race.
Nuzzi, 32, was spending "more and more time in South Carolina," which Lizza, 51, believed was for reporting.
'She Was Infatuated With Him'
Lizza ended his engagement with Nuzzi in wake of her 'digital affair' with RFK Jr.
Instead, Lizza now claims she "secretly followed him on the campaign trail" to pursue Sanford, allegedly sending him explicit photos and messages while telling Lizza she was "dealing with a crisis concerning her sick mother."
He claims she admitted the relationship intensified, ultimately leading to a sexual encounter at Sanford's home the night she went dark and stopped answering messages, Lizza claimed.
"How could we write a book about the presidential campaign if Olivia had a sexual relationship with one of the candidates?" he wrote.
Days later, Lizza wrote that he phoned his agent and delivered the news.
"We have a big problem," he recalled telling him. "Olivia is sleeping with Mark Sanford."
Career Implosion
Nuzzi's sexting "affair" with Kennedy led to her departure from New York Magazine.
Lizza claims Nuzzi later told him she had become "infatuated" with Sanford after their interview and couldn’t shake him from her mind.
He wrote that she described sending explicit photos and messages as the obsession grew, and that she followed the candidate on the trail while claiming she was reporting on others.
Lizza alleged he had been "used to cleaning up Olivia’s messes," including what he describes as her earlier entanglement with MSNBC's former host Keith Olbermann.
According to Lizza, Nuzzi fled her New Jersey home to live with the much older anchor.
Lizza wrote that Olbermann provided her with luxury clothes, jewelry and housing before she eventually confided the relationship to him and sought his help to leave it.
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Kennedy allegedly told Nuzzi he with in 'love' with her and would 'take a bullet' for the young reporter.
Lizza claimed that Olbermann even paid Nuzzi’s college tuition while she attended Fordham University.
Her engagement with Nuzzi ended after it was learned that she was having a sexting affair with Kennedy while she covered his presidential campaign.
In her forthcoming memoir, she wrote that Kennedy, 71, told her "I love you," called her "Livvy" and said he would "take a bullet" for her.
Nuzzi's sexting "affair" with Kennedy led to her departure from New York Magazine and a year of public silence before resurfacing with a memoir and a new role at Vanity Fair.
