Vanity Fair has decided to part ways with political reporter Olivia Nuzzi, marking the latest chapter in a spectacular professional downfall that began with an undisclosed relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The magazine announced Friday that it had “mutually agreed, in the best interest of the magazine, to let her contract expire at the end of the year.” The move comes just months after Nuzzi joined Vanity Fair as West Coast editor following her high-profile dismissal from New York magazine over ethical breaches.
From Rising Star to Professional Free Fall
Nuzzi, 32, was once considered one of political journalism’s brightest talents. Known for her incisive profiles and access to Republican circles, she had built a reputation at New York magazine before her career imploded this fall when it was revealed she had what was described as an “intense personal relationship” with Kennedy while covering him professionally.
The scandal broke when Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé, journalist Ryan Lizza, published a series of Substack posts containing damaging allegations. Lizza claimed Nuzzi not only had an affair with Kennedy but also provided him political advice — both considered serious ethical violations in journalism. Perhaps most damagingly, he shared intercepted text messages between Kennedy and Nuzzi.
Nuzzi has pushed back against these claims, describing Lizza’s posts as “fiction-slash-revenge porn” in a subsequent Substack interview.
A Memoir That Tells Nothing
Amid the controversy, Nuzzi released a memoir titled “American Canto,” which oddly obscured rather than clarified the central relationship that derailed her career. The book refers to Kennedy only as “The Politician” and Lizza as “the man I did not marry” — stylistic choices that left many readers frustrated.
Critics were merciless. “A tell-all memoir? Ha. This is a tell-nothing memoir,” wrote Helen Lewis in The Atlantic.
How badly has the book performed? As of Friday afternoon, “American Canto” ranked a dismal 6,094 on Amazon’s bestseller list, suggesting readers have shown limited interest in Nuzzi’s carefully curated version of events.
Vanity Fair had excerpted portions of the memoir, a decision that now appears questionable given the magazine’s decision to end its relationship with Nuzzi.
Self-Awareness in Crisis
In a moment of apparent gallows humor during what must have been a brutal week, Nuzzi published a Substack column titled “Signs Your Book Rollout Has Gone Awry.” Among the indicators she listed: “Monica Lewinsky reaches out to check on your mental health.”
The reference to Lewinsky — perhaps the most famous woman to be caught in a political-sexual scandal in modern American history — suggests at least some self-awareness about the spectacular nature of Nuzzi’s professional collapse.
Kennedy, meanwhile, has emerged relatively unscathed from the controversy. Once an independent presidential candidate, he withdrew from the race to support Donald Trump and has now been tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in the incoming administration.
For Nuzzi, the Vanity Fair departure represents yet another professional setback in a year defined by them. What began as an ethical lapse in journalistic boundaries has spiraled into the dismantling of a once-promising career — a cautionary tale about the dangers when reporters become too entangled with their subjects.
