According to New York magazine, Olivia Nuzzi is on leave after her relationship became known

New York Magazine reports that esteemed Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi is on leave after she disclosed that she had a personal relationship with a former reporter, violating the publication's standards.

The newsletter status, that brought the story to lightand the New York Times both cite unnamed sources to identify Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the other person who interacted with Nuzzi. New York Magazine and Nuzzi have not confirmed Kennedy's involvement, and Kennedy said in a statement that he met her only once.

It is an explosive development for the magazine and Nuzzi, whose Piece with an interview The latest cover featured Donald Trump in the film “A Look Inside Donald Trump’s Ear and Soul.”

In a note to readers published late Thursday, the New York Times said that Nuzzi would not have been given permission to cover the presidential campaign if the newspaper had known about the connection.

New York said an internal review of her work found no inaccuracies or evidence of bias, but Nuzzi was on leave while a more thorough third-party review was conducted.

“We regret this breach of trust by our readers,” the magazine said. A spokeswoman had no further comment. A spokesman for Kennedy, who is married to actress Cheryl Hines, did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press.

Nuzzi said in a statement to Status that in early 2024, the nature of the communications between her and a former individual who was the subject of the reporting had become personal in nature.

“During that time, I did not directly report on the issue, nor did I use her as a source,” she said. “The relationship was never physical, but should have been disclosed to avoid the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I disappointed, especially my colleagues in New York.”

It was not immediately clear how and when Nuzzi's bosses at the magazine learned of the relationship.

Nuzzi wrote a story about Kennedy's election campaign published last November, “The Mind-Distorting Politics of RFK Jr.'s Spoiler Campaign,” in which she described a harrowing car ride and a short hike with Kennedy and his dogs during an interview with him.

His name appeared in an article from March 2024 in the New York Times, where Nuzzi, Frank Bruni and Joe Klein discussed the state of the campaign at the time. “We forget or willfully ignore something quite important about this election: It's not a race between two men. It's a race between three men,” Nuzzi said, noting that Kennedy was “competitive in the polls” at the time.

Status quoted a Kennedy spokesman as saying, “Mr. Kennedy met Olivia Nuzzi only once in her life for an interview she requested, which earned him a defamatory article.”

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David Bauder writes about media for AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.