Olivia Nuzzi’s Ex Rejects Suggestion He’s a ‘Madman With an Ax’

As journalists Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza go head-to-head over details of their relationship, and her dealings with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Lizza is rejecting any suggestion that he’s a vengeful man on a mission.

“Telling the truth is not harassment and accountability is not an ax, though I understand why Olivia finds it unpleasant to be confronted with her treachery and betrayal,” Lizza told Wall Street Journal.

His remarks came after Nuzzi told the paper she anticipated backlash after promoting and ultimately releasing her book, “American Canto,” which addresses her sexting scandal with Kennedy that led to her exit last year from New York magazine.

“I knew the second that I poked my head up from my exile, I was probably going to be met by some madman charging at me with an ax,” Nuzzi said. “I didn’t know which madman it was going to be.”

Nuzzi and Lizza reportedly signed a deal for roughly $1 million to co-write a 2020 campaign for Simon & Schuster Avid Reader Press, a project that Lizza claims was derailed due to Nuzzi’s indiscretions.

In a series of posts on his Substack newsletter, Lizza alleged that Nuzzi also had an affair with former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who she profiled for New York when he was vying for the Republican nomination. He also accused Nuzzi as effectively serving as RFK Jr.’s “private political operative” during the 2024 race, raising more questions about her ethical boundaries as a journalist.

Lizza’s claims have put the spotlight on Vanity Fair, which hired Nuzzi as its West Coast editor in September and is currently reviewing the matter.

While Nuzzi has dismissed Lizza’s writing as “fan fiction-slash-revenge porn,” he isn’t done with his series, telling the Journal that he intends to “expose Olivia’s scheme to use false charges to silence me and prevent the public from learning the truth.”

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