‘NY Magazine’ Writer Olivia Nuzzi Accuses Ex-Fiancé Of Blackmailing Her With Disclosure Of Relationship With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Olivia Nuzzi, a writer for New York magazine, has accused her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza of planning a harassment and blackmail campaign against her after their split.

Last month, it was revealed that Nuzzi, who wrote a lengthy profile in November about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s race for the White House, had a private personal relationship with the then-independent candidate. New York placed Nuzzi on leave after her relationship with Kennedy was exposed. At the same time, it conducted a “third-party review” to determine whether there were signs of bias in her journalistic work.

In a statement at the time, Nuzzi said, “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict.” Regardless, her association with a candidate has become a hot-button issue regarding journalistic integrity.

On Monday, Nuzzi accused Lizza of orchestrating harassment and blackmail, which had resulted in the previous month’s career-threatening revelation. She asked for a protective order, as, in a court filing, Lizza supposedly “Explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation – a threat he has since carried out.”

Nuzzi also accused Lizza of threatening “physical violence” in order to “coerce me to agree to assume his share of financial responsibility” regarding a joint book deal the two of them shared with a publisher.

Lizza has denied Nuzzi’s accusations and wrote in a statement on Tuesday, “I am saddened that my ex-fiancée would resort to making a series of false accusations against me as a way to divert attention from her own personal and professional failings. I emphatically deny these allegations and will defend myself against them vigorously and successfully.”

A spokesperson for Kennedy insisted that he “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.” Kennedy dropped out of the race in late August.