Cheryl Hines, the actress married to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., called the 2024 affair allegations “more chaos and more rumors” tied to his presidential campaign on an upcoming episode of The Katie Miller Podcast, according to Politico.
Newsweek has reached out to a representative for Hines for comment via email on Friday.
Why It Matters
In September 2024, Olivia Nuzzi, a political correspondent for New York Magazine, confirmed in a statement to The New York Times that “some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal” earlier in the year, noting that the relationship with Kennedy was not physical.
A spokesperson for Kennedy, who was a presidential candidate up until that August of that year, told the Times that he “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.” Kennedy now serves as the HHS secretary under President Donald Trump.
Nuzzi’s relationship with Kennedy reportedly began in December 2023, shortly after the publication of her November profile on him in which she said his campaign had the potential to turn “the presidential race upside down,” and ended in August 2024. There have been repeated allegations of a digital relationship between the pair, including intimate photos shared between them.
Newsweek tried to reach out to Nuzzi for comment via email on Friday.
What To Know
Hines, who has been married to Kennedy since 2014, addressed the speculation about their marriage on an upcoming episode of The Katie Miller Podcast.
“I think you always have to consider the source, right? So that’s where I start,” she said, according to Politico.
She continued: “And then it ends with a conversation with Bobby.”
Miller, who is married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, then specifically asked Hines about the reported digital relationship between Kennedy and Nuzzi, which Hines dismissed as political noise, saying: “Bobby had been running for president and it was a—an exhausting year-and-a-half of headlines and rumors and articles and chaos. And at that time, I thought ‘OK, this is more chaos and more rumors.’”
She noted, “it was a lot.”
Nuzzi was hired as New York Magazine’s Washington correspondent in 2017. She penned a profile of Kennedy in November 2023 that said his campaign had the potential to turn “the presidential race upside down.”
Last year, Nuzzi said: “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”
Nuzzi is reportedly releasing a memoir in which she will disclose details about her reported relationship with Kennedy. When asked about that, Hines said: “I don’t know this person. Don’t know their intentions. I could guess, but I won’t. But you can if you want.”
What People Are Saying
Ryan Lizza, journalist, Telos News founder, and Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé, reportedly said in court documents reviewed by CNN, that Kennedy wanted to: “possess,” “control” and “impregnate” Nuzzi.
Political commentator Keith Olbermann said in a September 2024 X post: “The New York Post has advised me it intends to write a story saying that Olivia Nuzzi and I used to date. Fact check: true. We didn’t do much to keep it quiet. I just assumed nobody cared. Certainly it has nothing to do with the RFK stuff. I also assumed it had been covered online somewhere. Nearly all of it was really nice and (god help me) wholesome. In fact it was she with whom I got my first dog and for that I’ll always be grateful to her.”
New York Magazine released a statement in September 2024: “Recently our Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures. Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign. An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias. She is currently on leave from the magazine, and the magazine is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”
What Happens Next
Nuzzi was recently hired by Vanity Fair after parting ways with New York Magazine over the the scandal.
