Karoline Leavitt landed a White House internship as a college student during President Donald Trump‘s first term. In his second term, she serves as the youngest-ever White House press secretary.
A former college athlete who spent her summers scooping ice cream in New Hampshire, Leavitt, 28, quickly rose through the ranks of Republican politics through communications jobs with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.
During her tenure as the 2024 Trump campaign‘s national press secretary, she traveled the country while pregnant and returned to work four days after giving birth to her son.
Leavitt has also acknowledged her “atypical love story” with husband Nicholas Riccio, a 60-year-old real-estate developer. The couple is now expecting their second child.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s White House press secretary.
The White House Press Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Karoline Leavitt grew up in Atkinson, New Hampshire, and went to a Catholic high school.
Leavitt’s parents owned an ice cream stand where she worked during the summers.
She attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
“Having a Catholic education really formed who I am,” she said on an episode of The Catholic Current podcast in 2021.
She continued, “It taught me discipline, it brought me closer in my own relationship with God, and it also taught me the importance of public service and giving back to your community.”
She graduated from Saint Anselm College in 2019 with a degree in politics and communication.
Leavitt was admitted to Saint Anselm College on a softball scholarship and played as an outfielder on the women’s softball team, the Saint Anselm Hawks.
Leavitt’s extra-curricular activities included founding the Saint Anselm Broadcasting Club, volunteering at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, and writing articles for the college newspaper, The Saint Anselm Crier, defending Trump’s travel ban and criticizing the “liberal media.” She also spent a semester studying abroad at John Cabot University in Rome.
In 2018, she interned at the White House during Trump’s first presidency as a presidential writer in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence.
She was the first member of her family to earn an undergraduate degree.
After graduating, she worked with then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in the White House Press Office.
From 2019 to 2021, Leavitt worked as an assistant press secretary, helping McEnany prepare for briefings.
When Trump left office in 2021, Leavitt took a job as Rep. Elise Stefanik’s director of communications.
Stefanik served as the House Republican Conference Chair from 2021 to 2025.
Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district in 2022.
“I could no longer sit back and watch as our conservative principles — that make America the greatest country in the world and New Hampshire the best state in the union — fall under attack,” Leavitt wrote on her campaign website of her decision to run for office.
Leavitt won the Republican primary, but lost the general election to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Chris Pappas, who is the first openly gay man to represent New Hampshire in Congress.
In 2024, she joined Trump’s presidential campaign as his national press secretary.
Leavitt held press conferences outside Manhattan Criminal Court during Trump’s hush-money trial. Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts, but was not sentenced with any punishment due to the US Supreme Court ruling granting presidents criminal immunity protections.
Trump maintained his innocence throughout the trial and often referred to it as a “witch hunt.”
Four days after giving birth, Leavitt returned to work when Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
Leavitt had a TV studio built in her home so that she could appear on television shortly after giving birth.
“I felt compelled to be present in this historic moment,” she told The Conservateur. “The president literally put his life on the line to win this election. The least I could do is get back to work quickly.”
After Trump won the 2024 election, he appointed Leavitt as the youngest-ever White House press secretary.
As press secretary, Leavitt established a “new media seat” in the White House briefing room reserved for podcasters, social media influencers, and other independent content creators who, “despite being some of the most viewed news websites in the country, have not been given seats in this room,” she said at a briefing.
Leavitt is married to 60-year-old Nicholas Riccio, who is more than twice her age. They share a son, Niko, and are expecting a baby girl in May.
Leavitt was introduced to Riccio, a real-estate developer, at a campaign event by a mutual friend during her 2022 run for Congress.
They announced their engagement on Christmas in 2023 and welcomed a son, Niko, on July 10, 2024.
Leavitt and Riccio wed on January 4, 2025, days before Trump’s second inauguration. Leavitt spoke about their 32-year age gap in a February 2025 interview on The Megyn Kelly Show.
“I mean, it’s a very atypical love story, but he’s incredible,” she said of Riccio, adding, “He’s the father of my child, and he’s the best dad I could ever ask for. And he is so supportive, especially during a very chaotic period of life.”
In a November interview with Miranda Devine on the podcast “Pod Force One,” Leavitt spoke about her parents’ reaction to her “unusual” relationship with Riccio, who is older than her mother.
“It’s definitely a challenging conversation to have at first,” she said. “But then, of course, once they got to know him and saw who he is as a man and his character and how much he adores me, I think it became quite easy for them.”
On December 26, Leavitt announced that she and Riccio are expecting a baby girl in May, making her the first-ever pregnant White House press secretary.
“My husband and I are thrilled to grow our family and can’t wait to watch our son become a big brother,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Read the original article on Business Insider
The post Karoline Leavitt called her age-gap marriage an ‘atypical love story.’ Here’s what to know about her life and career. appeared first on Business Insider.
