Olivia Nuzzi appears to be quietly plotting a return to the media spotlight months after her spectacular fall from grace over an undisclosed relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The former New York Magazine star has resurfaced in Los Angeles, where she has been networking and spending time with Vice Media co-founder Shane Smith as he explores reviving Vice News, according to Status.
Nuzzi and the Vice co-founder have been spotted together in public several times in recent months, Status reported. Smith recently returned to Vice to try to turn around the outlet following its 2023 bankruptcy.
A person familiar with the conversations told Status the pair have discussed a possible role for Nuzzi at Vice — a former media upstart with a rep for taking risks — though the specifics remain unclear.
Status also reported that Nuzzi has become a regular presence at the exclusive San Vicente Bungalows private club, where she has been taking meetings with various media and entertainment figures as she explores her next move.
The members-only venue has become one of LA’s most influential gathering spots for executives, celebrities and power brokers, despite its strict no-photos policy.
A Vice spokesperson denied the discussions involved a professional role, telling Status: “There is nothing related here to Vice News.”
Neither Smith nor Nuzzi responded to requests for comment.
The comeback effort follows a bruising stretch that saw Nuzzi lose her coveted job at New York Magazine only to then become embroiled in an ugly public and legal battle with her former fiancé Ryan Lizza.
Nuzzi’s downfall began in September 2024, when New York Magazine revealed that she had admitted to editors that she engaged in an undisclosed personal relationship with a former campaign-related reporting subject while covering the presidential race.
The magazine said the relationship violated its conflict-of-interest and disclosure policies, placed Nuzzi on leave and commissioned an outside review of her campaign reporting.
The reporting subject was later identified as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy’s spokeswoman denied that the pair had a romantic relationship, insisting he had met Nuzzi only once for an interview, while Nuzzi acknowledged that communications with a former reporting subject had become personal and conceded the relationship should have been disclosed.
New York Mag’s editor later told staff that Nuzzi said the relationship began after she profiled Kennedy in November 2023 and ended in August 2024.
The publication’s internal review — followed by an independent investigation conducted by law firm Davis Wright Tremaine — concluded there were no inaccuracies or evidence of political bias in Nuzzi’s reporting.
Still, the magazine determined that the undisclosed relationship had irreparably compromised its conflict-of-interest standards, and Nuzzi and the publication agreed to part ways in October 2024.
Days after the relationship became public, Nuzzi sought a civil protection order against her former fiancé, Lizza, accusing him of blackmail, harassment, hacking her devices, stealing personal property and threatening to destroy her career.
Lizza forcefully denied the allegations.
A judge initially granted a temporary protection order, and Politico placed Lizza on leave while reviewing the matter.
But weeks later, Nuzzi voluntarily dismissed the case, with both sides accusing the other of trying to weaponize the courts and the media in a bitter personal dispute.
Vanity Fair hired her as West Coast editor in September, signaling that at least one elite publication believed she deserved another chance.
She followed that hiring with the publication of her memoir, “American Canto,” where she more explicitly acknowledged violating journalistic ethics and publicly admitted she had “done something wrong.”
But the comeback attempt quickly unraveled.
Within days of renewed public scrutiny surrounding the book and the lingering controversy, Vanity Fair and Nuzzi announced they had mutually agreed that her contract would expire at year’s end.
The Post has sought comment from Nuzzi, Smith and Vice.
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