WASHINGTON — Speculation is swirling over whether Democrat darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has quietly split with her longtime beau Riley Roberts — following her public announcement this week that she was freezing her eggs to feel “more in control of my life.”
The “Squad” star, 36 — who got engaged to Roberts in April 2022 — has been spotted in recent months without her engagement ring and it was noticeably absent in May when the pair was photographed together at a Manhattan burger joint.
She also carefully chose her words when asked this week by a reporter about her choice to freeze her eggs and if her “fiancé was supportive of it.”
“All of my loved ones have been very supportive,” she said.
Breakup rumors have spread among the Democrat party, with one insider speculating that they split because of her ambitions to seek higher office.
Ocasio-Cortez has been considered a frontrunner for the Democratic 2028 presidential nomination or US Senate — whichever she picks.
Other Dem sources pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t worn a ring for some time and that Roberts hasn’t been in the congresswoman’s House financial disclosures for years, having last been listed for an August 2022 trip to Italy.
The Bronx and Queens rep referred to him as a “spouse” for that junket so the two could have some food and lodging expenses covered as gifts.
They also appeared together at the coveted Met Gala — where she sported her infamous “Tax the Rich” dress, which garnered significant scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee in a report issued last year. Roberts scored a free ticket to the $35,000-per-person Big Apple event because he was considered her “spouse.”
“The Committee ‘takes very seriously its obligation to provide sound and dispassionate advice to the Members of this House’’ and would have informed Representative Ocasio-Cortez and her counsel that Mr. Roberts did not fit the definition of a ‘spouse’ for purposes of the Charitable Events Exception,” the report stated.
Ethics investigators noted that even as Roberts was claimed as a “spouse” to accept gifts and privately sponsored travel, the fiancé was not forced to disclose his financial interests to the House “as is required of Members who are legally married.”
Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts were together in 2018 when she stunningly beat out incumbent Joseph Crowley to become the youngest person ever elected to Congress and throughout her rapid ascent in the House.
The famously private duo had gotten engaged during a jaunt to her family’s hometown in Puerto Rico, yet had refrained from tying the knot for years.
The diehard environmentalist congresswoman had proudly sported her modest “zero emission” engagement ring that she claimed was constructed from “recycled gold.”
Some conservative critics speculated that Ocasio-Cortez was holding off on a wedding to avoid scrutiny over Roberts’ finances, as it would be subject to House disclosures after marriage.
Neither Ocasio-Cortez nor Roberts returned multiple messages seeking comment.
Roberts doesn’t appear in any recent postings on the progressive princess’ very active social media accounts, though he was featured in a 2021 Christmas post and another one a few months later.
On Monday, she was posting about hitting a “strength training” session at her DC gym before taking the train back to New York to get an ultrasound — with zero mention of her longtime partner.
The pair had dated in college and briefly broke it off before reconnecting around 2015, according to the Daily Mail. Roberts even had an official House email address to access her calendar.
In a 2018 interview with GQ, she said Roberts’ race made her question whether she wanted to be in an interracial relationship — and said she believed that men only think they want to be with a successful woman.
“The moment you start being yourself, they kind of freak out,” she explained. “I think it causes a conflict within them that they didn’t even anticipate. It’s not even a deception. It’s just, they uncover insecurities that they didn’t know were there.”
But in the same interview, Ocasio-Cortez gushed over Roberts as “so supportive and willing and deeply engaging.”
After confirming her engagement to the press in 2022, Ocasio-Cortez explained that she and Roberts were “taking some space to savor this time before diving into planning” for a wedding.
A Democratic operative who encountered the pair in years past described Roberts as an “awkward guy as a partner for a dynamic woman.”
“Whenever he was around at events, he never spoke,” the source said. “No one thought she actually liked him.”
