Staffers at Olivia Nuzzi’s new employer Vanity Fair are reportedly “shocked” at allegations that she slept with onetime presidential candidate Mark Sanford — raising fresh questions over whether parent company Condé Nast erred in hiring the scandal-tainted journo.
The Status newsletter reported Wednesday that members of the rank-and-file at the glitzy mag wonder whether there will be consequences for Nuzzi after her jilted ex, former Politico staffer Ryan Lizza, accused her of yet another affair with a pol she covered.
“Leadership seems stressed,” an unnamed source was quoted as telling Status.
Another person told the newsletter, “it’s been a crazy week” at the offices of Vanity Fair’s Lower-Manhattan based owner Condé Nast.
Lizza’s allegation came in an 1,800-word blog post detailing how he discovered that Nuzzi, his girlfriend at the time, was allegedly cheating on him with Sanford while both writers were reporting on the pol and other candidates during the 2020 presidential campaign.
The post came in the wake of her sexting scandal involving Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Nuzzi wrote about for New York magazine.
Prior to Lizza’s blog post, Nuzzi appeared to be in the midst of a career renaissance, releasing a memoir with sordid details about the RFK Jr. affair and landing the Vanity Fair gig.
Her tome, “American Canto,” recounts a digital relationship in which the married Kennedy soothed her anxieties over a reported brain parasite with lines like “Baby, don’t worry” and “It’s not a worm.” She also wrote that he once told her, “If it’s just sex, I can survive it,” apparently referring to his political career.
But the new Sanford allegations have made Condé employees wonder about ethical standards under new editorial director Mark Guiducci, according to Status.
Some staffers are even calling for management to reconsider Nuzzi’s hire in light of the new allegations, the newsletter reported.
Since Lizza went public with his claims, Condé has kept quiet.
The Post has sought comment from the company. Nuzzi, Sanford and Lizza could not be reached.
In his blog post, Lizza wrote that he discovered Nuzzi’s affair with Sanford after a love letter that she wrote to the former South Carolina governor accidentally fell out of a backpack she had left on their bed.
Lizza also accused Nuzzi of having “orchestrated a plot with the help of a senior Trump official to try to have me imprisoned.”
