RFK Jr. Tries to Dodge Questions About Alleged ‘Personal Relationship’ with Reporter

 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will not address his alleged “personal relationship” with New York Magazine Washington correspondent Olivia Nuzzi anytime soon.

After Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, was spotted at a Milan Fashion Week afterparty without her wedding ring on Friday, Sept. 20 — a day after it was announced that the reporter, 31, was put on leave — Kennedy, 70, dodged questions about his relationship with the journalist in an interview with Fox News.

The topic arose after host Martha MacCallum said she would give the former presidential candidate “an opportunity to address some headlines.”

“The latest one is an inappropriate relationship with a New York Magazine political reporter who was covering your campaign. It’s gotten a lot of attention. So what do you say to your supporters who question your behavior and want to know what’s going on?” MacCallum asked during the Wednesday, Sept. 25, interview.

“I never comment on those kind of stories,” Kennedy replied.

“If you want to talk about health or how to end the war in Ukraine or how to end inflation and or how to end the censorship and surveillance regime, I’m happy to talk about those [things],” he continued.

“But, as a person, or do you have any regrets about anything,” MacCallum then asked, to which Kennedy stated, “Like I said, I don’t make comments on it.”

“All right, I wanted to give you an opportunity to answer it because it’s been out there. But we thank you very much for being here, as always,” MacCallum responded.

“Thank you very much for having me,” Kennedy said, who later shared a clip from an earlier part of the interview on his social media accounts, writing, “Thank you@MarthaMacCallum @FoxNews for letting me share how we can Make America Healthy Again. #MAHA.”

Kennedy and Hines, 59, have been married since 2014. It is his third marriage, following his 2010 divorce from his second wife, Mary Kathleen Richardson. His first marriage was in 1982 with Emily Ruth Black, whom he divorced in 1994.

A source previously told PEOPLE that days before news of Kennedy and Nuzzi’s relationship broke, Hines was seen enjoying herself at the HBO/Max Primetime Emmy Awards Afterparty held at the San Vicente Bungalows on Sunday, Sept. 15.

“She was in good spirits sitting with Jeff Garlin at the Curb Your Enthusiasm table,” said the source.

New York Magazine released a statement on Thursday, Sept. 19, announcing that Nuzzi was put on leave after she “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.”

While the subject was never directly named, a source with knowledge of the incident told CNN that Nuzzi was linked to Kennedy.

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Nuzzi told PEOPLE in a statement that while the “relationship was never physical,” “the nature of some communication” between herself and the former reporting subject “turned personal.”