Keith Olbermann Details Past “Wholesome” Relationship With Olivia Nuzzi: “It’s Pretty Boring”

The veteran media personality took to his Countdown podcast to detail a past “wholesome” relationship with New York magazine D.C. correspondent Olivia Nuzzi amid the reporter’s current scandal with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Olbermann’s comments come as Nuzzi is on leave from the magazine after her editors learned of a personal relationship she had with the former White House hopeful who is married to actress Cheryl Hines.

“The New York Post has advised me it intends to write a story saying that Olivia Nuzzi and I used to date. Fact check: true,” Olbermann posted on X on Tuesday. “We didn’t do much to keep it quiet. I just assumed nobody cared. Certainly it has nothing to do with the RFK stuff. I also assumed it had been covered online somewhere. Nearly all of it was really nice and (god help me) wholesome. In fact it was she with whom I got my first dog and for that I’ll always be grateful to her.”

The anchor, who previously worked at MSNBC, ESPN and CNN, then teased a longer commentary on Countdown by quipping, “If somebody’s gonna bring this up, I’m not giving the story to them. What am I, the free Nuzzi News Network? But I warn you: it’s pretty boring.” (On the podcast, he went a step further by adding, “I am not the Nuzzi Nudes Network over here giving away free stories,” a reference to reported claims that Nuzzi sent “demure nudes” of herself to RFK Jr.)

Olbermann revealed that he and Nuzzi dated for about three years before a mutual parting of the ways. She was in her early 20s at the time while he was in his mid-50s. “We had dogs and tattoos and rings, and like all relationships, it was very nice at the start, then things happened, then we worked on it and it ended,” he said. “Nearly all of the relationship was surprisingly mundane.”

Olivia Nuzzi at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 29, 2023. Paul Morigi/Getty Images

He alleged that they both “did some weird things” during the course of the relationship while also praising her for introducing him to his love of dogs as she was there for him the day he got his “beloved” pup named Stevie. As such, he said Nuzzi would always have his support if she needed it. “She and I devoted our lives to Stevie,” he said. “Olivia largely taught me how to successfully be adopted by a dog and all dogs, and the anniversary of that is next Monday.”

Nuzzi has been the subject of a media firestorm in recent days following the revelation of her leave of absence and the alleged relationship with Kennedy, who was not named in New York magazine’s initial statement on the matter. “Recently our Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi 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, a violation of the magazine’s standards around conflicts of interest and disclosures,” per the statement.

In one of her own, Nuzzi apologized to her colleagues. “Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal. During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source,” she said in her remarks. “The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York.”