- - Olivia Nuzzi Claims RFK Jr. Tried to Ease Her Brain Worm Concerns: 'I Hated the Idea of an Intruder Therein'

Greta BjornsonNovember 18, 2025 at 5:40 AM

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RFK Jr. and Olivia Nuzzi -

Olivia Nuzzi wrote in her new book American Canto that RFK Jr. would joke about his brain worm with her, but she didn't find it funny

Nuzzi, a former New York magazine journalist who said she struck up a "personal relationship" with Kennedy while interviewing him for a feature, details their relationship in her book

A spokesperson for Kennedy previously released a statement claiming he “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece"

Olivia Nuzzi revealed in her new book American Canto that she worried for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as people made a mockery of the Health and Human Services secretary for disclosing that he had a dead worm in his brain.

Nuzzi, 32, who said she and Kennedy, 71, formed a "personal relationship" while she interviewed him for a profile later published in New York magazine, detailed their sexting scandal in her upcoming book, in which she only refers to Kennedy as "the Politician."

In an excerpt of the book published in Vanity Fair — where she now works as West Coast Editor after being let go from New York after being put on leave because of her relationship with Kennedy — Nuzzi recalled how she felt waking up the morning after Election Day.

Describing her life as "on fire" in that moment, Nuzzi wrote that Kennedy would often tell her he would "take a bullet" for her, before expressing her fears for his safety.

"I did not like to think about it. About the armed man at his speech," she wrote. "Or the armed man who broke into his home. Or the armed men he paid to guard him from armed men who sought to harm him while the federal government denied his pleas for protection from the security agency whose modern protocols were carved by the same bullets that cut boughs from his family tree and cut the track of the American experiment."

Nuzzi then shared, "I did not like to think about it just as later I would not like to think about the worm in his brain that other people found so funny."

Paul Morigi/Getty

Olivia Nuzzi at the 2023 White House Correspondents' Dinner

"I loved his brain. I hated the idea of an intruder therein," she wrote. "Others thought he was a madman; he was not quite mad the way they thought, but I loved the private ways that he was mad. I loved that he was insatiable in all ways, as if he would swallow up the whole world just to know it better if he could."

Nuzzi said that Kennedy would make light of the worm, which became fodder for late-night jokes and internet comedy almost immediately after The New York Times published an article featuring quotes from Kennedy saying in a 2012 deposition that a doctor found a dead parasite in his brain after he experienced memory loss and lack of mental clarity.

Shortly after the Times article was published, Kennedy — then a presidential candidate — joked on X, "I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate. I feel confident in the result even with a six-worm handicap."

Kennedy seemed to take a similar tone when discussing the brain worm with Nuzzi.

In her book, Nuzzi wrote, "He made me laugh, but I winced when he joked about the worm. 'Baby, don’t worry,' he said. 'It’s not a worm.' "

She continued, "A doctor he trusted had reviewed the scans of his brain obtained by The New York Times, he said, and concluded that the shadowy figure was likely not a parasite at all. He sighed. It was too late to interfere with what had already vaulted from the sphere of meme to the sphere of screwy legend, but at least I did not have to worry about the worm that was not a worm in his brain."

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While Nuzzi has been sharing her side of the story, Kennedy has not spoken much about their alleged affair.

A rep for the HHS head, who has been married to actress Cheryl Hines since 2014, previously released a statement claiming he “only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”

Kennedy did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”