Olivia Nuzzi is withdrawing her petition for a protective order against her former fiancé, her attorney confirms with PEOPLE.
The former New York magazine reporter previously filed the petition on Sept. 30, alleging Ryan Lizza stole and hacked into her personal information and tried to blackmail her back into a relationship after their engagement ended. Their engagement was called off after Lizza discovered her alleged “personal relationship” with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nuzzi also claimed Lizza leaked details to the media.
On Friday, Nov. 8, Nuzzi filed a motion to withdraw her claims.
Her attorney, Ari Wilkenfeld, confirms the decision in a statement, telling PEOPLE, “Ms. Nuzzi has no interest in fighting a public relations battle.”
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Vox Media)
Nuzzi further explained her decision in a statement included in her motion, obtained by PEOPLE.
She called her original motion for a protective order a “last resort” effort “to extract herself from a controlling and abusive relationship.” She hoped the order would force Lizza to allegedly “stop harassing and harming her through defamatory publicity and circulation of hacked, stolen and or doctored materials that concerned her.”
She also wanted Lizza to be ordered not to commit or threaten to commit crimes against her, later adding that his “harassment campaign has intensified” since she filed for the protective order. She said she will move forward by “disengaging from this process,” requesting that her petition be dismissed.
Lizza has also responded to Nuzzi’s move, telling PEOPLE, “Olivia shamelessly used litigation with false and defamatory allegations as a public relations strategy. When required to do so, she refused to defend her claims in court last month.”
He accused her of allegedly trying to hide his response to her allegations from the public, adding, “Now, on the eve of a hearing at which she knew her lies would be exposed, she has taken the only course available to her and withdrawn her fabricated claims.”
He then referenced Nuzzi’s alleged relationship with Kennedy, which was said to have been going on for a year before he found out about it.
“Olivia lied to me for almost a year. She lied to her editors. She lied to her readers. She lied to her colleagues. She lied to reporters. And she lied to the judge in this case. I said I would defend myself against her lies vigorously and successfully and I am fully prepared to do so. But for now, I’m pleased this matter is closed.”
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Reports of a relationship between Nuzzi and Kennedy, who wed Cheryl Hines in 2014, first surfaced in September, nearly a year after she interviewed him for a November 2023 profile. In court documents filed last month, Lizza denied Nuzzi’s blackmail and hacking claims as “defamatory lies.”
Though Nuzzi previously stated that her and Kennedy’s relationship was “not sexual” and should have been “disclosed,” a representative for Kennedy previously claimed that he only met Nuzzi once “for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
Nuzzi and Lizza were due back in court this month before she dismissed her claims.
