Karoline Leavitt made history as the youngest White House Press Secretary ever — and then walked away from it. At 29, she’s also in a marriage with a 32-year age gap that drew immediate public scrutiny: her husband, Nicholas Riccio, is 61, a New Hampshire real estate developer she met in 2022. Rather than deflect the criticism, Leavitt has leaned into it, calling the decision to marry him the best she’s ever made.
How Karoline Leavitt and Nicholas Riccio Actually Met
The origin story is less scandalous than the internet assumed. In 2022, a mutual friend organized an event at a restaurant Riccio owned in New Hampshire. Leavitt was there to speak; Riccio was a guest. They connected, became friends first, and the romance followed gradually — not the power-imbalance narrative that critics were quick to project. As Leavitt has described it, it was an “atypical love story,” which is arguably the most honest thing anyone has said about it.
By December 25, 2023, she announced their engagement on social media. They married in January 2025 at the Wentworth By the Sea Country Club in Rye, New Hampshire — a venue that, for anyone keeping score, is significantly more understated than the ceremony the rumors would have written for them. Her family’s initial surprise at the age difference, she has said publicly, gave way once they saw how Riccio showed up for her. That arc — skepticism to acceptance — is one that a lot of people with unconventional relationships will recognize. Much like the complicated public scrutiny around celebrity age-gap relationships, the outside reaction rarely matches what’s happening inside the partnership.
Two Kids, One Historic Job, and the Exit That Surprised Everyone
Their son, Nicholas Robert Riccio — called Niko — was born in July 2024. Their daughter, Viviana, arrived in May 2026. Between those two births, Leavitt stood at the White House briefing room podium as one of the most visible press secretaries in recent memory, navigating a political climate that had no low settings.
Leaving that position was, by her own account, an emotional decision — not a political one. She has said she wanted to be more present for her children, and a recent Instagram Q&A gave her audience a rare look at the domestic version of a figure most people only know from televised press briefings. She talked about faith, motherhood, and marriage with a directness that reads less like a PR pivot and more like someone who has genuinely made peace with a choice that cost her something significant. Whether you agree with her politics or not, the decision to trade that platform for more time at home is not a small one — and she appears to know it.
Riccio, for his part, has been described by Leavitt as her best friend, her rock, and her most consistent professional supporter. The 32-year gap that looked like a tabloid headline from the outside looks, from the inside, like a partnership she built deliberately — and one she has no interest in apologizing for.
