White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt recently acknowledged the ‘challenging conversation’ she had with her parents when she began dating her now husband, Nicholas Riccio, who is 32 years older than she is.‘It is unusual,’ Leavitt admitted on Miranda Devine’s podcast, after the host described her marriage as ‘unusual’.
When the host asked her, ‘Could you not find boys of your own age? You are as mature,’ Leavitt said, ‘Honestly, no, if you want to know the truth.’
The tough talk with parents
Leavitt, 28, the youngest person ever to hold the press secretary role, is married to Riccio, 60, who is a real estate developer. The couple welcomed their son, Niko, in July 2024 and married in January 2025.During the podcast, she discussed her age-gap marriage and the conversation she had with her parents. ‘It’s definitely a challenging conversation to have at first,’ Leavitt replied when the host asked how her parents reacted to learning she was ‘almost the same age’ as her dad.‘But then once they got to know him and saw who he is as a man and his character and how much he adores me, I think it became quite easy for them. And now we’re all friends. I mean, it’s a typical family relationship,’ Leavitt said.‘My husband has such respect for my parents and the way that they raised me, and we all have a lot of fun together when they come to visit,’ she added.
Leavitt on her ‘amazing’ husband
Karoline Leavitt met Riccio through a mutual friend when she was running for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022. Though she lost the election, she met her ‘amazing’ partner. ‘A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband. I was speaking. We met and we were acquainted as friends. And then we fell in love,’ she said in a previous interview on The Megyn Kelly Show.Leavitt told Devine that Riccio is just ‘amazing’. ‘He’s a self-made man, which I respect… He’s built his career, so he’s in a place where he can support me in mine.’One major difference between them is not really their age. ‘He’s very introverted, unlike me,’ she said. She spoke about how her husband likes to stay behind the scenes. ‘He’s not on social media. He’s very private, and he’s an incredibly hands-on father. He and my son are just the best of friends,’ she said during the podcast that aired on Nov. 19.Leavitt also added that her husband adores her and is her biggest fan. ‘He’s just an amazing guy and he is my number one fan. He watches every interview, every press briefing,’ she said.