Karoline Leavitt, the 27-year-old White House press secretary and the youngest person to ever hold the position, is married to Nicholas Riccio, 59.
Riccio is 32 years older than his wife, and is a New Hampshire native and real estate entrepreneur who built a successful business from humble beginnings, PEOPLE reported.
After graduating from Plymouth State University, he struggled financially before launching Riccio Enterprises. Today, he owns more than 15 rental properties in Hampton Beach.
The couple first met in 2022 during Leavitt’s congressional campaign in New Hampshire.
“A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband,” she shared during a February 2025 appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show. “I was speaking. We met and we were acquainted as friends.”
The pair's bond deepened quickly as they got engaged in December 2023, and welcomed their first child, Nicholas Robert “Niko” Riccio, on July 10, 2024.
“My heart has grown bigger than I ever imagined possible,” Leavitt shared on her Instagram at the time. “Babies are the ultimate blessing, and I’m bursting with gratitude for our beautiful, happy, healthy boy.”
Leavitt and Riccio got married just months later at the Wentworth By the Sea Country Club in Rye, New Hampshire - just days before President Trump’s second inauguration.
The press secretary has openly addressed the 32-year age gap between her and Riccio, telling Kelly: "I mean it's a very atypical love story, but he's incredible."
“He is my greatest supporter, he's my best friend, and he's my rock,” she continued. “He's built a very successful business himself, so now he's fully supportive of me building my success in my career.”
“He's the father of my child, and he's the best dad I could ever ask for... I say, ‘I walked into your life and it's been a circus ever since,’ but God bless him because he's fully on board," she added.
While their family life has remained mostly private, Leavitt made headlines recently after Trump offered unusually effusive praise during an August 1 interview with Newsmax.
After she publicly stated he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize, the 79-year-old president responded: “She’s become a star. It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”
“She’s a great person, actually,” he added. “But I don’t think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She’s been amazing.”
In the same interview, Trump gave a head-scratching answer when asked if he would consider pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was recently convicted on two federal counts of transporting individuals across state lines for prostitution.
“He was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent,” Trump said, referring to the rapper’s acquittal on the more serious sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. “Still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory. But I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory," he added.
The president reflected on his history with Combs, saying they were once “very friendly,” and he “got along with him great,” but clarified: “I didn’t know him well.”
The relationship soured after Trump launched his political career. “When I ran for office, he was very hostile,” Trump said. “It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, right?”
"When you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements… I don’t know. It makes it more difficult to do," he added.