White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has spoken about her 32-year age gap with her husband, just days after President Trump praised her during a televised interview.
Leavitt, 27, became the youngest press secretary in U.S. history after Trump appointed her to the role during his second term.
She married Nicholas Riccio, a 59-year-old millionaire real estate developer, in January, just before Trump’s second inauguration.
In a recent appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, Leavitt addressed public curiosity about her “atypical” relationship.
“He is my greatest supporter, he's my best friend and he's my rock,” she said of Riccio. “He's built a very successful business himself, so now he's fully supportive of me building my success in my career.”
The couple met during Leavitt’s 2022 congressional run in New Hampshire, which she lost to Democrat Chris Pappas.
“A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband,” she explained. “I was speaking. We met and we were acquainted as friends. And then we fell in love.”
While she admitted to hesitating over the age gap initially, Leavitt said the relationship has been nothing but rewarding.
“I mean, it's a very atypical love story, but he's incredible,” she shared. “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.”
Leavitt and Riccio got engaged over Christmas 2023 and welcomed their son, Nicholas Robert “Niko” Riccio, in July 2024.
“My heart has grown bigger than I ever imagined possible,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Babies are the ultimate blessing, and I’m bursting with gratitude for our beautiful, happy, healthy boy.”
Just days after giving birth, Leavitt returned to work on Trump’s campaign following the July 13 assassination attempt on the president.
“I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work,’” she told The Conservateur in October.
Despite maintaining privacy around her personal life, Leavitt’s public profile continues to grow, in part thanks to her boss's now-viral comments.
During a Newsmax interview on August 1, Trump lavished Leavitt with compliments after she declared he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize. “She’s a great person, actually,” Trump said. “But she’s - I don’t think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She’s been amazing.”
Then came the remarks that sparked widespread backlash: “It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun.”
Reactions were swift and polarized. “Ewwwwwwwwwwww. Why are we speaking about women like this?” one user posted.
Others called the remarks “cringe” and “deeply inappropriate,” while some defended the statement as a metaphor for Leavitt’s rapid-fire press briefings. “She’s a star,” Trump added. “She’s become a star.”
Leavitt has not responded to the comments directly. Her focus appears to remain on her family and her work.
“It’s true when they say there’s nothing comparable to the love you feel for your child,” she wrote after Niko’s birth. “I’m bursting with gratitude.”