We recently reported on the alleged affair between RFK Jr., the shame of the Kennedy clan, and New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi. We were a little light on details previously, because Nuzzi, as we told you, hadn’t even officially confirmed that it was Kennedy she’d been having an affair with.

Now it turns out there may be a reason that Nuzzi hasn’t exposed Kennedy as the object of her affection. She may STILL be in love with him, according to insiders close to her.

That’s not to say there’s been no confirmation that it was Kennedy that Nuzzi got suspended from her job over, though. Her ex-fiancée Ryan Lizza publicly recused himself from coverage of RFK Jr., and Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, has been seen recently without her wedding ring.

The signs are all there.

But the new rumors surrounding the situation make it sound like there was MUCH more going on than previous reports let on. Most of the media, us included, had been led to believe that this was a simple “sexting” relationship. That’s still cheating on both their parts, of course, but definitely one of the more benign forms of betrayal.

According to “gossipy” sources, however, there’s a lot more to the story than dirty cell phone chat.

Originally part of the New York Post — a source we don’t generally use because of their conservative bent and biased support of Donald Trump — Page Six is now pretty much the source for celebrity news. The reason they’re so successful is that they have sources everywhere, and they know a million “insiders” with information about everything you can dream up in the celebrity world.

Normally, a reporter and a has-been politician having an affair wouldn’t even be noteworthy. But the fact is, Nuzzi has done plenty of high-profile stories at her job, and RFK Jr., of course, is under consideration for Trump’s Cabinet if he should win.

That makes B-list “celebs” like these two pretty good fodder for those looking for news like this.

And according to Page Six‘s merry miners of minutiae, Kennedy and Nuzzi got a lot closer than either of them is letting on. For his part, Kennedy has all but denied every last detail, saying only that he’d “met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”

We know that’s a load of hooey. But how far did it actually go?

Via Page Six:

“…after they began talking over text — he “love bombed” her, and she quickly fell so madly in love with him that she lived a double life for nearly a year, sharing long calls, endless texts and virtual sex with the former presidential candidate, all while engaged to her partner of almost a decade.

In fact, multiple insiders say Nuzzi — even after Kennedy denied their affair in the press and even after he implied that he might sue her — is still in love with him.”

That makes sense, too, if even half of the rest of what we’ve seen from these sources is true.

When Nuzzi was assigned to cover Kennedy while he was still in the presidential race — remember, he ran as a Democrat, then an Independent, before finally dropping out and endorsing Trump — Kennedy insisted that the interview take place while they hiked together.

Given what we know now about Kennedy’s run-ins with wildlife, I’m not sure anyone will ever hike with him again.

But sources said that Kennedy “romantically” grabbed Nuzzi’s arm during the hike, a gesture he later explained with a message to her saying that there was something he’d wanted to tell her, but he didn’t know if he was free to speak off the record.

Before things got overly cozy, Nuzzi apparently suggested that they go hiking again some time, maybe with their respective partners. Sources say that Kennedy joked his wife only liked to hike “in the mall.”

Okay, I’m gonna hit pause here.

It’s that last detail that makes this whole thing sound real to me. That’s exactly the kind of cheeseball thing a guy trying to cheat on his wife would say to the young, beautiful object of his desire. He can “complain” about the limitations of his wife, while simultaneously applauding his paramour for liking the same things as him.

“Oh, Cheryl? She only likes to hike in the mall. Not like you, Liv.” I can just hear it now.

ANYWAY.

After that conversation is when everything started getting heavier and more intimate, until she began falling for him. That’s when the so-called “love-bombing” went down. “He’s done it to lots of women — claimed he can’t live without them. He told Olivia they’d be together after the election,” says the insider.

But here’s where Page Six‘s source almost drove me from my laptop in horror as I read.

“They had “incredible” sex over FaceTime, according to another source, with Nuzzi noting to pals that the 70-year-old had impressive sexual stamina.”

And I hope that I still have you on the page reading, because I wouldn’t blame you for running real quick to get the eye bleach.

In the end, nobody will comment on anything to anyone. Not Nuzzi, not her employer, not her ex-fiancée, not Kennedy, and not Kennedy’s wife. But there certainly are a lot more details now, and we presume more to come.