Karoline Leavitt Admits Her Parents Weren't Totally On Board With Her Decades Older Husband

Karoline Leavitt's 32-year age gap with her husband, Nicholas Riccio, has been a hot topic among netizens since she first stepped into her role as White House press secretary. As it turns out, it was also a concern for her parents, who are about the same age as Leavitt's husband. In fact, the press secretary's mother is five years younger than Riccio, who is 60. Leavitt is 28. It must be exhausting to get asked about her much older spouse in every interview, and Leavitt once again had to convince people that her age gap with her husband is no big deal while on an episode of the "Pod Force One" podcast, which was released on November 19, 2025.

When host Miranda Devine asked Leavitt whether telling her parents about her much older boyfriend was awkward when she and Riccio first started dating, Leavitt admitted that it wasn't the easiest conversation. "It's definitely a challenging conversation to have at first," she confessed. "But then of course, 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." Er, right.

Leavitt previously told Megyn Kelly that she herself had some reservations about dating a man more than three decades her senior. "It's a very atypical love story," she said during an interview on "The Megyn Kelly Show" in February 2025. Leavitt assured Kelly that age is just a number in their marriage and that Riccio is an incredible husband and father who is fully supporting her career.

Karoline Leavitt has handled questions about her age gap with her husband just fine in interviews — she's the White House press secretary after all, so she knows how to work the media. But Leavitt hinted the age gap talk was getting to her when she posted an airbrushed picture of her husband in October 2025.

It was Halloween weekend, and Leavitt shared some snaps of her and Nicholas Riccio with their baby son participating in some spooky festivities on Instagram. Unfortunately for her, netizens in the comment section were quick to point out that the photos featuring her husband didn't look all natural and that she appeared to have airbrushed his face to make him look younger. In subsequent Instagram Stories, Leavitt notably left her husband's face out of the snaps she posted, with one showing Riccio playing with their son, his face out of the shot.

The press secretary's Instagram comment section has been a hostile place in general, but it tends to get even more so when photos of her husband make an appearance. When she posted a snap of her and Riccio with their son at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April 2025, some of the comments were brutal. "I don't care what people say, you and your dad look really nice here," one sarcastic comment read. "Aw look at proud grandpa," another added. Suffice it to say, Leavitt will be facing this kind of criticism for as long as she is in the public eye.