Karoline Leavitt Says Her Parents Learned to Accept Her 60-Year-Old Husband, Raising Questions About Her Childhood
Karoline Leavitt could probably get away with telling her parents she was joining Donald Trump’s administration, but introducing her 60-year-old husband, Nicholas Riccio, to her mom and dad took things to a bizarre new level.
The White House press secretary, 28, is now one of the most visible faces in conservative politics, but her path to wedded bliss was a little more unconventional, and it’s not only the public who had issues with it.
‘When She Was 6, He Was 37’: Karoline Leavitt’s Bed Photo Goes Viral for All the Wrong Reasons
In a recent appearance on the “Pod Force One” podcast with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, Leavitt pulled back the curtain on her “unusual” marriage.
According to Leavitt, Riccio, a successful real estate developer, is roughly five years older than her mother, Erin, 55, and five years younger than her 65-year-old father, Bob.
“It’s definitely a challenging conversation to have at first,” she recalled in the Nov. 19 episode, adding that the initial shock “initially rattled her parents,” but eventually subsided.
The breakthrough came when her parents “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.”
Today, the family dynamic is strong.
“Now we’re all friends. I mean, it’s a typical family relationship. 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.”
Their atypical love story continues to draw intense scrutiny on social media, particularly since their January 2025 wedding, just days before President Trump’s second inauguration.
Interestingly enough, the couple welcomed their son, Nicholas Robert — nicknamed “Niko” — in July 2024.
MSN readers weighed in on her revelation.
“Mom and Dad, I’d like to introduce you to my husband. He and grandpa have a lot in common…they’re the same age,” one person joked.
Another critic questioned the long-term implications: “She’s an adult, so it’s her choice to make, but it’s still weird. What happens when she’s 48 and he’s 80?”
A third commenter stated, “While I personally would strongly discourage my daughter from involvement with a man so much older than her, I’m not this woman’s mother – let her do her. I think it’s inappropriate but, whatever.”
Some fans questioned what truly shifted her parents’ stance, implying that age concerns disappear fast when the money starts making the introductions.
“Once they got to know him and saw who he is as a man and his character…You mean once they got to know his bank statements,” wrote one person, while another said, “Pole-vaulting past working her way up the ladder, Karoline Leavitt failed to develop any code of conduct. Her lack of morals started at home.”
The over three-decade age difference has repeatedly drawn public ridicule. Leavitt has faced criticism every time she posts her man. A picture she posted showing her son playing with Riccio in bed had his head cropped out, prompting accusations that she was avoiding further age-gap discussion.
Karoline Leavitt crops out husband’s face from Instagram post pic.twitter.com/BjALnReXlY
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 10, 2025
This desire for privacy seems to stem from Riccio himself, whom Leavitt described as preferring to stay “behind the scenes.”
Riccio’s life, however, has not always been private.
He is an influential real estate magnate who owns more than a dozen beachfront properties in New Hampshire. He grew up in Hudson facing financial difficulties, at one point living out of his car while attending Plymouth State University. Riccio’s ties to the Trump circle run deep. He solidified his support for the MAGA agenda in 2019 by hosting a high-profile Women for Trump event at two of his Hampton Beach properties.
A person offered a cynical take, saying, “They raised her to have a baby out of wed lock to a man 30 years older than her and didn’t marry for another 6 months after the child’s birth. The marriage only took place because her job basically demanded it. All based on Christian values.”
Leavitt’s career is as groundbreaking as her personal life is scrutinized. Appointed by President Trump, she became the youngest White House press secretary in history.
Still, she says, her family grounds her amid the chaos.
“There’s a lot of criticism that comes with being the president’s spokeswoman. And I could care less about it because I know I have a husband and a baby who just wants to hang out with me and play toys,” she shared.
But this role has garnered her all kinds of attention, creating her own set of political foes, and people who see her as doing just as much harm to the country as her former reality star boss.
One critic slammed her political role over her marriage: “Yeah. It would be awkward to have to tell your parents that your job entails lying 24/7, defending a convicted felon, and being mean and nasty at every turn.”
Leavitt clearly understands her relationship is “atypical,” as she called it on “The Megyn Kelly Show,” but Riccio’s character won over her skeptical parents.
The very thing that made the introduction so awkward — the age gap — is what the internet remains fixated on. The couple seems to be weathering the storm, with Riccio now her No. 1 fan, watching “every interview, every press briefing.”
