Just days after his re-election in November, US President Donald Trump appointed 27-year-old Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary, making her the youngest person ever to hold the position. It may seem like an unlikely appointment, but Leavitt has history with the Trump administration.

She was an intern in the White House press office during Trump’s first term; after graduating in 2019 she began working as a presidential speech-writer and later as an assistant press secretary. “Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump told the BBC.

She’s already proving him right, with some netizens calling her first press briefing a “masterclass”. In the “explosive briefing”, Leavitt took aim at illegal immigrants and held her own against seasoned reporters, notably NBC’s Peter Alexander.

While the appointment, Leavitt’s age and her first press briefing have been much discussed in the media, what’s shocking people even more is the 32-year age gap to her husband, Nicholas Riccio.

Last week, Leavitt’s personal life came into the spotlight after Ryan Shead, who co-hosts the Hold the Mic podcast, took to X to comment on her marriage. Sharing photos of the couple, Shead pointed out the age difference and wrote, “I’m sure his money had nothing to do with it,” adding, “At least we know how she got the job now.”

So just who is the press secretary’s 59-year-old husband, who funded her failed 2022 bid to become a US representative? His wife says he’s introverted and “just hates social media”, but is her “number one fan, the best dad, and just the best man I’ve ever met”. What else do we know about him?

Nicholas Riccio is a real estate entrepreneur

Nicholas Riccio graduated from Plymouth State University, New Hampshire, but then took a real estate class in 1990 that changed the course of his life. He began his property career in the early 2000s, flipping houses in the state’s Hampton Beach area while his future wife was a toddler.

He eventually established a multimillion-dollar real estate empire with his companies Riccio Enterprises LLC and its subsidiary, Nautical Beach Properties.

He wasn’t always affluent

He might be a multimillionaire now, but Riccio grew up in difficult circumstances. His parents, Marilyn and Anthony, were not well-off and they divorced when he was young. For most of his childhood he moved between homes, until he ended up living on the streets at 18.

“When I was 19 or 20, I would call my buddies to go over [to] their houses to watch a game just so I could take a shower,” he once told The Portsmouth Herald. He went on to finance his college education himself, often choosing to sleep in his car when he couldn’t afford to pay rent. After graduating, he began taking real estate courses and borrowing money, while stocking shelves at grocery stores.

How did Nicholas Riccio meet Karoline Leavitt?

Per The Sun, Leavitt revealed in a now-deleted Instagram post that she met Riccio at a political event through a mutual friend. Although it’s not clear how long the pair dated for, they became engaged at Christmas in 2023. Leavitt shared a glimpse of the proposal on her Instagram account and gushed, “The best Christmas of my life. I get to marry the man of my dreams.” The Sun reports that the pair married privately and that last July their son Niko was born.