From Homeless Teen to First Lady's Husband: The Nicholas Riccio Story

When White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt walked down the aisle on January 4, 2025, she wasn’t just marrying a successful real estate developer. She was marrying a man whose journey from sleeping in his car to building a multi-million dollar portfolio reads like an American comeback story—one that happened to intersect with one of the nation’s most powerful political figures at exactly the right moment.

Nicholas Riccio’s path to that wedding day in Rye, New Hampshire wasn’t paved with privilege. After his parents Marilyn and Anthony Riccio divorced during his childhood, he found himself living on the streets as a teenager. By his own account, at 19 or 20 years old, he’d call friends just to shower at their homes. Later, he attended Plymouth State University while living in his car—a grueling sacrifice just to afford tuition without going into debt. Both of his parents would eventually pass away from cancer, leaving him to chart his own course entirely alone.

But here’s where the story pivots. Instead of becoming another cautionary tale, Riccio taught himself the real estate game. Inspired by the neglected, condemned buildings dotting M Street in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, he started buying properties with zero money down. Within twelve years, his portfolio had expanded to fifteen buildings in the area. Former Hampton police chief William Wrenn didn’t mince words about the impact:“I think Nick is certainly trying to change the whole image down there…His properties are clean, they have new appliances and many nice renovations. He really is trying to change the image.”Riccio wasn’t just building a business; he was rebuilding a community.

Fast forward to 2022, when Riccio met Leavitt at a New Hampshire event hosted by a mutual friend. She was running for Congress; he was the guy who’d transformed a struggling neighborhood one building at a time. They connected, fell in love, and in December 2023, he proposed over the Christmas holiday. The 32-year age gap—he’s older than her mother, Erin Leavitt—created some initial awkwardness, but Leavitt has been candid about how that dynamic actually works in their favor.“He’s built a very successful business himself, so now he’s fully supportive of me building my success in my career,”she explained on The Megyn Kelly Show in February 2025.

What makes this story more than just celebrity gossip is what it reveals about ambition, second chances, and the kind of partnership that thrives when both people have already proven themselves capable of building something from nothing. Riccio didn’t need Leavitt’s success to validate him, and she didn’t need to dim her light for him. They got married just sixteen days before Trump’s second inauguration, and Leavitt—the youngest White House press secretary in history at age 27—went right back to work. The couple now has two children: son Niko, born in July 2024, and daughter Vivi, born on May 1, 2026.

In a political landscape where power couples often feel transactional, the Riccio-Leavitt marriage offers something different: two people who’ve both clawed their way to success and decided to do it together.