In an exclusive conversation with the Daily Mail, Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, openly shared her experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder. Surprisingly, it’s not the relentless nature of the press that triggers her stress but the numerous date nights she has had to forgo. The married mother expressed that the unpredictability of her schedule with her demanding job often leads to canceled plans. “Honestly, I have PTSD about making plans, so I just don’t,” she revealed. The couple takes advantage of spontaneous free evenings whenever they arise, cherishing those moments as a family.

Leavitt offered some sage advice to newcomers on the White House beat: steer clear of making post-work plans. “That’s a rookie move,” she remarked. As a new member of the Daily Mail’s White House team, I can confirm that working under Trump’s administration often means that evening plans are susceptible to last-minute changes. It’s common for dates to be postponed, meetings with sources to be rescheduled, and late dinners to become the norm. “It’s definitely challenging to set plans in this role,” she added, explaining how she and her husband had to cancel three planned weekend getaways over the summer due to sudden foreign policy demands.

Hailing from New Hampshire, Leavitt recounted how a planned visit home with her husband was scrapped when an unexpected event appeared on Trump’s agenda. “But that’s part of the job, and it’s what makes it fun and challenging and keeps every day new. And it’s, you know, it’s temporary. We’re one year down. We got three to go,” she reflected. As she looks forward to seeing through Trump’s second term, Leavitt is aware of the demanding path ahead. During his first term, Trump had four different official press secretaries: Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany.

All of them lasted in the position less than one year, other than Sanders, who held the role for just under two years from July 2017 to June 2019. Leavitt, who has served just over 300 days, has already outlasted Spicer, Grisham and McEnany. A more consistent date night schedule with her husband, Nicholas Riccio, 60, will have to wait until 2029. Riccio, who is 32 years older than Leavitt, 28, has been of public interest since the press secretary stepped into the spotlight. Giving a candid interview to the New York Post, Leavitt shared that she honestly could not find any suitors around her age, and noted how telling her parents about their relationship was ‘challenging.’

Though Riccio is older than Leavitt’s mother, the family quickly grew to love their son-in-law. ‘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,’ she told the Post. But Leavitt still manages to find time to spend with her almost one-and-a-half-year-old son, Niko, who she couldn’t help but gush over. ‘My priority is to always make it home for my kid’s bedtime,’ she said with a smile only a mother could muster.

‘I leave at a more reasonable hour than people may think, because that’s sort of the line I’ve drawn to get home and cook dinner and go through the bedtime routine and be a mom.’ President Donald Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have both encouraged Leavitt to spend time with her toddler, she notes gratefully. Leavitt has served the Republican president on and off again since 2019. Her proximity and fidelity to the president are only rivaled by his most tenured advisors, like Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, Peter Navarro and a select few Trump loyalists. The demands of being the White House press secretary are as extraordinary as the honor of holding the post, Leavitt told the Daily Mail.

But to keep sane amidst all the chaos that the job entails, the 28-year-old former softball player still finds margin in her days to maintain her health, even if it does require an early call time. An average day with a press briefing begins at 5 a.m. – with a 5:30 workout deemed as ‘critical for success,’ three days a week. Leavitt does not fancy the $35 Pilates classes that so many young professional women in D.C. partake in. Instead, she prefers lifting at the gym with a personalized set list. ‘On briefing days. I come straight to the gym here … Usually, on briefing days, the first one in the West Wing,’ she said.

The White House employee’s gym is usually bustling in the mornings, Leavitt shared without disclosing which of Trump’s top lieutenants she sees breaking a sweat. After the early morning lift, Leavitt is ready to comb through the day’s news. She starts by reading the newspapers that are delivered daily to the West Wing, claiming to read every paper from front to back, advice she heeded from former press secretary Dana Perino, who now hosts a show on Fox News. At 28, Leavitt admitted she likes the ‘old school’ feel of flipping through a hard-copy rag. Next comes watching the major cable outlets.

In her office, Leavitt has half a dozen TVs buzzing constantly. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN are permanently on. During the interview, Leavitt occasionally glanced at the stations, a habit clearly developed to defend the administration from its detractors in the media. ‘I have all four cable networks running at all times,’ Leavitt said, gesturing to her bank of TV screens. ‘I watch the chyrons and especially what MSNBC and CNN are talking about, because I know that’s the majority of what will be the major focus in the briefing room.’ Her job, she explained, is like ‘Whack-a-Mole’ – spending all day hammering outlets spinning stories detrimental to the administration. To effectively handle the roughly 300 press requests the White House receives daily, Leavitt has come to rely on her staff of deputy press secretaries.

For economic issues, she told me to ask Kush Desai, for immigration issues, she recommended Abigail Jackson, for national security issues, Anna Kelly is the point person. She lauded her staffers as knowledgeable and quick, mentioning how the press office responds to the lion’s share of requests. However, if her deputies do not have the answer on a particular topic, Leavitt picks up the phone to call Trump’s Cabinet members. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth were just some of the major players she rings up to ensure the White House’s messaging is aligned across departments. She’s not timid about calling the most powerful people in the country, either.

‘I try to be resourceful and get the answers to every topic in the news myself by speaking with the Cabinet, our policy team, the Chief of Staff and trying to run down every answer I possibly can.’ Then comes the critical final check-in: face time with Trump in the Oval Office. ‘There are always a couple of questions where nobody can speak for the President better than him,’ she said. ‘Those topics, I’m like, ‘Okay, I want his input on this.” These strategy sessions can last anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour, depending on the day’s news cycle.

‘Sometimes it’s an hour, which is why I’m running late out there sometimes,’ she admitted. ‘But other times it’s 10 minutes, and he gives me what I need, and then I leave.’ ‘The key to being his spokesperson is just being part of the conversations and witnessing the policy discussions that take place here – to really understand the policy he’s making and why he thinks that way, so I can go out and articulate that on his behalf.’ Her predecessors have taken notice of the young secretary’s performance. ‘She is tough, brilliant, kind and doing an amazing job in one of the hardest roles in all of politics,’ Trump’s first-term press secretary and current Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the Daily Mail. ‘I love watching her take on the press and proud to call her my friend.’

Sean Spicer, another Trump press secretary, agreed: ‘Karoline has done a masterful job of effectively communicating the president’s positions and policies to the American people.’ Even Trump’s Cabinet has taken notice of the young press secretary’s ability. ‘Karoline Leavitt is a true force of nature, a pleasure to work with, and an inspiration to so many Americans,’ Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told the Daily Mail. ‘Making history as the youngest White House press secretary, Karoline has proven herself as a trailblazer whose extraordinary talent continues to energize every member of the press team at Interior.’

Having been by Trump’s side for over half a decade, the 28-year-old has become one of the most visible Gen-Z conservative voices, boasting millions of followers across her social media platforms – a stardom on the right previously occupied only by major figures like Charlie Kirk and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines. Recognizing her platform, Leavitt offered advice for young women who look up to her: ‘Get married, have kids, and work your butt off. There’s no substitute for hard work.’ To fuel that grueling schedule, Leavitt relies on her Christian faith.

‘I know I could not do this job without my faith. It’s what gives me energy every day, gives me perspective on life,’ she said. ‘Faith is at the center of our home and our marriage and raising a child.’ On Sundays, when she’s not traveling with the president, Leavitt likes to attend church with her family near their northern Virginia home. She frequently posts Bible verses and stand-out moments from church services on her social media. Still, work can weasel its way into her weekends.

‘I mean, being press secretary, especially for President Trump, is a 24/7 job. Even when I’m home, I spend a lot of time on the phone or checking the news.’ She hopes that when Americans see her on their TV screens, they see an administration working to win not only their hearts, but their souls too. ‘The job is challenging for a lot of reasons, but when you have faith in God and something bigger than yourself, all of those challenges seem mundane. This job is a blessing, and if I can encourage people to open up a Bible by being outspoken about my faith, then to me, that’s the greatest reward.’