Riley Roberts, 38, was spotted for the first time since news of his split from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez broke, taking their shared French bulldog Deco for a solo walk outside the Queens apartment they once shared.
Roberts emerged from the East Elmhurst three-bedroom residence around midday Saturday, looking sallow in a black long-sleeve shirt, camo shorts, army green Birkenstocks, a Knicks cap, sunglasses and earbuds. He and the beefy six-year-old purebred spent roughly 20 minutes on their lonely jaunt before returning to the building.
The Arizona-born web developer had not been seen publicly since Tuesday, when reports surfaced that he and Ocasio-Cortez, 36, ended their 15-year relationship. The couple first met as students at Boston University through a weekly discussion group called “Coffee & Conversations,” dated intermittently after graduating in 2012, and reconnected around 2015. Roberts proposed during a trip to Puerto Rico in April 2022, and Ocasio-Cortez proudly showed off what she called her “zero emissions ring.”
It remains unclear whether Roberts still resides at the Elmhurst apartment or has moved out since the split, returning only to walk Deco as a favor to the congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez has spent the past week filming near-constant content for her 9.7 million Instagram followers about her fertility treatments, making no mention of Roberts in any of the videos.
A Capitol Hill source who socialized with the couple said that the pair broke up in February because Ocasio-Cortez’s rapid political ascent created strain. “Rare is the man who is able to put himself in the back seat to his wife’s political career,” the source said, adding that the power imbalance may have grown “very, very toxic.”
“The marvel is that it lasted as long as it did.”
A former Democratic operative told the outlet that despite the romantic split, the two have remained close friends. “They eat together a lot. They are close friends, but it’s no longer a romantic relationship,” the operative said.
A third source, identified as a former AOC staffer, offered a more wistful take on the dissolved partnership. “They reminded me a little bit of my grandparents in their affectionate nature,” the ex-staffer said. “So when it was working, it was beautiful. You know when people get together young. Life is life. Life happens. I hope they’re happy.”
Neither Ocasio-Cortez nor Roberts has publicly confirmed the breakup. When approached outside her apartment Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez told the Post, “I don’t comment on my private life.” Roberts’s 85-year-old father, Vincent Roberts, also refused to comment when reached by phone at his $1.4 million Paradise Valley, Arizona home this week.
The couple’s last public outing together came in May, when they were photographed dining at Black Iron Burger in Midtown — though they had not been photographed together at a major event since the 2021 Met Gala, where Ocasio-Cortez wore her infamous “Tax the Rich” gown. According to Puck News chief Washington correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell, a “reputable Democratic source” informed her about 18 months ago that the engagement was over. “AOC stopped wearing her engagement ring several months before that,” Caldwell wrote on X Tuesday.
In the viral moment that first introduced Deco to the public, Ocasio-Cortez announced their puppy purchase on Instagram in 2020 with an enthusiastic explanation of his name. “We decided to name him after one of Riley & I’s favorite design styles: Art Deco – which also is inspired by themes of optimism & social and technological progress and is a fixture in iconic NYC architecture,” she told her Instagram followers at the time. The purebred French bulldog quickly became a recurring presence on their social media, including a Christmas 2021 photo of all three in matching outfits. The purchase drew sharp criticism from PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, who wrote a scathing letter in January 2020 attacking their decision to buy rather than adopt. “We really couldn’t believe our eyes… With the millions of homeless dogs out there, you apparently chose to buy a purebred puppy instead of adopting one from an animal shelter,” Newkirk wrote, adding that French bulldogs are inbred for “breed-specific traits” that cause health problems many followers who emulate the purchase cannot afford to treat.
Ocasio-Cortez launched her Instagram documentation of the egg-freezing process over the weekend, telling followers in a live video Saturday that she had been “saving for it for a very long time” and wanted to make the experience less daunting for other working women. She described the side effects as “pretty minimal so far,” listing bloating, tenderness and sleep issues, while noting, “No mood issues quite yet.” Roberts appeared in none of the footage.
Ocasio-Cortez is expected to continue her Instagram documentation of the egg-freezing process from her Queens and Washington, D.C. Residences as Congress remains on August recess.