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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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Ruby Rippey, the former San Francisco City Hall aide whose affair with then-Mayor Gavin Newsom became one of the biggest political scandals of his career, has broken nearly two decades of silence in a personal essay for Vanity Fair, offering new details about the relationship, her struggles with addiction and the fallout that followed.
The essay, published Tuesday, arrives as Newsom, now California's Democratic Governor, continues to face speculation about a potential 2028 presidential run.
Rippey's account revisits the scandal that erupted in 2007 after her then-husband, Alex Tourk—one of Newsom's closest political advisers—learned of the affair. Newsom publicly acknowledged the relationship at the time and apologized.
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A spokesperson for Newsom told Newsweek that Rippey's essay is consistent with previous accounts about the affair and that Newsom was not in a relationship at the time.
"The Governor acknowledged his role and publicly apologized nearly two decades ago when he was still mayor. In the time since, he met his wife, started a family, and has focused on serving Californians. He addressed this chapter of his life, including in his memoir, and out of respect for everyone involved, does not have anything further to add," the spokesperson said.
Why Rippey's Essay Matters Now
The Newsom-Rippey affair dominated California political news in 2007 because Rippey was married to Newsom's longtime adviser and campaign manager while also working under the mayor in City Hall.
The scandal prompted Tourk's resignation, raised questions about workplace power dynamics, and threatened Newsom's political future. Despite the controversy, Newsom won reelection as mayor later that year and eventually rose to become governor of California.
Rippey's new essay does not allege criminal wrongdoing. Instead, it offers a deeply personal recounting of addiction, recovery, shame, and the consequences of a relationship that became a defining episode in California political history.
For Newsom, who remains one of the Democratic Party's highest-profile figures, the essay likely ensures renewed attention on a scandal that many observers viewed as long settled.
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Kamala Harris Reportedly Urged Her Not to Speak Out
One of the essay's most politically significant disclosures involves former Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to Rippey, Harris advised her to avoid speaking publicly about the scandal in the immediate aftermath. Rippey recalled then District Attorney Harris telling her that "more time will give you better perspective," advice she says contributed to her decision to remain largely silent for years.
The recollection offers a new glimpse into how allies and associates of the key figures in the scandal responded behind the scenes as national media scrutiny intensified.
Harris and Newsom emerged from the same San Francisco political world in the early 2000s and are often described by California observers as longtime political "frenemies," as figures whose careers have blended cooperation and competition. Both benefited from connections to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and rose rapidly through California Democratic politics, though generally on parallel tracks rather than directly against one another.
At various points, the two have publicly supported one another. Harris backed Newsom during California's 2021 recall election campaign, while Newsom became an early supporter of Harris's national political ambitions.
Yet political analysts have long viewed them as potential rivals because each has been seen as a future Democratic presidential contender and they have often occupied neighboring positions within California's political hierarchy
Newsweek reached out to Harris' office for comment via email.
How the Affair Allegedly Began
Rippey's account provides far more detail about the origins of the relationship than has previously been public.
The affair occurred in 2005 while Newsom, then around 37 or 38, was separated from, or in the process of divorcing, his first wife Kimberly Guilfoyle, according to reporting at the time. The relationship became public in 2007, by which point Newsom was dating future wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
In the essay, Rippey, who was 33, recounts flirtations that developed into a romantic relationship, describing private encounters and meetings with Newsom while both worked in San Francisco city government.
She writes about events surrounding a Napa Valley wedding and other meetings that she says marked the beginning of the affair.
Those details were largely absent from public reporting when the scandal first broke in 2007.
'It Wasn't Love. It Was Proximity to Power.'
Perhaps the most striking theme running through Rippey's essay is her reflection on why she became involved with Newsom.
Looking back, she argues the relationship was fueled less by romance than by the allure of influence and status associated with one of California's rising political stars. She writes that the experience was about feeling "chosen" and describes the attraction as connected to "proximity to power."
"We meet and we drink. There is sex, but it isn’t the point. The point is proximity—to power, to being chosen, to feeling newly visible—no longer muted by pregnancy, by new motherhood, by the strain of white-knuckling long stretches of sobriety," she wrote.
"It isn’t love. It isn’t romance. It’s intoxication. The text message is a hit. The glance across the hallway, a hit. The risk floods my bloodstream."
Rippey's observation is likely to attract attention because it directly addresses questions that have long surrounded the power dynamics at the center of the scandal.
In her account, Rippey explicitly rejects the idea that she was powerless or lacked agency, writing, "I was not coerced. I knew what I was doing."
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Her Sister Allegedly Contacted Newsom During Rehab
Rippey also describes severe struggles with alcohol addiction and substance abuse during the period surrounding the affair, including blackouts, medical emergencies and rehab treatment.
According to her account, while she was receiving treatment, her sister contacted Newsom to explain that Rippey was "unwell" and entering recovery. Rippey writes that her sister asked the future governor not to see her again.
She says Newsom's reported response was brief: "God bless."
She Confessed to Her Husband in an Email
Another revelation concerns how the affair was ultimately disclosed to Tourk.
Rippey writes that therapists and treatment staff advised her not to tell her husband because of the potential impact on her recovery and because the matter involved a prominent public figure. She says she ultimately rejected that advice.
Instead, she confessed in an email.
"I still wonder which was the greater offense: my infidelity or my failure to look him in the eye when I told him about it," Rippey said.
"Reading his emails to me from that time is the hardest part to revisit," she wrote later in the piece. "Not because of what he says, but because I can see the result of my actions landing on the person I loved most."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Trevor Davies
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