Newsom Responds To Rippey’s Claims After Ex-Mistress Goes Public

A scandal that nearly derailed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political career is returning to the national spotlight as the Democrat is widely discussed as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

Ruby Rippey-Gibney, a former San Francisco City Hall aide who had an affair with Newsom while he was mayor, has published a detailed first-person account in Vanity Fair nearly two decades after the relationship became public.

Newsom’s office responded Tuesday by attempting to close the matter.

“The governor acknowledged his role and publicly apologized for his conduct 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.”

Rippey-Gibney worked as Newsom’s appointments secretary while her then-husband, Alex Tourk, served as one of the mayor’s closest aides and managed his reelection campaign.

In her essay, Rippey-Gibney describes how professional boundaries collapsed as she struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction. She recalled monitoring Newsom’s schedule, positioning herself at events he attended and receiving messages asking, “Where are you?”

She characterized the affair not as a romantic relationship but as “another form of intoxication,” driven by alcohol, secrecy and proximity to political power.

Rippey-Gibney said the relationship was consensual and rejected earlier suggestions that Newsom coerced her. She nevertheless acknowledged the unequal power dynamic created by having an affair with her boss, who was also the mayor of San Francisco.

The affair began in 2005 and continued for months. Rippey-Gibney entered rehabilitation in May 2006 and ended the relationship, but she did not tell Tourk until January 2007.

Tourk confronted Newsom and resigned from the mayor’s reelection campaign. The scandal became public shortly afterward.

Newsom admitted the affair during a nationally covered press conference.

“Everything you’ve heard and read is true,” he said.

Newsom also apologized for hurting “someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk.”

The scandal forced Newsom to seek treatment for alcohol misuse and raised serious questions about his judgment, loyalty and conduct toward a subordinate whose husband was one of his closest political allies.

Newsom recently revisited the episode in his memoir, describing it as “the stupidest and also briefest of affairs.”

Rippey-Gibney disputes that characterization, saying the relationship lasted for months and involved numerous meetings. She also challenged the impression created by Newsom’s memoir that he confessed the affair to Tourk, maintaining that she was the one who finally revealed the truth.

Newsom was separated from his first wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, before the affair began, though their divorce had not yet been finalized. Guilfoyle now serves as President Donald Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Greece.

Rippey-Gibney accepts responsibility for betraying her husband but argues that the consequences were not distributed equally.

While Newsom survived the controversy and continued rising through California politics, she entered treatment, lost her marriage and spent years rebuilding her life.

She has now been sober for 20 years, remarried and repaired her relationship with Tourk enough to maintain a close bond while raising their son.

Rippey-Gibney also revealed that Kamala Harris, then San Francisco’s district attorney, contacted her after the scandal erupted and advised her to remain silent until she was ready to speak publicly.

Newsom’s political career recovered remarkably quickly. He went on to become California’s lieutenant governor and later won two terms as governor.

The timing of Rippey-Gibney’s essay could prove politically uncomfortable as Newsom prepares to leave the governor’s office and considers his national future. He has not formally announced a 2028 campaign but remains one of the Democratic Party’s most frequently discussed potential candidates.

Political analyst David Latterman said the impact will depend on whether Rippey-Gibney offers additional information and how Democratic voters respond.

“What would be really sad is if Democrats make a bigger deal out of this than Republicans for self-flagellation,” Latterman said.

The affair has never been a secret. Newsom admitted it publicly in 2007 and has addressed it again in his memoir.

But Rippey-Gibney’s account challenges the carefully condensed version of the scandal presented by a politician now positioning himself as a family man and possible national leader.

For Newsom, the affair became a damaging but survivable chapter in a continuing political ascent. For the woman who worked beneath him and was married to his trusted aide, it became a life-altering collapse whose consequences lasted for years.