Former Gavin Newsom Aide Shares Fresh Details of Affair

Ruby Rippey, a former aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom, has publicly detailed her affair with him, which occurred more than 20 years ago when Newsom served as San Francisco's mayor. In a new essay published in Vanity Fair, Rippey recounts her struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse alongside her relationship with Newsom, who was her boss and the mayor at the time.

“

For my former boss, it is a footnote in a longer arc of ascent. For me, it is the fracture that split my life into before and after.

Rippey's essay, titled "How I Blew Up – Then Rebuilt – My Life," offers the most comprehensive account to date of their relationship. She contrasts Newsom's trajectory, describing the affair as a "footnote in a longer arc of ascent" for him, with her own experience, calling it "the fracture that split my life into before and after."

“

Everything you’ve heard and read is true.

Newsom, who was single at the time, publicly acknowledged the affair in 2007, stating, "Everything you’ve heard and read is true." In his recent memoir, he characterized their relationship as "the briefest of affairs." However, Rippey's narrative challenges this, particularly her account of informing Newsom's deputy chief of staff, Alex Tourk, about the affair. Rippey suggests Newsom's claim of coming clean to Tourk gives him undue credit.

“

Technically defensible, perhaps, but one that leaves the unmistakable impression that he, not I, was the one who told Alex the truth.

The essay also touches upon Rippey's marriage, pregnancy, and subsequent departure from the mayor's office to enter rehab. Following the public disclosure of the affair, Rippey faced intense media scrutiny. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, now the governor's wife, initially called Rippey the "culprit" but later apologized for the remark. Kamala Harris, then district attorney, advised Rippey to take time before speaking publicly, a piece of advice Rippey found invaluable as she navigated her sobriety and the aftermath of the scandal. Rippey and her husband eventually divorced.

“

It turns out to be the best advice I receive. I am newly sober and still inside the wreckage – unable to make sense of anything, let alone speak clearly about it.