{"id":20478,"date":"2026-07-29T02:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T21:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20478"},"modified":"2026-07-29T02:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T21:12:18","slug":"aide-involved-in-affair-with-gavin-newsom-in-2005-speaks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20478","title":{"rendered":"Aide involved in affair with Gavin Newsom in 2005 speaks out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>An aide involved in an affair with Gavin Newsom more than 20 years ago, when he was mayor of San Francisco, detailed their relationship and her journey to sobriety in an <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/story\/gavin-newsom-ruby-rippey-essay\" target=\"_blank\">essay published by Vanity Fair<\/a> on Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p>Although Ruby Rippey, 54, has spoken previously about her relationship with the now-governor, her first-person essay offers the most intimate description yet of the affair. It comes at a time when Newsom is wrapping up his final year as California governor and considering a presidential run in 2028. <\/p>\n<p>Rippey, who had worked as Newsom\u2019s appointments secretary, was married to Alex Tourk, the then-mayor\u2019s close friend, campaign manager and prior deputy chief of staff, when the affair <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-2007-feb-02-me-newsom2-story.html\">became public in 2007.<\/a> Tourk resigned after Rippey told him that she had been sleeping with their boss, she writes.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Newsom was newly divorced from <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2025-11-04\/former-fox-news-host-kimberly-guilfoyle-takes-up-position-as-us-ambassador-to-greece\">Kimberly Guilfoyle<\/a> and he apologized in front of a gaggle of reporters who packed his office for a news conference, admitting \u201ceverything you\u2019ve heard and read is true.\u201d Later, he said he was seeking <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-2007-feb-06-me-newsom6-story.html\">treatment for alcohol abuse.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>In the essay, Rippey details that the affair with Newsom happened when she was a new mother and when her drinking, which had been a problem before the relationship, spiraled out of control.<\/p>\n<p>Rippey writes that their relationship began in July 2005 after a wedding at a Napa Valley estate and spanned months, with intermittent sexual encounters until she entered rehab in May 2006. <\/p>\n<p>They met at his penthouse in San Francisco\u2019s Russian Hill neighborhood, at a private back room in a bar in North Beach and at the W Hotel in Los Angeles, she writes. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe meet and we drink. There is sex, but it isn\u2019t the point. The point is proximity \u2014 to power, to being chosen, to feeling newly visible \u2014 no longer muted by pregnancy, by new motherhood, by the strain of white-knuckling long stretches of sobriety,\u201d she writes. \u201cIt isn\u2019t love. It isn\u2019t romance. It\u2019s intoxication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for the governor\u2019s office, said on Tuesday that Newsom acknowledged his role and publicly apologized for the affair nearly two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 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,\u201d Gardon said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"enhancement\" data-click=\"enhancement\" data-align-center=\"\">\n<figure class=\"figure m-0\"> <picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d4a9eb8\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/320x222!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 320w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/f3a7d39\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/568x393!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 568w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/abd70a1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/768x532!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 768w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/e72b7f0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/1024x709!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 1024w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/464de29\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/1200x831!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img class=\"image\" alt=\" Gavin Newsom when mayor of San Francisco. \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4392b55\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/320x222!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 320w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/785edad\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/568x393!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 568w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/9846966\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/768x532!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 768w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/526ca12\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/1024x709!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 1024w,https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/7fd595d\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/1200x831!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 100vw\" width=\"1200\" height=\"831\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/7fd595d\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2346x1625+0+0\/resize\/1200x831!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F29%2Fc98962df4201ab0696e1353993fb%2Fgettyimages-1321967141.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/picture>\n<div class=\"figure-content\">\n<p>The affair occurred while Gavin Newsom was mayor of San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>(San Francisco Chronicle \/ Hearst Newspapers)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Newsom faced <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/essential\/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-2018-htmlstory.html#p=former-aide-to-gavin-newsom-speaks-out-about-their-affair-while-he-was-san-francisco-mayor\">renewed criticism for the affair during the 2018 <\/a>governor\u2019s race amid a larger reckoning over sexual misconduct in politics, corporate America and Hollywood. But Rippey has said she doesn\u2019t see herself as a victim of a powerful man. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I was a subordinate, but I was also a free-thinking, 33-yr old adult married woman &amp; mother. (I also happened to have an unfortunate inclination towards drinking-to-excess &amp; self-destruction.),\u201d she wrote on Facebook at the time.<\/p>\n<p>She still doesn\u2019t place blame on the governor for what happened, but noted in her essay that in the post-#MeToo era she came to realize that her then-boss had a responsibility to \u201chold the line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat didn\u2019t happen. But I didn\u2019t stumble into the space left open \u2014 I saw a possibility and went for it,\u201d she writes. \u201cBoth things are true: I am responsible for what I did. Power does not distribute consequences evenly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>For Newsom, she writes, the affair is merely a \u201cfootnote in a longer arc of ascent. For me, it is the fracture that split my life into before and after.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-02-15\/two-separate-lives-of-gavin-newsom-detailed-in-new-memoir\">In his memoir,<\/a> \u201cYoung Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery,\u201d published this year, Newsom acknowledges the liaison with Rippey, describing it as \u201cthe briefest of affairs.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He also writes that he admitted the betrayal to Tourk, a detail that Rippey takes issue with in her essay. She says she was the one who first broke the devastating news to her husband via email while she was at her parent\u2019s house in Napa and he was home in San Francisco with their young son. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut resentment is a luxury I can\u2019t afford,\u201d she writes. \u201cInstead, I return to gratitude, not for the affair, not for the pain I caused Alex, but for the totality of what followed. I required something catastrophic to change direction. Something that made the cost of going back \u2014 of drinking again \u2014 unthinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the affair, Rippey and Tourk divorced but continued to co-parent their son, who is now an adult. She\u2019s been sober for 20 years, she writes, remarried and now has a son with her second husband.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe damage was mine,\u201d she writes at the conclusion of her essay. \u201cBut so is the life rebuilt in its wake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An aide involved in an affair with Gavin Newsom more than 20 years ago, when he was mayor of San Francisco, detailed their relationship and her journey to sobriety in an essay published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday. Although Ruby Rippey, 54, has spoken previously about her relationship with the now-governor, her first-person essay offers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/02063b0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x1575+0+186\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F50%2F19%2F09f663784248a8724277c4d83b96%2Fap061025040587a.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}