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Former Aide Rebuts Gavin Newsom's Memoir Over 2005 Affair

Rippey's first-person essay reframes who disclosed the relationship and puts new pressure on Newsom's national prospects.

Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who once worked as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's appointment secretary, wrote a first-person account of her affair with Newsom in a new Vanity Fair article published Tuesday.
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Then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom held a press conference where he admitted to an affair with his appointment secretary, the wife of his campaign manager, on Feb. 1, 2007.
California Governor Gavin Newsom waits to give remarks at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, May 19.

Overview

  • Ruby Rippey published a first-person essay in Vanity Fair on Tuesday, July 28, that recounts a months-long 2005–2006 affair with then-mayor Gavin Newsom and says parts of his memoir misstate the sequence of disclosures.
  • Rippey disputes Newsom's claim that he 'came clean' to her then-husband, saying she told Alex Tourk first and that the memoir's wording gives him credit for her confession.
  • She describes the relationship as consensual while also stressing a workplace power imbalance, and she links the episode to a spiral of alcohol and cocaine use that led her to enter rehab in May 2006 and later achieve about 20 years of sobriety.
  • Newsom's office, through spokesperson Izzy Gardon, repeated that he publicly acknowledged and apologized for the conduct nearly two decades ago and declined further comment, and no new legal actions or official probes have been reported.
  • Coverage of Rippey's essay spans outlets across the political spectrum and could sharpen scrutiny of Newsom's record as he builds a national profile, with effects likely to show in campaign messaging and media attention if he pursues a 2028 bid.