Ruby Rippey-Gibney, the former aide whose affair with then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom destroyed her marriage and his campaign manager, has broken a 20-year silence in a Vanity Fair essay, accusing the governor of rewriting history. Her account directly contradicts the memoir he released as he positions himself for a 2028 presidential run.
The affair, which took place in 2005-2006 while she was married to Newsom's campaign manager Alex Tourk, was a defining scandal in Newsom's political career. Tourk resigned after confronting the mayor, who later called it a "personal lapse of judgment." But Rippey-Gibney says Newsom's memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, distorts what actually happened.
Newsom wrote that the affair was "the stupidest and also briefest of affairs," claiming Rippey "was among a group of staffers who came to my apartment for a party" and "was the last to leave." Rippey-Gibney disputes this, describing instead a months-long relationship that included encounters at his penthouse and a room at the W Hotel in Los Angeles. She also challenges Newsom's claim that he was the one who "came clean" to her husband. "That detail — subtle but significant — is the one that stays with me," she wrote. "It reads — to me, at least — as a version of events that gives him credit for something I had already done."
The New York Post reported that Rippey-Gibney was spotted walking her dog near her Marin County home shortly after the essay went viral, appearing "carefree and relaxed." Newsom's office declined to comment.
The essay also revisits comments made by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who was dating the future governor when the affair became public. Siebel Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle that "the woman is the culprit" and called Rippey-Gibney "bad news," despite describing herself as "a total woman's woman." The Independent noted that Siebel Newsom doubled down on those remarks even after the scandal broke.
Rippey-Gibney's account paints a picture of a powerful man using his position to exploit a subordinate while letting her take the fall. "Power does not distribute consequences evenly," she wrote. The same press corps that spent years dissecting Donald Trump's personal life has shown little interest in scrutinizing a Democrat governor's self-serving memoir. The double standard is glaring.
