Ruby Rippey, the former aide who had an affair with California Governor Gavin Newsom two decades ago while married to his campaign manager, has publicly detailed the scandal for the first time, directly contradicting Newsom’s recent memoir account and highlighting how power shields the powerful from consequences.

Affair Details Surface After Two Decades

Rippey, now 54 and twenty years sober, revealed the relationship with then-San Francisco Mayor Newsom began at a Napa Valley wedding in July 2005, just months after she gave birth to a son with her husband Alex Tourk, who served as Newsom’s campaign manager. The affair lasted several months, with meetings at Newsom’s Russian Hill penthouse and Los Angeles hotels, fueled by alcohol and cocaine use according to Rippey’s account.

Rippey described the encounters bluntly in her essay, writing that she was attempting to balance a job, marriage, newborn baby, and affair while battling substance addiction. She characterized the relationship not as romance but as intoxication, emphasizing the role alcohol played during their meetings. Newsom was single at the time, having divorced Kimberly Guilfoyle, who now serves as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Greece.

Conflicting Accounts Spark New Questions

The former aide disputes key claims in Newsom’s recently published memoir. While Newsom wrote that he came clean to Tourk about the affair, Rippey maintains she confessed first via email to her then-husband in January 2007, unable to face him in person. Tourk subsequently confronted Newsom, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, before resigning from the campaign team.

Rippey specifically challenges Newsom’s characterization of events, writing that his memoir gives him credit for disclosure she had already made. She also contradicts his version of how the affair started, noting he described it beginning at a staff party at his apartment rather than the wedding she remembers. The scandal became public in February 2007 while Newsom was dating his now-wife, Jennifer Siebel.

Power And Accountability

Now sober and remarried, Rippey accepts responsibility for her role but concludes her essay with a pointed observation about inequality. She writes that power does not distribute consequences evenly, a clear reference to how the scandal affected their careers differently. While Tourk resigned and Rippey’s life was torn apart, Newsom continued his political ascent to become California’s governor, demonstrating how political power can insulate leaders from the fallout that destroys ordinary lives caught in similar circumstances.