Ruby Rippey provides first public account of her affair with Gavin Newsom, highlighting power dynamics and personal growth.
Ruby Rippey has released a detailed essay in Vanity Fair providing the first public account of her affair with Gavin Newsom during his tenure as mayor of San Francisco. While Newsom publicly admitted to the relationship in 2007, Rippey’s new narrative offers a more nuanced perspective on the events. She describes a monthslong, on-and-off affair that began in 2005, coinciding with her personal struggles with alcoholism. Rippey critiques Newsom’s recent memoir, where he characterized the affair as the "briefest of affairs" and claimed to have "come clean" to his deputy chief of staff. Rippey argues that his description gives him undue credit for the disclosure, noting that she was already aware of the situation. She emphasizes that the relationship was consensual, correcting a previous public remark by Jennifer Siebel Newsom that made the affair seem nonconsensual. As a potential 2028 presidential contender, Newsom’s personal history remains relevant. The governor’s office stated that Newsom has already addressed this chapter of his life and has nothing further to add, while Rippey reflects on how the affair served as a catalyst for her journey toward sobriety.