Ruby Rippey-Tourk published a detailed first-person essay in Vanity Fair on Tuesday, July 28, describing her affair with Gavin Newsom when he was the unmarried mayor of San Francisco more than 20 years ago. The essay, titled “How I Blew Up—Then Rebuilt—My Life,” marks Rippey’s first comprehensive public account of the 2005-2006 relationship and directly disputes Newsom’s characterization of it in his recently published memoir.
In his memoir “Young Man in a Hurry,” released in February 2026, Newsom described the affair as “the stupidest and briefest of affairs,” attributing it partly to his own drinking. Rippey contests this framing in her essay, arguing that Newsom’s account minimizes the relationship’s scope and duration and misrepresents key details about how it unfolded and ended.
Rippey served as Newsom’s appointments secretary at City Hall and was married to Alex Tourk, Newsom’s campaign manager and close friend—a detail that underscores the power imbalance and breach of trust central to her account. In the essay, Rippey details that the affair occurred when she was 33 years old, a new mother, and struggling with alcohol and cocaine addiction. She describes how professional boundaries gradually eroded, detailing late-night encounters and meetings she orchestrated by scanning Newsom’s calendar and positioning herself where he would be.
A pivotal moment in Rippey’s account involves advice she sought after the affair became public in 2007. She credits Kamala Harris, then San Francisco’s district attorney, with giving her what she calls “the best advice” during that turbulent period. According to Rippey’s essay, Harris told her: “I wouldn’t say anything right now, Ruby. Just pause. More time will give you better perspective.” Rippey followed that counsel and remained largely silent for nearly two decades, a decision she now reflects on with complex feelings about agency and responsibility.
The essay also addresses the aftermath’s toll on those involved. Newsom’s then-wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom initially blamed Rippey publicly in 2007 before later apologizing. Rippey writes that she accepts responsibility for her choices while also acknowledging the power differential that existed between her and Newsom as her employer. She states: “Power does not need to coerce. It only needs to exist. The responsibility to hold the line belongs to the one who holds the power.”
The timing of Rippey’s essay carries political weight. Newsom, now 58, is widely viewed as a potential contender for the 2028 presidential race, and the resurfacing of this 20-year-old scandal—now told from Rippey’s perspective rather than Newsom’s—complicates his public narrative at a sensitive moment. The essay reopens questions about accountability, power dynamics in politics, and how historical scandals are remembered and retold.
Newsom’s office responded through a spokesperson, though the full substance of his response was not detailed in initial coverage. The governor’s memoir itself had positioned the affair as a youthful mistake amid personal struggles, but Rippey’s detailed counter-narrative challenges that framing and demands a more nuanced reckoning with what occurred.
Sources
- Vanity Fair — Ruby Rippey’s essay “How I Blew Up—Then Rebuilt—My Life,” published July 28, 2026
- The New York Times — Coverage of Rippey’s essay and her account of the affair, published July 28, 2026
- CNN — Reporting on Rippey’s essay and its details about the 2005-2006 affair, published July 28, 2026
- The Hill — Coverage detailing Kamala Harris’s advice to Rippey and her dispute with Newsom’s memoir account, published July 28, 2026
- USA Today — Reporting on Rippey’s essay and her role as Newsom’s appointments secretary, published July 28, 2026
- Los Angeles Times — Coverage of Rippey’s account of the affair occurring when she was a new mother struggling with addiction, published July 28, 2026
- Politico — Analysis of how Rippey’s account challenges Newsom’s version and the political implications, published July 28, 2026
