Former Gavin Newsom staffer Ruby Rippey has detailed an affair with the then-San Francisco mayor in a Vanity Fair essay, describing a sexually tense encounter that began at a wedding in July 2005. Rippey, who was married to Newsom's close aide Alex Tourk at the time, recounted a moment with Newsom outside a bathroom at a wedding where she said the "air changes."
According to the essay, after Rippey's husband left, she got into a car with Newsom. He massaged her feet as the vehicle transported them to a hotel, an experience she recalls as her last memory before waking up in bed with Newsom. Rippey wrote that she was still dressed and that her dress was soaked, indicating she had passed out and wet the bed.
The affair continued until May 2006, when Rippey entered drug rehabilitation. She confessed to her husband in mid-January 2007, and Tourk subsequently arranged a meeting with Newsom later that month.
The revelation of the affair in February 2007 significantly impacted San Francisco's political landscape. At the time the affair became public, Newsom was dating Jennifer Siebel, who is now the First Partner.
Newsom's office stated that the governor has nothing further to add to the essay. A spokesperson for Newsom, Izzy Gardon, said, "The governor acknowledged his role and publicly apologized for his conduct nearly two decades ago when he was still mayor. In the time since, he met his wife, started a family and has focused on serving Californians. He addressed this chapter of his life, including in his memoir, and out of respect for everyone involved, does not have anything further to add."