Gavin Newsom Responds As Ruby Rippey Finally Tells Her Side Of Their 20-Year-Old Affair Scandal
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a two-sentence response after his former aide and ex-mistress, Ruby Rippey, shared her side of their infamous affair scandal.
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleRuby Rippey, a former aide of California Governor Gavin Newsom, has finally shared her side of the highly publicized affair scandal that made waves around two decades ago. Newsom, who was serving as mayor at that time, was newly single and began an affair with Rippey, who was married to one of Newsom's closest advisors.
As Rippey publicly recounted her version of their affair for the first time, the governor also issued a brief response, acknowledging the events.
How did Gavin Newsom respond to Ruby Rippey's essay?
Shortly after Ruby Rippey's essay in Vanity Fair surfaced, Newsom's team issued a public statement on his behalf. The governor declined to address his ex-mistress's claims directly but chose to stand by his previous apology after the affair first became public in 2007.
In a statement released through his office, Newsom's spokesperson 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."
Further in the statement, the governor's spokesperson revealed that he had already previously "addressed this chapter of his life, including in his memoir," and "out of respect for everyone involved, does not have anything further to add."
Ruby Rippey shares her side of the affair and disputes part of Newsom's memoir
Rippey, who worked as Newsom's appointments secretary when he served as mayor of San Francisco, broke years of public silence by describing the affair that began in 2005 while she was struggling with alcoholism. She said the relationship unfolded during one of the darkest periods of her life and reflected on the lasting personal consequences.
The affair became public in January 2007 after Tourk, then one of Newsom's closest advisers and campaign managers, confronted the mayor. Newsom later held a press conference admitting the relationship and publicly apologized, calling his actions a serious personal failure. Despite the scandal, he went on to win reelection as San Francisco mayor later that year before eventually serving as California's lieutenant governor and governor.
In her first-ever account of the scandal, shared via a Vanity Fair essay, Rippey said she decided to speak publicly after reading Newsom's memoir, where he described their relationship as "the briefest of affairs" and wrote that he was the one who "came clean" to her then-husband, Alex Tourk. Reflecting on reading those passages, Rippey wrote:
"When I read the pages a few days later, a familiar feeling returns, the one of being written about by someone who assumes I won't answer. He describes it as 'the briefest of affairs.' His sister, he notes, observed that I was 'hanging a bit too close.'"
She went on to challenge Newsom's account that he was the one who informed Tourk about the affair. The former Newsom aide disputed the account, arguing she had already confessed the affair to Tourk before he confronted the then-Mayor. Rippey wrote:
"That detail—subtle but significant—is the one that stays with me. It reads—to me, at least—as a version of events that gives him credit for something I had already done. Technically defensible, perhaps, but one that leaves the unmistakable impression that he, not I, was the one who told Alex the truth."
Ruby Rippey's life now
Now 20 years sober, Rippey says she has rebuilt her life, remarried, and found peace after years of addiction and public scrutiny. While the affair permanently changed her life, it ultimately became the catalyst for her recovery. She has been married to Ryan Gibney, and her relationship with Tourk has now reached an amicable co-parenting bond.
In November 2025, Ruby and Ryan attended Tourk's wedding to his third wife, capturing the memory with a heartfelt caption: "Tonight I went to my ex-husband’s wedding to his third wife with my second husband. A really good night." It's indication enough that the former spouses have happily moved on.
Newsom, meanwhile, has moved on with actress-filmmaker and social activist Jennifer Siebel, whom he married in July 2008. The couple recently celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary.
Images: Ruby Rippey/Instagram, Gavin Newsom/Instagram
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