Kamala Harris 'Told Gavin Newsom's Former Mistress to Pause and Not Make a Public Comment' About Their Steamy Affair
Gavin Newsom's former mistress spoke up with some insight into Kamala Harris.
July 29 2026, Published 11:38 a.m. ET
Former Vice President Kamala Harris has been dragged into California Governor Gavin Newsom's latest scandal.
The woman who had an affair with Newsom, Ruby Rippey, claimed Harris encouraged her to stay silent about the affair back in 2005. With that feedback in mind, Rippey, who was an aide under Newsom at the time, remained quiet until now, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Kamala Harris Offers Ruby Rippey Advice
Ruby Rippey recalled a direct phone call from Harris as the details went public.
At the time, Newsom was the mayor of San Francisco. When the press heard news of an affair in his office, Newsom's girlfriend at the time publicly played down the fling, chalking it up to "a few nothing incidents."
Rippey was publicly branded "bad news."
She was offered opportunities to speak, according to her explosive essay in Vanity Fair, including a potential memoir offer. However, Harris, who was the district attorney at the time, gave her a phone call.
Rippey recalled Harris, whom she called "a real girl's girl," allegedly telling her, "I wouldn’t say anything right now, Ruby. Just pause. More time will give you better perspective."
Harris' guidance was "the best advice I received," confessed Rippey. She reflected, realizing at the time she was still fresh into the emotional turbulence, "unable to make sense of anything, let alone speak clearly about it."
Rippey resolved, "So I stayed silent."
Rippey Opens Up About California Scandal
Rippey came forward with her perspective for the first time in an explosive essay.
The affair, which first went public in 2007, lasted intermittently from 2005 to 2006. Rippey was married at the time to Newsom's campaign manager Alex Tourk. Newsom, while separated from then-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle, was still legally married, with the divorce not yet finalized.
While the relationship didn't officially begin until 2005, Rippey claimed she felt the weight of Newsom's desire starting in 2004. She claimed in her essay he noticed him "looking at me."
Plus, she recalled the 58-year-old telling her, "You look really good." Rippey leaned into the desire, becoming more intentional with the clothes she wore to the office.
Gavin Newsom and Rippey's Affair Begins in 2005
Rippey claimed the boundaries broke down after a night at a friend's wedding.
In July 2005, Rippey recalled attending a wedding in Napa Valley. When the night turned to partying, her husband chose to leave while Rippey went back to an inn with Newsom.
She wrote, "I wake the next morning beside him, still dressed. I am cold, almost shivering, and my dress – the one my mother warned me not to wear – is soaked from the waist down. I had passed out."
"The boundaries begin to disintegrate," she claimed. It wasn't necessarily discreet, as Rippey claimed others in the office began to notice.
Nonetheless, they continued to meet periodically. She penned, "We meet, and we drink. There is s--, but it isn’t the point. The point is proximity – to power, to being chosen, to feeling newly visible."
For Rippey, "it feels like oxygen."
Rippey Accuses Newsom of Inaccuracies in Memoir
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Rippey read the memoir before the public.
Ultimately, Rippey resigned from her post in 2006 after battling with drugs and alcohol. She decided to get sober, which she did not believe would be possible in her professional position nor while staying in the affair.
She maintained the affair was not what caused her downward spiral, but rather it "just gave it somewhere to live."
In 2007, Rippey penned an email to her husband with the confession before returning home from rehab. When she returned home, Tourk was "measured" in his response. When Tourk eventually confronted Newsom, Rippey claimed, "there is no straight answer" about the affair.
Tourk's resignation sparked the media hysteria which would ultimately lead to Rippey's call with Harris. Newsom owned up to the affair.
"Everything you've heard and read is true," he claimed.
Rippey was later inspired to come forward after Newsom penned his own memoir.
In the pages of the text, according to Rippey, Newsom downplayed their relationship.
Plus, she alleged, Newsom falsely claimed he was the one who eventually confessed to Tourk.
