Kimberly Guilfoyle, now serving as U.S. Ambassador to Greece, liked an Instagram post spotlighting ex-husband Gavin Newsom's 2007 affair scandal, just as the woman at the center of it prepares to go public in Vanity Fair.
The post, published July 15 by the Instagram account The California Post, revisited the relationship between Newsom and Ruby Rippey-Gibney, his former appointments secretary at San Francisco City Hall. Guilfoyle's like surfaced the same day, SheFinds reported, drawing fresh attention to a scandal that Newsom once called "a serious lapse in judgment."
Rippey-Gibney is reportedly preparing an upcoming Vanity Fair feature in which she plans to share her own perspective on the affair. No publication date has been confirmed, and Vanity Fair has not publicly verified the piece. But the timing of Guilfoyle's Instagram activity, a single tap on a post dredging up the worst chapter of Newsom's personal record, landed like a well-placed reminder that not everyone has moved on.
The original scandal broke in 2007, when it emerged that Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, had carried on a relationship with Rippey-Gibney while she worked in his office. She was married at the time to Alex Tourk, who served as Newsom's close friend, campaign manager, and chief of staff.
Tourk resigned after learning about the affair. Newsom issued a public apology, framing the relationship as "a serious lapse in judgment." The episode threatened to upend his political trajectory, though Newsom ultimately survived it and went on to win the California governorship.
Guilfoyle and Newsom married in 2001, separated in 2004, and finalized their divorce in 2006, a year before the affair became public. The two have taken sharply different political paths since. Guilfoyle became a prominent supporter of Donald Trump and was later engaged to Donald Trump Jr. before the pair split in 2024.
Despite the political distance, Guilfoyle said during her first interview as ambassador that she and Newsom still have "a very good relationship." The Instagram like complicates that framing, at minimum.
What makes the timing notable is the reported Vanity Fair piece. Rippey-Gibney has remained largely out of the public eye since the 2007 fallout. A high-profile magazine feature would mark the first time she has given her account of the relationship in a major outlet, putting the scandal back in front of a national audience at a moment when Newsom is already under political pressure.
Newsom has faced a Department of Justice investigation that he has publicly attributed to political motivations, claiming the probe was directed at him because of a potential 2028 presidential bid. Fellow Democrats have offered little cover; Vice President Kamala Harris responded to questions about the probe with a terse brush-off.
A tell-all from the woman at the center of his most damaging personal scandal would add another front to an already difficult stretch. And Guilfoyle, from her ambassadorial post in Athens, appears content to make sure no one misses it.
Guilfoyle's tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Greece has not been without its own controversies. She drew criticism from Greek commentators over a McDonald's ribbon-cutting in Athens, an event her detractors called beneath the dignity of the post. Still, Guilfoyle has maintained a visible public presence and shown no reluctance to engage on politically charged topics, including, now, her ex-husband's past.
The Instagram like itself is a small gesture. No public statement accompanied it. Guilfoyle did not comment on the post or address it in any other forum. But in the economy of social media signaling, a like from the former wife of the man whose affair is about to be re-litigated in a national magazine carries weight that a press release could not.
Newsom's political survival after 2007 was remarkable by any standard. A sitting mayor admitted to an affair with a subordinate who was married to his own campaign manager, and he went on to become governor of the nation's most populous state. The episode faded from the national conversation as Newsom climbed. Rippey-Gibney's reported decision to speak now threatens to undo nearly two decades of careful distance from the story.
Alex Tourk lost his job and his marriage. Newsom kept his career. The question Rippey-Gibney's Vanity Fair feature may force is whether the people who paid the price for that "serious lapse in judgment" have had their say, and whether the public record is as settled as Newsom would prefer.
Guilfoyle, for her part, answered that question with a single tap on a screen. Sometimes that says enough.
