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The Truth About Gavin Newsom’s Marriage

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Gavin Newsom’s road to the governor’s mansion ran through a marriage to a future Fox News star, a sex scandal that nearly ended his political career, and a blind date that turned into 13 years and four kids.

Before he was California’s governor, Gavin Newsom’s personal life played out almost as publicly as his politics. His first marriage, to prosecutor-turned-broadcaster Kimberly Guilfoyle, made the two of them local royalty in San Francisco. What followed — a divorce, an affair that became front-page news, and a second marriage to documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel — shaped the version of Newsom who eventually moved into the state’s top job. Here’s what actually happened.

• Newsom married Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2001; the pair were dubbed “the new Kennedys” in a 2004 Harper’s Bazaar profile before divorcing in 2006 after her broadcasting job pulled her to New York.
• In 2007, Newsom acknowledged an affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his own deputy chief of staff, in a scandal that rocked San Francisco City Hall.
• Newsom married Jennifer Siebel in July 2008 in Stevensville, Montana, with Nancy Pelosi and Willie Brown among the guests; the couple now has four children — Montana, Hunter, Brooklynn, and Dutch.

The Guilfoyle Years and a Bicoastal Breakup

Gavin Newsom married Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2001, back when he was still Mayor of San Francisco and she was a local prosecutor turning television commentator. Their glamour made them a genuine local phenomenon — a 2004 Harper’s Bazaar profile went so far as to brand them “the new Kennedys.” It didn’t last. According to SFGate‘s Matier & Ross column, the marriage ended amicably in 2006, undone largely by geography: Guilfoyle had taken a job with Court TV in New York, and the bicoastal arrangement simply wore the relationship down. Guilfoyle, of course, went on to a long run at Fox News and later became a prominent Trump campaign figure — a political trajectory about as far from Newsom’s as it’s possible to travel.

The Rippey-Tourk Scandal

The fallout from the divorce didn’t stay private for long. In 2007, Newsom publicly acknowledged an affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who at the time was married to Alex Tourk, Newsom’s own deputy chief of staff. Tourk resigned from the mayor’s office once the affair came to light, and the story became a defining crisis of Newsom’s mayoral tenure — the kind of scandal that, in a lot of political careers, ends the story rather than becoming a chapter in it.

The marriage that had made them “the new Kennedys” ended not with a scandal, but with two coasts and two careers pulling in opposite directions.

A Blind Date That Led to the Altar

Newsom’s path to a second marriage started with a set-up. In October 2006, he was introduced to actress and documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel on a blind date. Siebel, a Stanford graduate with screen credits including Mad Men, was already pivoting from acting toward directing. The relationship moved fast enough that by July 2008 the two were married at her parents’ ranch in Stevensville, Montana — a guest list that included Nancy Pelosi and Willie Brown, a reminder of just how deep Newsom’s Bay Area political roots ran even as he started a new personal chapter.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Own Platform

Siebel Newsom didn’t fade into a supporting role. She went on to direct Miss Representation in 2011 and The Mask You Live In in 2015, both acclaimed documentaries tackling gender and media representation. When Newsom was elected governor in 2018 and inaugurated in 2019, she became California’s First Partner — a title she’s used to build her own platform on gender equality and mental health rather than simply standing beside her husband’s. For related reading on political spouses navigating the public eye, see The Truth About Boris Johnson’s Wife and How Did Andrew Cuomo Really Want To Get Over Sandra Lee?.

What’s stuck around, thirteen years and four kids later, is a marriage that’s aged in almost total contrast to the one that preceded it. Guilfoyle built a second act on cable news and campaign stages opposing everything Newsom’s Sacramento office stands for. Siebel Newsom built hers making documentaries and running her own advocacy work out of the governor’s mansion — Montana, Hunter, Brooklynn, and Dutch growing up watching two very different versions of what their parents’ public lives could look like.