Who is Ruby Rippey Gibney? Jennifer Newsom took Harvey Weinstein's help to deal with Gavin’s infamous affair
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: California Gov Gavin Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom took the stand in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial in Los Angeles alleging he raped her in a hotel room in 2005 when she was an up-and-coming filmmaker and producer in the industry. The reason why Siebel came in touch with Weinstein was to ask for help in dealing with a sex scandal involving her husband and Ruby Rippey-Tourk (now Ruby Rippey Gibney).
Siebel alleged that Weinstein, now 70, raped her in 2005 at the Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills when she was 31 after she got in touch with him regarding her husband's infamous affair. At the time Newsom was the Mayor of San Francisco and had had an affair with Ruby Rippey. According to a filing submitted by Harvey's lawyers, Siebel approached him to ask for guidance regarding the affair arguing that the encounter between them was consensual, reported Daily Mail. The defense, on Thursday, November 17, sought permission from Judge Lisa Lench to read to the jury emails which Siebel sent to Weinstein after the alleged attack. Gavin Newsom's 2005 affair with Rippey-Tourk was ultimately made public in 2007 and he also publicly apologized for it.
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As per NBC News, Newsom immediately apologized for the affair at the City Hall conference and said, "I’m deeply sorry. I want to make it clear that everything you’ve read is true and I’m deeply sorry about that." He continued, "I hurt someone I care deeply about, Alex Tourk and his family and friends, and that is something I’m deeply sad about and sorry for." He explained that it was a "lapse of judgement."
Who is Ruby Rippey Gibney?
Ruby Rippey Gibney, at the time of the affair with Newsom, was married to his good friend and senior advisor Alex Tourk, and was last known to be a city hall employee as the mayor’s appointment secretary. Tourk filed for divorce right after the news of the affair was made public and Rippey went on to marry Ryan Gibney and now has two children. She has maintained that her relationship with Newsom was mutual and nothing was forced.
Back in 2018 during the peak of #MeToo movement, Ruby showed support but denied the implication of it in her said post. In a now-deleted Facebook post, she wrote, "I fully support the #metoo movement. In this particular instance, however, I am doubtful that it applies. Yes, I was a subordinate, but I was also a free-thinking, 33-year-old old adult married woman & mother. (I also happened to have an unfortunate inclination towards drinking-to-excess & self-destruction.)" When she finally sought help, she had to reveal the details of her relationship to her then-husband Alex in February 2007 as part of a rehab program for substance abuse. She is now working as Chair of the Alcohol & Drug Advisory Board of Marin County.
