Gov. Gavin Newsom has revealed new details on the drunken hijinks and philandering that defined his early years in politics, as he rampaged across San Francisco quaffing fine wines and scoring dates with socialites, actresses and party girls — all in his new book, Young Man In a Hurry, released on Tuesday.
The governor revealed he did not handle bachelorhood “with discernment” after his divorce from Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2005, when he was serving as mayor.
“After a twelve-hour day at work, the single guy showed up at the restaurant bar, ordered a glass of wine, chatted with an old customer, chatted with a new friend, ordered another glass of wine, ordered takeout, went home, and woke up the next morning believing what happened the night before had been a private matter.”
The memoir mentions several of Newsom’s past dalliances, though it conspicuously omits his brief relationship with Brittanie Mountz, who was only 19 years old when 38-year-old Newsom dated her. Newsom later told the New York Times the two only went on “a few dates.”
Newsom dated “dark and seductive” actress Sofia Milos — despite warnings from aides that she was a Scientologist trying to recruit him, according to Newsom’s memoir.
The relationship ended only when billionaire oil heir Gordon Getty, who bankrolled his wine company Plumpjack and his political career, told him to break things off in a “personal note” written in pen.
Getty “went down to his study and wrote me a personal note, in pen, that arrived at my apartment a few days later. ‘I’m very concerned about what’s going on between you and this woman. I don’t think she’s right for you.’”
Milos and Newsom went their “separate ways,” but Newsom’s partying would soon lead him down a disastrous path.
Instead, the mayor went to work and heard all about it from his aides.
“Ruby was drinking too much and so was I,” Newsom writes of his former appointments secretary, then called Ruby Rippey-Tourk.
She “was among a group of staggers who came to my apartment for a party. She was the last to leave. It was the stupidest and also briefest of affairs. A year later, to her credit, Ruby decided to come clean to her twelve-step group,” and Newsom later acknowledged the affair to the press.
He claimed in the book he attended counseling sessions at Delancey Street, a foundation focused on substance use, but his counselor ultimately told him he didn’t have a drinking problem.
“You can start drinking your f—king wine again,” the counselor is quoted as saying.
Newsom also discussed roughly five-year relationship with former girlfriend Kelly Phleger, now wife of actor Don Johnson.
The governor also divulged his early doubts about his marriage to Guilfoyle.
“One night, perhaps eight or nine months into our relationship, I sat alone in one of our Plumpjack delivery trucks and contemplated whether marrying Kimberly was the right thing to do. Did I love her? Did she love me?”
Newsom was warned by Billy Getty, son of Gordon Getty, to “be careful” with the then-San Francisco prosecutor before embarking on a couple’s trip to Hawaii with Getty’s now-wife, Vanessa Getty.
Newsom eventually landed a blind date with his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, in 2006.
Newsom, now a feminist fillmmaker was criticized for blaming Rippey-Tourk for her affair with Newsom, saying she was “the culprit” in the dalliance. She later apologized for the remarks.
