gavin newsome
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle in November 2003.
  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle were married for five years, from 2001 to 2006.
  • As the mayor and first lady of San Francisco, they were dubbed "the new Kennedys."
  • Guilfoyle went on to work in the Trump White House and is engaged to Donald Trump Jr.

Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who were married from 2001 to 2006, were once a high-profile political couple known as "the new Kennedys."

Their paths have diverged significantly since their time as mayor and first lady of San Francisco.

Newsom, whose push for marriage equality cemented him as a national figure in the Democratic party, went on to become governor of California. He married documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom in 2008.

Newsom has been floated as a possible replacement for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election in the unlikely event Biden drops out of the presidential race.

Guilfoyle, a former assistant district attorney turned Fox News host, became a conservative influencer and advisor to President Donald Trump in the White House. She is engaged to Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.

Newsom and Guilfoyle have occasionally acknowledged their shared past and exchanged barbs about their divergent political affiliations.

Here's a timeline of their relationship.

Circa 1994: Kimberly Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom met at a Democratic fundraiser.
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

San Francisco attorney Art Groza introduced the couple at a fundraiser for John Burton, who was then a member of the California State Assembly and went on to be elected to the House of Representatives, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

December 2001: Guilfoyle and Newsom got married seven years after they met.
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom at home
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom in their California home.

Newsom and Guilfoyle wed at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. At the time, Newsom worked as a county supervisor, and Guilfoyle was an assistant district attorney.

January 2004: Newsom was sworn in as mayor of San Francisco, and Guilfoyle moved to New York to host "Both Sides" on Court TV.
Kimberly Guilfoyle Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom takes the oath of office as Kimberly Guilfoyle holds the Bible.

Months later, Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle that living on different coasts had "taken a huge toll personally."

"The transcontinental marriage is tough — the only godsend is that we don't have kids," he said. "You give up your life in the traditional sense."

September 2004: A feature in Harper's Bazaar magazine dubbed them "the new Kennedys."
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2003
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle in December 2003.

One image from the Harper's Bazaar spread showed Guilfoyle and Newsom lying together in formalwear on a rug at Ann and Gordon Getty's house.

In the accompanying article, Newsom described their relationship as "a wonderful combination of being in love and extraordinarily proud."

January 2005: The couple jointly filed for divorce.
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom in 2004
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle attend a GQ party.

Newsom and Guilfoyle released a joint statement announcing the end of their marriage "with great sadness," The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"Unfortunately, the demands of our respective careers have made it too difficult for us to continue as a married couple," the statement said. "Over the past 10 years, we have developed a tremendous bond of love and respect for each other. That will never change. We will remain close friends. We ask for your understanding and consideration during this difficult time."

November 2005: Newsom and Guilfoyle reunited for a series of events, sparking reports they had gotten back together.
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle meet Prince Charles and Camilla in 2005
Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Camilla (now Queen Camilla) leave a performance of "Beach Blanket Babylon" with Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle in November 2005.

After the two were spotted together at Newsom's birthday party, a golf championship, and an outing with then-Prince Charles and Camilla during their royal visit, The San Francisco Chronicle described their marriage as "on-again, off again."

Guilfoyle gave a vague answer to the Chronicle when asked if she and Newsom had gotten back together.

"If I was standing back and looking at the situation, I would say it went great — these two people obviously love each other and get along very well," Guilfoyle told the Chronicle. "But I don't have an answer for you. We are not back together."

February 2006: Their divorce was finalized.
gavin newsom kimberly guillfoyle
Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guillfoyle in December 2003.

Guilfoyle told The San Francisco Chronicle that the divorce was amicable, and that she and Newsom shared a lawyer throughout the proceedings.

"We're very close, and we're going to remain that way," she said.

May 2006: Guilfoyle married businessman and furniture heir Eric Villency.
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Villency
Eric Villency and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Villency and Guilfoyle welcomed a son in October 2006. They divorced in November 2009, Newsweek reported.

January 2007: Newsom admitted to having an affair with his campaign manager's wife in 2005 while he and Guilfoyle were in the midst of their divorce.
Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference in 2007
Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference.

After Newsom's campaign manager, Alex Tourk, abruptly resigned for "personal" reasons, Newsom publicly apologized for the affair the next day, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"I want to make it clear that everything you've heard and read is true, and I'm deeply sorry about that," he said at a press conference. "I've hurt someone I care deeply about — Alex Tourk, and his friends and family. And that is something I have to live with."

July 2008: Newsom married documentary filmmaker and actress Jennifer Siebel.
Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Seibel on their wedding day
Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel.

Newsom and Siebel wed in Stevensville, Montana, on a ranch belonging to Siebel's parents, People magazine reported. Nancy Pelosi, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, and actor Jason Lewis were in attendance.

The couple now shares four children.

August 2017: Guilfoyle spoke highly of Newsom during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, which he went on to win.
Gavin Newsom speaks at a campaign rally in 2018.
Gavin Newsom speaks to the crowd at a campaign rally.

In a profile of Newsom in The Sacramento Bee, Guilfoyle described him as "an amazing 'ideas guy' in terms of having an idea, developing it and seeing it to fruition."

Newsom won the race for California governor in the 2018 midterm elections and took the oath of office in 2019.

2018: Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. went public as a couple in May. Newsom publicly addressed the relationship for the first time in September.
don jr kimberly guilfoyle
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr.

After Guilfoyle and Trump Jr.'s relationship became public in May 2018, Newsom told KQED host Lily Jamali that he was "still trying to come to grips with all of it."

"I wish her well, and them well," he said. "And we see the world, clearly, with a different set of eyes politically."

August 2020: Newsom declined to comment after Guilfoyle attacked California in her speech at the Republican National Convention.
Kimberly Guilfoyle RNC
Kimberly Guilfoyle pre-records her address to the Republican National Convention.

"If you want to see the Socialist Biden Harris future for our country, just take a look at California," Guilfoyle said in her speech. "It is a place of immense wealth, immeasurable innovation, and immaculate environment, and the Democrats turned it into a land of discarded heroin needles in parks, riots in streets, and blackouts in homes."

Fox News host Elex Michaelson asked the California governor if he had a response. Newsom opted to "respectfully defer to the next question."

September 2022: Newsom said that he and Guilfoyle weren't in touch anymore.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

When MSNBC host Alex Wagner asked if he and Guilfoyle still spoke, Newsom replied, "Nope. Not lately."

"It must be weird for you," Wagner said.

"Yeah, of course," Newsom replied.

February 2023: Newsom said that Guilfoyle was a "different person" when they were married and that she "fell prey" to the culture at Fox News.
Gavin Newsom Bill Clinton Kimberly Guilfoyle
Former President Bill Clinton at a campaign rally with Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2003.

On an episode of CNN's "The Axe Files" podcast, Newsom said Guilfoyle was "spending a lot of time in Democratic circles" while they were married, citing her work for a progressive district attorney and connection to fellow California attorney Kamala Harris.

"She fell prey, I think, to the culture at Fox in a deep way," Newsom said of Guilfoyle. "She would disagree with that assessment, she would perhaps suggest that she found the light."

February 2023: Guilfoyle hit back, saying that Newsom was now "unrecognizable" and had "fallen prey" to the "radical left."
Donald Trump Jr. and fiance Kimberly Guilfoyle
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. at a campaign event.

On an episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" later that week, Guilfoyle called Newsom's comments "absurd," adding that she was a registered Republican while they were married and that it was Newsom who had changed drastically.

"I didn't change, he did," she said. "He used to be so proud to fight for small business, for entrepreneurs, for those hardworking men and women. And he's fallen prey to the left, the radical left, that is pushing him so far to the left that it's unrecognizable."

Guilfoyle also said that she thought Newsom would run for president in 2024 and that it's something he "wants very badly."

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