Everything We Know About The Allegations Against Kamala Harris' Husband Doug Emhoff
Note: This article discusses allegations of domestic abuse.
Unsettling information about Vice President Kamala Harris' husband Dough Emhoff has surfaced, painting the second gentleman as an abusive boyfriend. According to three friends of the victim who talked to DailyMail.com, Emhoff allegedly struck his then-girlfriend in the face in May 2012, a year before he met Harris, his now wife. The slap was so forceful that it supposedly caused her to spin around, the sources claimed.
The alleged incident happened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival event in France, which Emhoff attended as a plus-one with his now ex, whose name DailyMail.com kept anonymous. They did, however, refer to her by the pseudonym Jane, describing her as a successful New York attorney. According to one of Jane's friends, Emhoff — who was reportedly drunk at the time — assaulted his girlfriend while in line at the valet. "It was hard to hear her because she was sobbing," the unnamed friend told the outlet of his call with Jane after the incident.
The abuse allegations shot Harris' previous remarks on domestic abuse back into the spotlight, with many social media users calling her out for being a hypocrite. Namely, the vice president was one of many Democrats who condemned Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's sexual assault allegations in 2018.
Sources claim Doug Emhoff drunkenly slapped his girlfriend in the face, and she slapped back
According to one of the three unidentified friends of Doug Emhoff's ex-girlfriend, the woman Daily Mail called "Jane" and the second gentleman met on Match.com in March 2012 and their relationship became very serious very quickly. According to the outlet, Jane received tickets to the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) Gala dinner held in May 2012, in the south of France, and took Emhoff, her new boyfriend. "You would have thought it was this fairytale trip," said one of her friends, who DailyMail.com describes as a female attorney. The woman claimed the facade was shattered when Jane put her hand on the valet attendant's shoulder to pay for quicker service and was allegedly met with a slap to the face from Emhoff. "She was so furious, she slapped him on one side, and then on the other cheek with the other hand," her attorney friend told the outlet.
In the wake of the allegations against Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris is being called out by social media users, who have reminded the VP that she once passionately called out Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh for his own sexual misconduct allegations. A 2019 letter to House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler from Harris (obtained by Axios) asked to investigate Kavanaugh after bombshell reports of multiple women accusing the justice of sexual assault.
Harris has also posted on social media to voice her support for sexual assault victims. In a 2018 post on X, formerly Twitter, Harris wrote: "Wore black today in support of all survivors of sexual assault or abuse. We won't let them be silenced or ignored. #BelieveSurvivors." Opinion writer Jennifer Oliver O'Connell wrote in an October 2024 repost: "Oooh, Kamala. This did not age well."
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.