What Gavin Newsom Blames For Kimberly Guilfoyle's Stark Change Since Their Split

Without knowing their history, one might assume California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle never ran in the same social circles. However, Newsom and Guilfoyle were once married and were even dubbed the First Couple of San Francisco, while Newsom served as mayor in 2004. And while the old "opposites attract" adage might be to blame, Newsom argues there was a time when they weren't that different.

Guilfoyle and Newsom have both undergone major life changes since their 2006 divorce. Guilfoyle married – and later divorced — New York furniture heir Eric Villency, with whom she had one son, Ronan Anthony Villency, and Newsom married Jennifer Siebel. They also embarked on new career paths. Newsom went from mayor to lieutenant governor to the governor, while Guilfoyle transitioned from an attorney to an on-air legal analyst and Donald Trump employee.

In a February 2023 episode of "The Axe Files with David Axelrod" podcast, Newsom discussed his perception of Guilfoyle's changes since their breakup. According to the Democratic governor, Guilfoyle "fell prey" to the culture on the other side of the political spectrum.

Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle first met at a political fundraiser in 1994, and both public figures were instantly attracted to one another physically and professionally. "What really attracted me to Kimberly, what she's all about, is her belief in people and their power to be expressive," Newsom said in a Harper's Bazaar feature that included a controversial photograph of the young, glamorous couple sprawled out on an expensive oriental rug. "Though we didn't see each other for years, I was always asking, 'Whatever happened to that DA from LA?'"

The pair tied the knot in 2001 and divorced five years later in 2006. Newsom and Guilfoyle blamed their divorce on their long-distance arrangement — Guilfoyle had moved to New York to work in television, and Newsom was still working on the West Coast. Both parties spoke highly of each other immediately following the split, insisting they still had love and respect for one another and planned to stay friends post-breakup. However, over two decades later, Newsom and Guilfoyle now seem diametrically opposed to one another.

"She was a different person," Newsom recalled to podcast host David Axelrod. "She's whip-smart, and she fell prey, I think, to the culture at Fox in a deep way. She would disagree with that assessment. She'd perhaps suggest she found the light."

Shortly after Gavin Newsom's interview on the CNN podcast aired, Kimberly Guilfoyle had a chance to respond publicly when she visited "The Charlie Kirk Show." Just as her ex-husband suspected, she vehemently denied that she was the one who changed after their breakup. The avid Donald Trump supporter (and current fiancé to the former president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.) insisted she had been a registered Republican since she reached voting age.

"Gavin knows this," she said. "I didn't change. He did. He used to be so proud to fight for small businesses, for entrepreneurs, for those hard-working 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. This is somebody who was a small business owner who worked very hard to try to bring those jobs and energy to San Francisco and not penalize people with small businesses. Now, as governor of California, he is destroying them. There has to be some accountability there."

Guilfoyle said she fully believed Newsom would attempt to run for president. In the Harper's Bazaar interview published when the two were still married, the former Fox News personality said she would vote for him — although she's likely changed her tune since then.