Little-Known Facts About Kimberly Guilfoyle

Kimberly Guilfoyle may not be a politician, but she has become a well-known figure in the Republican world. It seems to have started with her time working as a host on Fox News from 2006 to 2018. Then that attention skyrocketed, likely in large part to her relationship with Donald Trump Jr. and her support of Donald Trump as president; Guilfoyle and Trump Jr. confirmed their engagement in 2022. Her influence is so great that she was asked to speak at the Republican National Convention in 2020 and in 2024. At the latter event, one of Guilfoyle's outfits was so inappropriate, even her fans took her to task.

Even though Guilfoyle is now firmly in the Republican camp, there was a time when she was on the other side of the political spectrum and married to Gavin Newsom. Guilfoyle became the first lady of San Francisco (which is also where she grew up) when Newsom was elected mayor of the city in 2003. The two divorced in early 2005.

There's a lot that's known about Guilfoyle, thanks to her time on TV and her high-profile relationships with some pretty heavy hitters from two poles of the political world. But there's still plenty of niche facts about Guilfoyle that you may not know.

Kimberly Guilfoyle doesn't really give off that much of a sporty vibe with her glamorous looks for public political and philanthropic events, but she loves sports and has since childhood. One formative sports related moment came when Guilfoyle was in second grade. She was in love with soccer and wanted to play. But it took some work for her to get on the team; it turns out, there was no girls' team, but there was one for boys. Guilfoyle (and her mother) didn't let that stand in the way of her dreams.

In 2014, she recalled to Cosmopolitan that her mom went to the coach and said, "Please let Kimberly try out to play with the boys, but don't just take her because I'm asking you; take her if she's good enough. All I ask is that you give her a chance, make the exception, and make it an option for other girls." Guilfoyle happily did end up on that team, and she seems to have paved the way for another girl to join as well. Speaking to SFGate about her childhood, she said, "I remember feeling safe and happy and like there was nothing in the world a boy could do that a little girl couldn't — and that has carried over all my life."

Kimberly Guilfoyle had big ambitions for herself when she was growing up. One of those included going to law school — something that is notoriously not cheap. So for a time, to help earn money for law school, she worked multiple jobs, including as a model.

One of her gigs was for none other than Victoria's Secret. She wasn't in the top tier of Victoria's Secret Angels, but even so, it's a pretty impressive get for any model. In 2014, Guilfoyle told People that she'd gained a lot from being a model. "I met an incredible number of interesting people through modeling and really learned a lot about self-confidence and self-worth," she said.

In the September 2004 edition of Harper's Bazaar, Guilfoyle seemed to have used some of her modeling skills as she posed for photos with her then-husband Gavin Newsom for an article called "The New Kennedys." The photos featured a stylish and sophisticated look from Guilfoyle, a far cry from some of the more inappropriate outfits Guilfoyle has worn over the years.

Kimberly Guilfoyle took her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law, and she put it to good use. After graduation, she worked as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Kamala Harris also worked in the San Francisco DA's office before being elected as District Attorney in 2003. The two ended up clashing. In 2003, Guilfoyle claimed that Harris had tried to throw a wrench into her career — Harris has denied any interference and said that Guilfoyle was "a great lawyer, and I look forward to working with her," per SFGate.

Guilfoyle's real-life lawyer experience surely helped her out when she played a lawyer in the 2004 movie "Happily, Even After." It aired at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Guilfoyle's character defended Jake, played by Jason Behr, to a judge played by Ed Asner. Years later in 2016, she shared a clip from the movie on "The Five," in honor of Throwback Thursday.

One of Kimberly Guilfoyle's most notable cases while she was a prosecutor in San Fransico was the Diane Whipple dog mauling. Because of her involvement with the case, Guilfoyle had to be put under 24/7 police surveillance after a hit was allegedly put out on her life, according to a report from SFGate.

To understand why that happened, it's important to know a few of the basics of the infamous case. It was in 2001, and Whipple was brutally attacked by a neighbor's dog outside of her apartment; she succumbed to her injuries. The dog was one of two Presa Canario dogs owned by Whipple's neighbors — Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller. The couple were lawyers, and they were caring for the dogs as a favor to one of their clients (who they also had legally adopted), Paul "Cornfed" Schneider, while he was in prison. The police protection of Guilfoyle came in response to a threat allegedly from Schneider.

The threat meant that when Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom got married in December 2001, bomb-sniffing dogs were taken through the church before the ceremony. She told Harper's Bazaar in 2004 about how her life had been impacted (via Politico): "I couldn't drive my car, and I had guards sleeping in my room, even though I was living with my dad, which worried me the most. I thought, God, help me if anything happens to my family because I've chosen to be a prosecutor."

In July 2018, Kimberly Guilfoyle suddenly left Fox News, where she'd been working there for 12 years as a popular legal analyst and host. Her ex-husband Gavin Newsom thought Guilfoyle's time at Fox News changed her into the conservative Donald Trump supporter she is today. Her unexpected and decidedly abrupt firing came with no public explanation given as to why, and it came a long time before her contract was up.

However, there have been persistent rumors that it may have had something to do with the accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct by her former assistant. In 2020, The New Yorker reported that Guilfoyle's assistant accused Guilfoyle of, among other things, being naked at home when her assistant had to see her, asking for commentary on her body, as well as showing her sexually explicit photos. The unnamed female assistant reportedly got paid over $4 million to settle the case.

Guilfoyle and her lawyer have vigorously denied any wrongdoing. However, during the Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit, emails from Rupert Murdoch, who had been the chair of Fox when Guilfoyle was there, came to light that seemed to confirm that Guilfoyle was let go from Fox because of "inappropriate behavior," per the East Bay Times.