The Heartbreaking Loss Of Kimberly Guilfoyle's Mother Changed Her Entire Life

Getting her start as a prosecuting attorney in the Bay Area, Kimberly Guilfoyle knows what it's like to fight for others. It's a skill she says she inherited from childhood. Losing her mother at a young age and growing up with what she calls a "tough-love" father catalyzed Guilfoyle's successful career in law, politics, and the media. Where her father taught her how to live life with zero regrets, her mother taught her how to generously serve others.

After working in the district attorney's office in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, Guilfoyle worked as a legal analyst for several years before joining "The Five" team at Fox News. During Donald Trump's 2020 fight for the presidency, the media mogul switched to campaign work, with which she was already familiar after working on her ex-husband Gavin Newsom's campaign for mayor of San Francisco in 2003. She continued participating in Trump's presidential campaign four years later, even speaking at the 2024 Republican National Convention. With so many professional achievements under her belt, Guilfoyle needed to write them all down. Her 2015 book "Making the Case: How to Be Your Own Best Advocate" recounts her tragic upbringing and transforming said tragedy into empowerment and motivation.

Kimberly Guilfoyle comes from a culturally diverse household, as her father, Anthony, immigrated from County Clare, Ireland, and her mother, Mercedes, originated in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, per The Mercury. Her mother, who worked as a school teacher, passed away from leukemia when Guilfoyle was only 11 years old. While discussing her book with Mediaite, she recalled how such an immense loss motivated her to support others through tragedy, hence her career as a prosecutor. Her biggest lesson for people? "Don't make this life about you, it's about other people," she said.

Guilfoyle believes her mother's death made her grow up quicker than most children, having to step into the mother role for her 8-year-old brother. "When you're forced to survive, you learn to navigate for yourself and advocate for others," she told the outlet. The mom of one teenage son says that she learned her parenting skills from her own mother. In a 2020 Mother's Day post on Instagram, Guilfoyle shared a carousel of several family photos, including ones of her son, her mother and father, and her fiancé, Donald Trump Jr. "My mom taught me everything that it means to be an amazing mother," she wrote as part of the caption.