PERSONAL HISTORY

How I Blew Up—Then Rebuilt—My Life


When news of her affair with Gavin Newsom exploded into the public eye, it was only the outward mark of a long-rippling private implosion. In the wreckage of the scandal, Ruby Rippey faced her demons but lost her voice. Twenty years later, she is ready to share her story.
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HER STORY Rippey writes that Kamala Harris advised her to pause before speaking out: “More time will give you better perspective.”Photographer Ryan Pfluger

I have a friend in recovery who says her family was blindsided when she got sober. No one had any idea; she’d hidden it well. That wasn’t my story. When I entered rehab, no one was shocked, only relieved. My drinking had stopped being private some time ago.

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