Sacramento, California - A former aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom recently came forward with more details about an affair they had over a decade ago.

In an essay recently published in Vanity Fair, former staffer Ruby Rippey recounted how their affair began in the summer of 2005 – when Newsom was mayor of San Francisco and she was in the throes of cocaine and alcohol addiction.

It wasn't until May 2006 that the affair ended after she checked herself into rehab. By January 2007, she confessed to her husband, Newsom's campaign manager Alex Tourk.

She went on to take responsibility for her actions, but pointed out that the end results have been vastly different for each of them.

Donald Trump Trump mocks Sheinbaum's pronunciation of "Mexico" in shock racist rant

"For my former boss, it is a footnote in a longer arc of ascent. For me, it is the fracture that split my life into before and after," Rippey wrote.

The affair becoming public was a big scandal for Newsom, who held an emergency press conference in which he admitted to the allegations but refused to share details.

That same year, he was re-elected with over 73% of the vote and went on to get remarried, start a family, and later become governor.

In recent years, his popularity has been steadily rising, and he has expressed interest in possibly running for president in 2028, which would bring his past and personal life under heavy scrutiny.

In her piece, Rippey also disputed Newsom's recounting of their relationship in a memoir he published earlier this year, in which he described it as "the stupidest and also briefest of affairs" and took credit for confessing to Tourk.

Another notable revelation to come out of the essay is Rippey's claim that as she was considering sharing her story publicly, then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris called her to ask that she keep quiet.

"I wouldn't say anything right now, Ruby. Just pause. More time will give you better perspective," the politician allegedly told Rippey at the time.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Newsom told CNN that the governor "acknowledged his role and publicly apologized nearly two decades ago" and "does not have anything further to add."