An old interview of Gavin Newsom, then 38, exploding at a news reporter who grilled him about allegedly giving alcohol to his 19-year-old girlfriend has gone viral. 

The California Governor, who was then Mayor of San Francisco, was asked in 2006 about his relationship with Brittanie Mountz, a model and restaurant hostess. 

Newsom briefly dated the teenager in September of that year, despite an almost 20-year age gap, and their relationship made headlines when she was photographed holding a wine glass at the opening of a Bay Area shopping mall.

Resurfaced video shows Newsom exploding at a reporter who dared to ask him about whether he gave Mountz the alcohol while she was under the legal drinking age.

The clip begins with the journalist asking Newsom about the San Francisco Chronicle article by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross which was the first to air the allegations.  

‘It hasn’t been a very easy week for you, and I wondered whether you had any comment on the Matier and Ross story about the drinking?’ he asked. 

Newsom responded by immediately marching away from the scene, while scolding the reporter for taking a ‘cheap shot’ at him.  

‘You can’t help yourself – you cannot!’ a young Newsom fumed at the journalist. 

Newsom angrily stomped away from the scene – but managed to continue barking back at the reporter all the while.  

‘Just know, for the record, it’s increasingly impossible to have a conversation with you,’ he shouted, as he fled down a flight of stairs and the cameras kept rolling. 

An old interview of Gavin Newsom, then 38, exploding at a news reporter who grilled him about allegedly giving alcohol to his 19-year-old girlfriend has gone viral. A screengrab is pictured

Resurfaced video shows Newsom exploding at a reporter who dared to ask him about whether he gave Brittanie Mountz alcohol while she was under the legal drinking age

Brittanie Mountz was linked to Newsom in the press when he was mayor of San Francisco

‘Just know, it’s not personal when I walk by you. If you just send some other reporters it’s going to be a lot easier.’

‘It’s not personal here, either,’ the reporter hit back. 

‘You keep missing a lot of facts… let me tell you, the investigation is not helped by a lot of things that have been reported,’ Newsom said, referring to a probe into whether he supplied Mountz with alcohol, which did not result in any charges being brought. 

‘It’s just a story, mayor,’ the reporter said calmly, as Newsom climbed into the back of his car and his security guard slammed the door. 

The video of Newsom’s tantrum has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on X in recent days, while thrusting the decades-old scandal back into the spotlight. 

Mountz was 19 when they started dating, and she had either just turned 20 or was about to turn 20 when they attended the shopping mall event together which sparked the scandal. The legal drinking age is 21.  

The Daily Mail has contacted the California Governor’s office for comment. 

In the same year the video was filmed, the 2028 White House hopeful began dating Jennifer Siebel, who became his wife two years later. 

The tale of Newsom’s colorful love life goes back to the early 1990s when he dated kindergarten teacher Kelley Phleger for five years. Later, she tied the knot with Miami Vice actor Don Johnson, to whom she is still married.

Newsom briefly dated the teenager in September 2006, despite an almost 20-year age gap

Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom are pictured waving to supporters during a gubernatorial election night event on November 6, 2018 in Los Angeles

Newsom then married Kimberly Guilfoyle in 2001 and they divorced in 2006, while he was Mayor of San Francisco. She was later engaged to Donald Trump Jr.

The then-mayor was then photographed, on September 6, 2006, walking the red carpet at the opening night of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, with 19-year-old Brittanie Mountz, when he was 38.

Newsom later denied he was dating Mountz. He told the New York Times: ‘She was a friend. I won’t go into details. Dating is not a term I would use. But friendship, yes.’

Soon after, he was then set up on a blind date with Jennifer, who had previously dated George Clooney.

Jennifer later revealed that, shortly after they began seeing each other, Newsom told her: ‘You’re not going to want to talk to me after tomorrow. There’s a thing in the paper coming out about me and my 20-year-old girlfriend. I never dated her.’

After the article came out, Jennifer was repeatedly mistaken for Mountz.

‘You just have to have a sense of humor about those things,’ she later told People magazine.

But a worse scandal, one that rocked Newsom’s chances of a national political future, was about to hit.

Newsom had an affair with his campaign adviser’s wife Ruby Rippey Gibney in 2005

Jennifer, whom the governor married in 2008, watches her husband on TV in 2023

In 2007 Newsom publicly admitted to having had an affair two years earlier with his City Hall appointments secretary.

The employee, Ruby Rippey Gibney, was at the time married to his good friend and campaign adviser, Alex Tourk.

‘I am deeply sorry,’ Newsom said in a written statement the time. ‘I humbly ask all of those I have hurt for their forgiveness. I will not let my personal failures impact my public duties.

‘I believe the best way I can atone for what I have done is to focus every day on helping to make this a better city. That is what I intend to do.’

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle in 2007, Jennifer, his future wife, defended him and blamed Gibney.

‘I shouldn’t say this, but there are two sides to every story,’ she said. ‘If people did research into the scandal…the woman is the culprit. Alex Tourk is a nice man and it saddens me that his wife did that to him.’

She later apologized for those comments, saying: ‘I am deeply sorry that I have made some public statements in the past few days that have hurt Alex and Ruby Tourk and everyone else involved in this issue.

‘This is a very painful situation for everyone involved and, in my case, it lead to an expression of frustration that I profoundly regret.

‘I have tried to see Ruby’s side of the story but unfortunately everyone near to her has stories and says she is bad news.’

The Tourk marriage ended after the affair and Gibney quit her job at City Hall.