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Are you ready for a double dose of politics, crammed with colorful characters from both sides of the aisle? Today in VF, Aidan McLaughlin heads to DC’s hottest club—Lindsey Graham’s funeral—while Maxwell Adler catches up with Nithya Raman, an LA mayoral hopeful who’s made dramatic breaks with both current mayor Karen Bass and the DSA. More tomorrow!

HILLARY BUSIS,
FEATURES EDITOR

Lindsey Graham’s Funeral Was a Grand Exhibition of His Influence and His Servility

BY AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN

Official Washington came to a standstill this week to mark the passing of a South Carolina senator who won massive clout through his subservience to more powerful men.

Another Great Read

POLITICS

The Political Evolution of Nithya Raman

BY MAXWELL ADLER

In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles mayoral candidate shares new details about her dramatic break with Karen Bass, reflects on her strained ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, and explains what she has in common with Spencer Pratt.

From the Archive

What Katie Didn’t Know

BY MAUREEN ORTH

In the fall of 2004, an accomplished, gorgeous Scientologist named Nazanin Boniadi was allegedly selected by officials in the organization to be Tom Cruise’s next girlfriend. Her never-before-told story—of the months inseparable from the star (and his watchers), before she fell out of favor—reveals a complex dynamic that also affected Cruise’s relationships with Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, and Katie Holmes. Maureen Orth investigates.

If you send me a story headlined “How I Blew Up My Life,” I will click. And former Gavin Newsom aide Ruby Rippey’s foray into the genre is quite a doozy. Here’s the beginning: “Nobody had been surprised when rumors about my affair surfaced…. Nearly everyone seemed to know except the one person who most needed to know: my husband. I had been sleeping with his boss, who was also mine, and the mayor of San Francisco.” Yes, she’s talking about Newsom, current governor of California and likely future presidential candidate. Though Newsom publicly admitted to the affair in 2007, Rippey hasn’t given her side of the story until now. Read on for her clear-eyed, absorbing account of how her alcoholism and her relationship with Newsom spiraled out of control—and how some very good advice from Kamala Harris helped Rippey begin to pick up the pieces.

Elsewhere, Joy Press returns to the Los Angeles courtroom where the murder case against musician D4vd is unfolding.

HILLARY BUSIS,
FEATURES EDITOR

How I Blew Up—Then Rebuilt—My Life

BY RUBY RIPPEY

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 shares her story with Vanity Fair.

Culture Watch

NEWS

D4vd on Trial: Gruesome Photos and the Prosecution’s Bombshells Wrap the First Hearings

BY JOY PRESS

VF reports from inside the courtroom as prosecutors argued that the musician stabbed 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez to prevent her from derailing his meteoric career by revealing the sexual nature of their relationship.

COMMENTARY

Women of VF Consider Ross Douthat’s Question: Did Women Ruin the Workplace?

BY VANITY FAIR

When The New York Times published a conversation between the conservative columnist and two writers about just how bad ladies have screwed up corporate culture with their presence, we felt we should engage.

From the Archive

Echoes in the Dark

BY KATHLEEN HALE

After the shocking murder of four Idaho college kids in November 2022, a media frenzy exploded into their quiet town, boosting the image of upstart news reporters—but bringing along a new breed of web sleuth, conspiracy-minded, vindictive, and often dead wrong.