Years before her public downfall, former U.S. ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle was an ambitious woman with moral intent. But somewhere between her divorce from Governor Gavin Newsom and her tenure with Fox News, things drastically changed, at least according to Jami Floyd, a former friend and colleague. Floyd details Guilfoyle’s transformation in an opinion piece for The Daily Beast.
They met in the early 1990s while up-and-coming lawyers in the San Francisco area. Floyd says she initially admired Guilfoyle’s hustle, noting that Guilfoyle worked as a lingerie model to put herself through school and was a staunch supporter of her former husband, Newsom, even once calling herself his “sugar mama.” After winning a legal case that drew national media attention, Floyd says Guilfoyle was a hot commodity and well-respected, which may have been the ego boost that would fuel her continued rise at any cost.
At some point, Guilfoyle relocated to New York, where she left the West Coast and Newsome behind. It was there that she and Floyd reconnected, often sharing red carpets and a seat at the table at political events and in the newsroom. When Guilfoyle confided in Floyd that she was going to divorce Newsom, Floyd was taken aback and warned her that Newsom was a good investment of sorts for his eventual successes.
But Guilfoyle seemingly had other ideas that were inspired by her time working at Fox News under its ever-escalating support of now President Trump and co. Guilfoyle would go on to marry businessman Eric Villency and have a child. She and Floyd both worked with Fox in some capacity and stayed friendly to some degree. But as distance grew between them with Guilfoyle’s changing views, Floyd writes honestly that, as she lost touch with Guilfoyle, “From a distance, I worried she was changing. Her face, her personality, her politics.”
Throughout the op-ed, Floyd explains why she has more empathy for Guilfoyle than most former friends and colleagues, despite what they consider her obvious change in course publicly and politically for personal gain. Floyd cites Guilfoyle growing up with the absence of a maternal figure to help guide her after losing her mother to leukemia as a child as one reason she feels sorry for her. Another is the internal battle she seemingly experienced before her shift when having to choose between power and morality on her quest for success.
She believes that, like Guilfoyle’s 2020 infamous Republican National Convention teleprompter hiccup, what the public sees from Guilfoyle’s is a farce, one that Guilfoyle doesn’t even fully grasp as she’s so caught up in her bubble. While many relish in Guilfoyle’s failures, Floyd does not and considers it a warning to those on similar paths.