It’s no secret that Kamala Harris has undergone a head-turning transformation. And due to that transformation, she is no stranger to being the subject of some pretty scandalous rumors. From the time she threw her hat in the ring for president in the 2020 United States election, she became used to hearing some rather elaborate tales about herself. As one can imagine, the tales only grew taller once she was tapped as Joe Biden’s running mate. Case in point: the rumor that she wasn’t eligible to be Joe Biden’s VP because she wasn’t a United States citizen. “I heard today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Donald Trump said during a White House press conference. Later, this claim was proven entirely false as Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, as evidenced by her birth certificate obtained by the Associated Press. By the time she secured the Democratic nomination in the 2024 election, after Biden stepped down, the rumors were at an all-time high. 

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Still, there are a few scandalous rumors swirling about Harris that we simply can’t ignore. Is it true that Harris has a shady side? Let’s get into it, shall we?

Where were you when you first heard a rumor about Kamala Harris having a penchant for booze? Rumors about Harris’ drinking first started swirling in August 2024, when Donald Trump’s then-political campaign director, James Blair, penned a very “Real Housewives”-coded tweet wherein he effectively started a rumor about a so-called rumor. “A lot of rumors out there about Kamala having a serious drinking problem…apparently coming into focus as campaign heats up. Stay tuned,” he wrote. Vague much?!

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Trump himself poured gasoline ethanol on the alcohol rumors in October 2024 while at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. While discussing an interview she did for “60 Minutes” wherein he claimed that CBS heavily edited it to Harris’ favor, Trump asked his crowd of supporters, “Does she drink? Is she on drugs?” before carefully adding, “I don’t know.” But that’s not all. Trump’s running mate and now VP JD Vance followed suit in March with a few jabs of his own during a chat with Vince Coglianese. When asked how he was handling his job as Vice President differently than Harris did when she was in the White House, Vance quipped, “Well, I don’t have four shots of vodka before every meeting. That’s one way I think that Kamala really tried to bring herself into the role is these word salads and I think I would need the help of a lot of alcohol to answer a question the way that Kamala Harris answered questions” (via the Daily Caller.)

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If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Let’s discuss the Willie Brown of it all. Much ado has been made about Kamala Harris’ past personal relationship with San Francisco’s then-mayor. “Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker. And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco,” Brown, who was 60 at the time he dated 29-year-old Harris, penned in an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019. However, the former mayor was careful to note that he also did the same for Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Dianne Feinstein, and a host of other politicians he did NOT date. 

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It was also widely rumored that the pair carried on an affair while he was still married. It should be noted, however, that the theory has been thoroughly debunked. Per FactCheck.org, Brown had been separated from his wife for over ten years before he and Harris became an item.

All affair rumors aside, many have floated the idea that Harris’ intentions were not pure and that she ultimately used the relationship with Brown to advance her career. According to Donald Trump, the couple’s parting of ways was less than amicable. “He told me terrible things about her,” the then-presidential hopeful said about Brown during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in August 2024, per KRON4. “Anyway, I guess he had a big part in what happened with Kamala, but he… I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he was not a fan of hers very much at that point.” 

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We would be absolutely remiss not to discuss all the gossip about the drama between Kamala Harris and Kimberly Guilfoyle. It may come as a big surprise, but back in the day, before Harris got into politics, the two ambitious attorneys ran in some of the same circles and, at one point, were even vying for a job at the same District Attorney’s office — according to Guilfoyle, anyway. Guilfoyle maintains that in 2000, she was trying to make her way back to the DA’s office in San Francisco. But once Harris — who was already working as an assistant district attorney at the same office — heard about it, she quickly tried to put the kibosh on it. “The bottom line is she didn’t want me there,” Guilfoyle recalled to SFGate in 2003. 

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The story goes that after putting her feelers out, Guilfoyle received a call from Harris. “She called me and said basically that she was on the hiring committee and in charge of the budget for the D.A.’s office, and that I should have gone through her if I wanted to return to the D.A.’s office — and that there was no money to hire me.” It wasn’t until later that Guilfoyle found out that no such hiring committee existed. In the end, Guilfoyle did secure a position at the DA’s office, but she hasn’t forgotten about the slight. “You have to understand, I came with an excellent resume and talented women should support other talented women.”

As for Harris, she vehemently denies Guilfoyle’s account. “I never discouraged her from joining the office,” she said. “I never suggested to her there wasn’t a job for her in the San Francisco D.A.’s office — of that, I’m very clear,” Harris told SFGate. As for why she called Guilfoyle in the first place, Harris said it was simply, “To see if she needed any help — to let her know I was there to help her.”

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