Getty Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff (l) and her ex-boyfriend Willie Brown (r).
As the new vice presidential choice for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, all aspects of Kamala Harris’s biography have generated interest to people.
That includes her dating history and relationships. Is Harris married? The answer to that is yes; she is married to Douglas Emhoff. They met in 2013 and were married the following year.
Harris has had some high-profile relationships over the years, most notably with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and talk show host Montel Williams. Her relationship with Brown has been repeated fodder for critics who accuse her of gaining career benefit from the relationship, and she once referred to it as an albatross around her neck.
Here’s what you need to know:
Kamala Harris’s Husband, Douglas Emhoff
GettyKamala Harris and lawyer Douglas Emhoff in 2014.
Emhoff, Kamala Harris’s husband, is an entertainment attorney. He’s a partner with the firm DL Piper. His firm bio reads:
Douglas Emhoff is a highly experienced litigator and strategic advisor. Doug is known for tackling and resolving the toughest problems – whether by aggressively litigating high-stakes cases in the public glare or acting as a trusted advisor behind the scenes. For over 25 years, Doug has proven himself in courtrooms and boardrooms across California and around the country. He represents large domestic and international corporations and some of today’s highest profile individuals and influencers in complex business, real estate and intellectual property litigation disputes. Doug’s influence and achievements as an insider across many spectrums has made him one of California’s go-to lawyers for several decades.
He is based in California but also licensed to practice in Washington D.C., the bio says, reading, “Doug maintains a strong presence in both Southern and Northern California and is also licensed to practice in Washington, DC. Along with an active public life, he is passionately involved in numerous community, civic and charitable activities that include legal aid, human rights, social justice and the well-being of children.”
They frequently post on social media about each other.
One year ago today: me, @KamalaHarris and The Jacket at SF Pride. 🏳️🌈❤️
The pair met on a blind date in 2013 when she was California’s Attorney General, according to Newsweek, which reported that Emhoff’s two children from his previous marriage call Harris “Momala.”
Ex-Boyfriend Willie Brown, the Former Mayor of San Francisco
Getty Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (L) and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown visit during the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 86th annual Winter Meeting at the Capitol Hilton January 25, 2018 in Washington, DC.
Brown wrote a column in the San Francisco Chronicle urging Harris to decline the VP slot. He wrote:
If Joe Biden offers the vice presidential slot to Sen. Kamala Harris, my advice to her would be to politely decline.
Harris is a tested and proven campaigner who will work her backside off to get Biden elected. That said, the vice presidency is not the job she should go for — asking to be considered as attorney general in a Biden administration would be more like it.
Now 86, Brown’s argument, made before Harris accepted the position, was that “the glory would be short-lived. Historically, the vice presidency has often ended up being a dead end. For every George H.W. Bush, who ascended from the job to the presidency, there’s an Al Gore, who never got there.” After she agreed to the nomination, Brown changed his mind and declared himself pleased by it, according to SFGate.
According to The New York Post, Harris, 55, dated Brown until 1996 and his election as San Francisco mayor. He previously published an op-ed about their relationship, headlined, “Willie Brown: Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?” and saying he had supported her career but “had also helped scores of other politicians over the years,” the Post reported, adding that he wrote, “The difference is that Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I ‘so much as jaywalked’ while she was D.A.”
You can read that op-ed here in full. In it, he wrote, “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.”
In 1995, Brown publicly revealed, “It’s all over.” That column, in the San Francisco Chronicle, described their relationship as a “long affair.” The same article described how Brown had a “long-estranged wife, Blanche.” USA Today reported that Brown was still married to Blanche during his relationship with Harris but the relationship was known to be estranged so Harris and Brown’s relationship was not a secret. Brown was known to have a series of girlfriends, the newspaper reported.
According to USA Today, Brown gave Harris a BMW and appointed her “to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and then to the Medical Assistance Commission – positions that paid her more than $400,000 over five years.” He said in his column that he had helped the careers of other politicians too.
In 2003, San Francisco Weekly wrote an article that probed the relationship when she was running for District Attorney. That article called Brown “Harris’ spurned ex-lover and unsolicited political backer.” The article noted that Harris chafed at having to even talk about the Brown relationship, saying, “I refuse to design my campaign around criticizing Willie Brown for the sake of appearing to be independent when I have no doubt that I am independent of him — and that he would probably right now express some fright about the fact that he cannot control me. His career is over; I will be alive and kicking for the next 40 years. I do not owe him a thing.” She called their relationship an “albatross” around her neck.
SF Weekly described the relationship thusly: “Harris met Brown in 1994 when he was speaker of the state Assembly. She was 29, he was 60. Their May/December affair was the talk of the town during the year before Brown’s successful 1995 bid to become mayor. But shortly after he was inaugurated, Harris dumped Brown, a notorious womanizer.”
According to LA Mag, over the years, Harris’s critics have accused her of benefiting “professionally from the personal relationship.” They met in 1994 when she was an assistant prosecutor, the magazine reported, adding that he had been estranged from his wife since 1981. In the race for District Attorney, Brown supported her, but opponents raised the issue.
Montel Williams
GettyTelevision personality Montel Williams (R) and his wife Tara Williams arrive at the Ante Up for Africa celebrity poker tournament at the Rio Hotel & Casino July 2, 2009 in Las Vegas.
Harris also dated talk show host Montel Williams. According to Inside Edition, the pair was photographed on the red carpet with Williams’ daughter in 2001 when they attended the Eighth Annual Race to Erase MS in Los Angeles.
He wrote on Twitter, “Kamala Harris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single. So what? I have great respect for Sen. Harris.”
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