A woman who previously ran for Virginia state legislature was arrested on a domestic violence charge a few years after sex videos of her with her husband were leaked online, according to reports.
The said Susanna Payne Gibson was taken into custody in Henrico County on September 22. Jail records posted online show she was charged with “assault and battery — family member.”
Payne, a Democrat, claimed the charge stems from a false report that was recently filed by her now-estranged husband, 44-year-old John David Gibson. She said he has been harassing her after she filed for divorce.
After my estranged husband, arrested three times since I filed for divorce, assaulted me during a June 2025 custody exchange while I protected our son, he filed a retaliatory criminal complaint against me,” she told the media outlet.
More than three months later, police issued a misdemeanor warrant for my arrest. I turned myself in immediately,” she added.
The arrest adds another layer to the ongoing legal and personal disputes between Payne and her estranged spouse.
In 2023, videos that featured her and husband were featured on Chaturbate, a pornographic website. Screenshots from the videos were leaked to the media, including The Associated Press.
At the time, the media outlet reported that Gibson called the exposure of the videos “the worst gutter politics.”
“It won’t intimidate me and it won’t silence me,” she previously said in a statement, per The AP.
“My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up,” she said.