Back in the spotlight…
A former Democrat candidate for the Virginia legislature, whose X-rated movies with her husband were exposed before the election, was charged with domestic violence this week.
Susanna Gibson Payne, 42, was arrested on September 22 for “assault and battery” against a family member. Payne claimed that her husband, 44-year-old John David Gibson, has been harassing her amid their divorce since last year.
“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 said.
Payne said she turned herself in after a misdemeanor warrant was issued.
The Democrat’s husband denied ever assaulting his wife. Mediaite reported that Gibson was arrested in December for violating a protection order and using threatening language with his wife. He said the incident stemmed from a tense argument with his wife’s new boyfriend.
Payne and Gibson grabbed headlines in 2023 when Payne was running for office, and videos the couple had posted on the porn site Chaturbate were discovered and exposed.
The couple was accused of making the videos for “tips,” though they denied that the videos were for profit. At the time, Payne said she was determined to stay in the race.
“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.
