The mayor says she left a conference early in June 2025 to check into treatment. Her chief policy adviser says she was packing the mayor’s bags in the middle of the night at a conference that month.
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken acknowledged Friday that she checked into the Betty Ford Center for alcohol treatment in June 2025 and drank again this past June, one day after the city released a legal claim from her chief policy adviser accusing her of heavy drinking at official events and hurling slurs at staff.
“About a year and a half ago, in June of 2025, I left a conference early to check myself in to the Betty Ford Center. I realized I had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and needed help managing the stress and responsibilities in my life,” Aitken wrote in a post on her Instagram account Friday. She said she spent 30 days “beginning a new journey of hope and recovery.”
But the mayor drew a hard line between her drinking and the claim’s other accusations. “None of that excuses excessive alcohol consumption at conferences or locally. But accepting responsibility for my alcohol consumption does not equate to the more serious allegations that have been made against me. I have denied the slurs attributed to me, and I stand by that denial,” she wrote.
The admission is a sharp turn for a mayor who, according to the claim, repeatedly denied being impaired. In May 2025, her chief policy adviser, Berenice Ballinas, alleges Aitken insisted she had not been drunk at a Disneyland event and accused Ballinas, then-City Manager Jim Vanderpool and a Disney employee of trying to tarnish her reputation.
Aitken did not name the conference she left. But Ballinas’ 25-page claim, which the city released Thursday, describes Aitken leaving the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Tampa, Florida, abruptly that same month.
According to the claim, the mayor’s husband called Ballinas around 2 or 3 a.m. Pacific time and told her to find the mayor, pack her belongings and arrange her immediate return to California. Ballinas says she found Aitken in what she perceived to be an impaired condition, stayed with her and took her to the airport around 5 or 6 a.m. The claim says the mayor was then absent for an extended period while Ballinas fielded questions about her whereabouts.
Ballinas described that night as the moment that “fundamentally and irreversibly eroded any boundary” between her job and the mayor’s personal life.
Aitken wrote that she “hit a bump this past June and drank at a birthday event.” She did not identify the event.
Ballinas’ claim describes a June 10 outing to Disneyland’s members-only Club 33 that the mayor proposed to celebrate Ballinas’ birthday. Ballinas alleges Aitken drank through a three-hour lunch, kept drinking at the 1901 Lounge in Disney California Adventure, and repeatedly pressed both Ballinas and a Disney Cast Member about their sexual orientation. Disney later wrote to the Club 33 member who hosted the outing, citing “rude, insensitive, and inappropriate remarks” to a Cast Member, and placed the membership on hold, according to the claim.
Aitken’s post did not address the Disney complaint.
The mayor framed her disclosure as a choice to stop hiding. “I share this because I’m not going to pretend that part of my life didn’t happen simply because it is now uncomfortable for me to speak of or politically damaging to acknowledge it,” she wrote.
“I am not perfect. My recovery is not a straight line. I apologize to anyone burdened by my drinking, especially my family. They all deserved better from me. I vow to continue the journey and be a better leader for Anaheim.”
The apology does not mention Ballinas, whose claim centers on the argument that she was hired to advise on city policy but became the mayor’s unofficial “handler,” arranging rides, managing outbursts and protecting Aitken’s public image.
Aitken also wrote that she welcomes the city’s independent investigation. “Where I made mistakes, I will own them. As to other allegations, I trust the evidence will bear out the truth.”
The post featured a photo of a printed passage titled “Acceptance Was the Answer,” attributed to page 417 of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The claim’s most explosive allegation is that after an October 2024 awards gala in Irvine, Aitken refused to let Ballinas or Vanderpool drive her car because she did not want a “dirty Mexican” and a “faggot man” driving it. Ballinas also alleges the mayor said she would not have “a Mexican” drive her, called God Ballinas’ “imaginary friend” and repeatedly insisted Ballinas was a lesbian.
Aitken’s first statement last week denied “the racial slur.” Friday’s post went further, denying “the slurs” plural.
The claim also alleges the Qatar Embassy paid about $16,779 in travel expenses for the mayor’s husband, and that Aitken told those asking about it they could “bite my ass.” Her post did not address Qatar or Ballinas’ retaliation allegations. The claim was first reported by TimesOC.
The disclosure lands five weeks before the Nov. 3 election, where Aitken faces two challengers. The Anaheim Police Association’s political action committee suspended its endorsement of the mayor this week, Councilwoman Natalie Meeks called for a probe and Councilwoman Norma Campos Kurtz said she would seek Aitken’s resignation if the allegations are substantiated.
The City Council was scheduled to discuss Ballinas’ claim in closed session Friday. The city has 45 days to respond before she can sue.
