Gavin Newsom's secret past he's so desperate to hide... and the damning evidence that proves who he really is
By Dana Kennedy
Daily Mail
Nov 6, 2025
Governor Gavin Newsom (pictured) is facing criticism for seemingly
trying to spin his gilded upbringing into a rags-to-riches tale during a
recent interview
Call it Nob Hill-billy elegy.
Presumed 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom, Democratic governor of California
and a card-carrying member of the San Francisco elite, has been
channeling the ghost of Horatio Alger in a much-mocked attempt to
portray himself as someone who made it out of a tough childhood.
But
Newsom, 58, famously grew up surrounded by the most powerful families
in California who not only backed his early business ventures but
greased the wheels of his political ascent, sources have told the Daily
Mail.
Even his staunchest supporters admit that Newsom's early life was not exactly the stuff of deep struggle.
But that hasn't stopped Newsom from painting himself as a graduate of the school of hard knocks.
During his October 25 appearance on the All The Smoke podcast, hosted by former NBA
champions Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Newsom described his
upbringing as being 'about paying the bills, man… It was just, like,
hustling.'
After his parents divorced
in the early 1970s, he was raised by his hard-working single mother -
first in a San Francisco home now worth about $3.6million and later in
equally affluent Marin County. Newsom's mother, Tessa, worked three jobs
to support her two children, and his father's highest salary throughout
his career as a judge was $75,000, according to SFGate.
The paper described them as having 'enviable connections' but 'little money.'
Newsom
(right) is the son of late California judge William Newsom (left) once a
lawyer for the billionaire Getty oil family (the father and son
are pictured in 2004)
'I was out there kind of raising myself…'
he said on the podcast. 'I was sitting there with the Wonder Bread…
macaroni and cheese.'
A number of
longtime Newsom observers in California called his tale a farce, and
said he and his allies have long pushed the story of his allegedly
underprivileged childhood.
'He talks
about his poor mother, working her fingers to the bone, as if he went
barefoot to school,' Dan Walters, a columnist with CalMatters who has
covered California politics for 50 years, told the Daily Mail.
'Yeah, barefoot to private school in Marin County.'
Kevin Dalton, a political activist and longtime critic of Newsom, claims the governor tailors his story to fit his audience.
'He's
a chameleon and will bend and shapeshift and change colors, you know,
whatever suits his current environment,' Dalton told the Daily Mail.
'You
can hear it with his speech, you can hear it with his stories. He's
never once talked about eating Wonder Bread and mac and cheese, but all
of a sudden he's in a room with a bunch of ex-NBA ballers and this stuff
starts coming up. It's perfect.'
Newsom's upbringing was complicated, but far from impoverished, according to most accounts of his life.
His
parents divorced when he was young, and his father, William Newsom III,
was a well-connected San Francisco lawyer who later became a judge -
and then became the family lawyer for the Getty oil dynasty.
Pictured:
The Democrat governor on an episode of the All The Smoke podcast last
week, during which he claimed his family had to 'hustle' to make ends
meet
His mother, who died of breast cancer in
2002 at age 55, did work multiple jobs when Newsom was a kid. But
Walters said he still 'had an upper-class upbringing of a sort.'
'He wasn't a latchkey kid scrambling for food.'
Before
Newsom's parents divorced in 1971, the family took in young Gordon
Getty, son of oil tycoon J Paul Getty, and gave him what Walters called
'some family structure.'
The Gettys,
one of America's richest dynasties, in turn helped provide Newsom with
an entrée into San Francisco's upper crust and politics.
'The
two families - the Newsoms and the Gettys - have been intertwined for
decades,' Walters told the Daily Mail. He said there were two other
powerful San Francisco families in the mix - the Pelosis and Browns (the
latter being the family of Governor Edmund Gerald 'Pat' Brown).
The
Newsom, Pelosi and Getty families are godparents to one another's
children and make appearances at important family events, according to
James Reginato's book, Growing up Getty.
Newsom's father's legal work for the Getty family brought them into the orbit of immense wealth - and even danger.
Back
in the 1960s, J Paul Getty's grandson, John Paul Getty III, was
kidnapped in Italy and had his ear cut off. The ransom was then
delivered by Newsom's father, who was the young man's godfather.
Newsom
(left) grew up around the wealthy and influential Getty family who was
instrumental in launching his political career. He is pictured in June
2004 with Gordon Getty (center), the son of oil tycoon J Paul Getty, and
former Governor Jerry Brown (right), during a Napa Valley Wine Auction
event at the PlumpJack Winery in Oakville, California
The family fortune made by oil tycoon J Paul Getty is now shared among dozens of descendants
'He was sort of a legal gopher for the Gettys,' Walters said. But that Getty connection paid off in very big ways.
In
the 1980s, while serving as an appellate court judge, Newsom's father
helped push through a bill that changed California trust law, a move
that gave Gordon Getty control of his billion-dollar inheritance.
'It was a huge deal,' Walters told the Daily Mail. 'We're talking about a billion-dollar gesture for his pals.'
Shortly afterward, Judge Newsom resigned and became trustee of the Gordon Getty Trust.
'He
stayed on the bench long enough to help make the law that benefited
Getty, and then went to work for him,' Walters said. 'And no one ever
said a word.'
Mike Netter, co-chair of
the Rebuild California movement and one of the leaders of the failed
2020 attempt to recall Newsom, has no patience with the governor's tales
of alleged childhood poverty.
'Basically,
Gavin Newsom was born into this tiny elite group of people who took
power about 40 or 50 years ago and have been running the state of
California ever since,' Netter told the Daily Mail.
The
Getty family fortune is estimated to be worth more than $5billion. The
Newsoms were so close to the family they even took in J Paul Getty's
fourth child, Gordon Getty (right), in his youth
Prior
to running for public office, Newsom became a millionaire with his
first venture, PlumpJack winery, which he started at age 24 with Billy
Getty (pictured together with Peter Getty in 1992)
'San
Francisco is like a city back East, the only one of its kind out here.
These people - the Gettys, the Newsoms, the Pelosis, Dianne Feinstein,
Kamala Harris, former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown - grew up without
any opposing views and took over California.
'The problem with Newsom is the same problem we see in the state. It's too much of a one-party, one viewpoint state.'
Netter also pointed out that Newsom became
a millionaire with his first business venture, PlumpJack winery, which
he started at age 24.
The website for
the winery says it began as a 'humble wine store' in San Francisco, but
it was, in fact, funded by Gordon Getty with his son Billy Getty as his
partner.
The name came from an opera
Gordon Getty wrote called Plump Jack, which comes from the nickname for
Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare's most famous comic characters.
By
2003, as Newsom prepared his run for San Francisco mayor, the PlumpJack
group of businesses had turned him into a millionaire on paper - with
holdings valued between $6million and $7million - and were generating
hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, fueled in large part by Getty
family investments.
But the Newsom family's political reach extended far beyond the Gettys.
Newsom's
grandfather, William Newsom II, was close to Pat Brown, California's
governor in the 1950s and '60s. Later on, Newsom's father was appointed
to the appellate court by Pat's son, Governor Jerry Brown.
The
famous Getty Villa in Malibu (pictured) served as the backdrop for a
2004 eight-page spread in Harper's Bazaar titled The New
Kennedys, featuring Newsom and his then wife Kimberly Guilfoyle
Prior
to running for public office, Newsom (center) became a millionaire with
his first venture, PlumpJack winery, which he started at age 24 with
Billy Getty (pictured together with Peter Getty (left) in 1992)
'These families... they've all been connected by politics, marriage and money,' Walters told the Daily Mail.
Walters credits Willie Brown (no relation to Pat or Jerry) with launching both Newsom's and Kamala Harris's political careers.
'Willie
Brown was king of San Francisco,' Walters said. 'He could make or break
anyone - and he made Gavin... without Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom
wouldn't exist politically.'
In addition to the family tree of political entanglement, Newsom's personal life has fallen equally under a microscope.
'His
father had a big drinking problem - a very big one - and so did Gavin
later, which is why he quit drinking,' Walters told the Daily Mail.
'It's a family disease.'
In a 2007 interview with SFGate, Newsom said he 'didn't know' if he was an alcoholic or not, but said he was seeking treatment for alcohol.
He
revealed that he had been attending nightly counseling sessions, which
were helping him examine why he felt the need to 'drink to an extreme.'
'I don't need to drink now. I need more time to reflect,' he said at the time. 'I've got to be ready, focused and clear.'
However, in later interviews, he denied having gone into any formal treatment program.
He told the Sacramento Bee in 2018 that he had resumed drinking - reportedly a little bit of wine every now and then - after a period of abstinence.
'No,
there's no rehab. I just stopped,' he said. 'There was no treatment, no
nothing related to any of that stuff. I stopped because I thought it
was a good thing to stop.'
Newsom's love life has also been a focal point for some.
During
the same 2007 interview with SFGate, he publicly acknowledged - and
apologized for - an affair he had with his appointment secretary Ruby
Rippey‑Tourk in 2005.
While Newsom was
in the process of divorcing first wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, he became
involved with Rippey‑Tourk, who was also the wife of his campaign
manager. (Newsom was still legally married at the time, but was
divorcing.)
In the interview, Newsom called it 'something I'll for the rest of my life regret.'
He married his first wife, attorney and legal commentator Guilfoyle, in 2001, and they divorced in 2005.
'They
were a wonderful couple,' a prominent San Francisco socialite, who has
known Newsom since he was a child, told the Daily Mail.
'It was just a matter of bad timing. Kimberly wanted a baby, and at that time, Gavin didn't. It was too soon.
Some
critics have attributed Newsom's political success - particularly his
mayoral campaign in 2003 - to his close ties to California politician
and former mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown
Newsom
married actress and documentary filmmaker Jennifer Lynn Siebel (left),
in 2008. Together they have four children and split their time between a
$9million mansion in Marin County and a $3million home in Sacramento
Newsom
faced a gubernatorial recall in 2020 due to his oppressive COVID
restrictions and a bumpy vaccine roll-out during the pandemic
Newsom
faced a gubernatorial recall in 2020 due to his oppressive COVID
restrictions and a bumpy vaccine roll-out during the pandemic
Newsom then married actress and documentary filmmaker Jennifer Lynn Siebel, in 2008.
Together
they have four children, split their time between a $9million mansion
in Marin County and a $3million home in Sacramento, and look like the
picture-perfect family. But Siebel comes with her own considerable
baggage.
In 1981, when Siebel, then six
years old, was with her family in Hawaii, she and her older sister were
playing with golf carts. Siebel accidentally backed her cart into her
sister who had been hiding behind it, killing her.
Siebel said she has been plagued with survivor's guilt ever since.
'I
felt the pressure to be perfect,' she told Entertainment Tonight, 'to
make my parents forget, by being two daughters instead of one.'
Siebel
also publicly accused Harvey Weinstein of rape and sexual assault, and
was one of the women who testified against him in his 2022 Los Angeles
criminal trial.
She said she first met
Weinstein in 2005 when she was an aspiring actress and filmmaker, and
later agreed to meet him in a Beverly Hills hotel room where she said he
raped her.
In recent months, Siebel,
who runs the nonprofit Representation Project, which bills itself as
'the leading gender watchdog organization,' as well as other companies,
has come under fire for raking in thousands of dollars in donations from
corporations that lobby the state of California.
In light of all this, Newsom's critics find his recent remarks about his hardscrabble life difficult to stomach.
'Politicians
love the humble pie routine - to say they came up from nothing. But
Gavin Newsom? He's as connected as they come,' Netter told the daily
mail.
Dalton finds Newsom's Proust-like memory of his mac-and-cheese days to be 'pure comedy.'
'It
was exactly like Hillary Clinton pulling out the bottle of hot sauce
from her purse. It's all wildly convenient and contrived - but the
scariest part is it's wildly effective.
'You
know, I can say, the guy's a sociopath, but then everyone on the left
is like, 'Yeah, but he's got great hair,' right? So it's hard to
combat.'
Activist Denise Aguilar of the
Freedom Angels group in California that fought vaccine laws and also
worked for the 2020 recall of Newsom told the Daily Mail that Newsom is
not fit to be president because she believes he is out of touch with the
common man he describes himself as being.
'Newsom
is out there on podcasts in his bid to be president and talking about
growing up hustling and eating Wonder Bread, yet his actions as governor
have forced Californians to hustle to put food on the table and pay the
bills,' Aguilar said.
'I find it
interesting that Gavin Newsom says he understands the struggle to make
ends meet, yet it's his policies that are directly responsible for
skyrocketing the cost of living that has Californians struggling every
day to pay for food, gas, utilities, insurance and housing.
'Most people in California would tell you not to ever let Newsom California the nation.'
