Who Is Gavin Newsom’s Spouse? All About Jennifer Siebel Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has grown a big household with spouse Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

The California politician first crossed paths with the actress and producer in 2006, shortly after his divorce from ex Kimberly Guilfoyle was finalized. The couple had been launched on a blind date arrange by a mutual buddy throughout a gala in San Francisco, the place Gavin was serving as mayor. Though they weathered public controversy at instances early on of their relationship, Gavin and Jennifer wed in July 2008.

Since then, the couple have welcomed 4 kids. When Gavin was elected governor of California in 2018, Jennifer took on duties as the primary companion of California, a time period she coined as a substitute of first woman as an indication of inclusivity and to emphasize the significance of partnership in a relationship.

“All of us acquired to, or are attending to, the place we’re, sure, via our personal exhausting work and grit, and resilience and willpower — and thru partnership, the place somebody’s holding us and making life simpler for us, in order that we will shine and be our greatest self,” she instructed the Nob Hill Gazette in March 2024.

So who’s Gavin Newsom’s spouse? Right here’s every part to learn about Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Jennifer was born and raised in Northern California

Jennifer was born on June 19, 1974, in San Francisco. She lived within the Northern California metropolis along with her mother and father, Ken and Judy, and her older sister, Stacey, till they moved to the close by suburb of Ross. Within the years that adopted, the household went on to welcome three extra daughters: Melissa, Jessica and Brooke.

The sisters’ adolescence was marred by tragedy when Stacey was killed in an accident involving a golf cart. Throughout a household trip to Hawaii, Jennifer was current when the golf cart backed into Stacey, killing her. Jennifer has stated the incident precipitated her to hold emotions of blame and guilt for years.

“I attempted to be two folks, be good, as a result of I didn’t really feel like I used to be sufficient,” she instructed the Marin Impartial Journal in 2007, including that the accident made her need to be “the nurturer, the protector, the giver who desires to assist the much less lucky.”

Jennifer went on to attend the Branson Faculty, the place she was a high pupil who excelled in sports activities and teachers. She instructed the Los Angeles Occasions that her sister’s demise impressed her to push herself in class — occurring to change into president of her junior class and taking part in varsity tennis, soccer and basketball.

She graduated from Stanford College

After graduating from highschool, Jennifer was recruited to hitch Stanford’s soccer workforce. The summer time earlier than starting her freshman yr, she performed on the junior nationwide soccer workforce. A leg damage throughout a sport in opposition to France sidelined her athletic profession.

“I used to be this pushed, overachieving perfectionist who excelled in sports activities,” she shared with the Marin Impartial Journal. “I needed to discover myself once more.”

At Stanford, Jennifer graduated with honors, incomes a level in Latin American research with a minor in human biology. She later went on to enroll at Stanford Enterprise Faculty, the place she graduated along with her grasp’s in enterprise administration. Trying again, she says working in the direction of her MBA was partially to please her household but in addition as a result of she had change into focused on at some point main a world environmental group.

Jennifer traveled the world with a world environmental coalition

Jennifer was nonetheless a preteen when she says a visit to Africa modified her life. At age 12, her household visited Kenya and Tanzania, the place she shortly realized she had grown up in “a really stunning, magical bubble” in comparison with the remainder of the world, she instructed the Marin Impartial Journal. It impressed her to spend a summer time working within the rain forests of Costa Rica as a highschool pupil and return to Africa when she was 18.

After receiving her undergraduate diploma, Jennifer labored at a hospital in Quito, Ecuador, per the Marin Impartial Journal. She initially thought she would possibly change into a physician in a creating nation, however she as a substitute started working with Conservation Worldwide, a nonprofit environmental group on which her father was a member of the board. Over the subsequent yr, Jennifer labored for the group in Washington, D.C., Latin America, Africa and Europe, serving to girls begin their very own environmentally sustainable enterprises.

“I used to be working with bushmen, and girls, particularly, serving to them create micro-enterprises. Then I used to be working with governments in South Africa and Namibia and Botswana to create peace parks so wildlife may roam from South Africa into Botswana and Namibia with out going via a metropolis, or on a freeway,” Jennifer later instructed the Nob Hill Gazette.

Trying again, she says it was “one of the crucial enriching years” of her life.

She has labored as an actress and director

Jennifer turned her aspirations in the direction of appearing whereas engaged on her MBA at Stanford. She started taking lessons on the American Conservatory Theater with the intention to enhance her public talking abilities and took part in a play as a part of Stanford’s drama division.

“I assumed, ‘Possibly I’ll go into the leisure trade as a result of the media has a lot energy to impact cultural change and to maneuver hearts and minds,’ ” she defined to the Nob Hill Gazette.

After finishing her MBA, she moved to Hollywood and started touchdown small roles in movies and tv collection. Throughout that point, Jennifer shaped her personal manufacturing firm, Ladies Membership Leisure.

Jennifer has now written, directed and produced quite a few documentaries together with Miss Illustration, which explores sexism in mainstream media, and The Masks You Reside In, which discusses how the media’s portrayal of femininity and masculinity impacts viewers. She additionally produced The Nice American Lie, The Searching Floor, Truthful Play and On the Document in addition to the Oscar-nominated movie The Invisible Battle.

“I’ve at all times tried to champion [sisterhood], and thru my work via Miss Illustration, for instance, to indicate ladies what’s attainable and encourage ladies to not simply think about, however create,” Jennifer instructed the Los Angeles Occasions. “The gender hierarchy is the oldest type of oppression. It’s the roots of oppression and it’s the template for all different oppression.”

She met Gavin after being arrange on a blind date

In October 2006, Gavin and Jennifer met once they had been arrange on a blind date by their mutual buddy Kathy Wilsey. On the time, Jennifer admitted she knew little or no about Gavin, even though he was the mayor of San Francisco. On their first date, the couple attended the annual Artists Ball on the Yerba Buena Heart for the Arts, per SFGate.

“We had a lot in frequent, we had been blown away — from our love for Africa to our pursuits in political points to artwork and the wine enterprise and faculty sports activities,” Jennifer later instructed the San Francisco Chronicle.

They confronted controversy early of their relationship

Shortly after assembly, the couple confronted their fair proportion of controversy. Simply days after their first date, Gavin made headlines for being romantically linked to a 20-year-old girl. Though he had reportedly been seen with the girl, who was greater than 15 years his junior, Gavin stated he by no means dated her.

“He instructed me, ‘You’re not going to need to discuss to me after tomorrow. There’s a factor within the paper popping out about me and my 20-year-old girlfriend. I by no means dated her,’ ” Jennifer instructed SFGate. “The entire first month we had been relationship, everybody thought I used to be her and had been saying, ‘We have to card you.’ You simply should have a humorousness about these issues.”

Then, a number of months later, information surfaced that Gavin had beforehand had an affair along with his appointment secretary, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who additionally occurred to be the spouse of his marketing campaign director, Alex Tourk. Jennifer didn’t know Gavin on the time of the affair and stood by his facet as he made a public apology.

Jennifer and Gavin acquired married on a ranch in Montana

In late 2007, after simply over a yr of relationship, Gavin reportedly proposed to Jennifer whereas the couple had been on trip in Hawaii. The couple formally stated “I do” in a ceremony in Stevensville, Mont. on July 26, 2008.

In 2009, Gavin and Jennifer welcomed their first little one, a daughter named Montana. They’ve since welcomed three extra kids: daughter Brooklynn and sons Hunter and Dutch.

She was one in all Harvey Weinstein’s accusers

In 2017, Jennifer publicly got here ahead as an alleged sufferer of Harvey Weinstein in an essay for HuffPost. Within the piece, she detailed her encounters with Weinstein as a younger actress and known as for motion to be taken in opposition to not solely the disgraced movie producer but in addition different males in energy like him.

“I used to be naive, new to the trade, and didn’t know easy methods to cope with his aggressive advances ― work invites with a buddy late-night at The Toronto Movie Pageant, and later an invite to satisfy with him a few position in The Peninsula Resort, the place employees had been current after which swiftly disappeared like clockwork, leaving me alone with this extraordinarily highly effective and intimidating Hollywood legend,” she wrote within the essay.

Jennifer later testified in court docket in opposition to Weinstein in Los Angeles, the place he confronted 11 counts of sexual assault. On the stand, Jennifer alleged that weeks after assembly Weinstein at TIFF in 2005, the producer sexually assaulted her in a Beverly Hills resort room.

“I used to be so violated and I don’t know the way that occurred,” she stated through the trial, in response to ABC Information. “I didn’t see the clues and I didn’t know easy methods to escape.”

In the meantime, Weinstein maintained his innocence and stated that their encounter was consensual. When the trial concluded, the jury was unable to achieve a verdict in Jennifer’s accusations however they did discover him responsible on three counts pertaining a girl recognized as Jane Doe #1. Weinstein was sentenced to 16 extra years behind bars along with the 23 years in jail he was already serving after being discovered responsible of first-degree legal sexual act in New York. (Weinstein’s 2020 convictions in New York State for rape and sexual assault had been overturned in April 2024.)

Following the trial’s conclusion, Jennifer stated that the ordeal was excruciatingly traumatic, per the Los Angeles Occasions. “It was a horrific expertise. I wouldn’t want it on anybody,” she later instructed the outlet.

She is an lively first companion of California

Since Gavin was sworn in as governor of California in January 2019, Jennifer has stepped into her position as first companion of California. She has change into an advocate for ladies, kids, households and gender equality, serving to to deliver forth applications and laws that profit these in want.

In 2019, she launched the California Equal Pay Pledge within the hopes of turning the “strongest equal pay legal guidelines within the nation into the smallest pay hole within the nation.” The next yr, she helped launch “Advance SEL in California,” a marketing campaign to assist educators and households higher perceive kids’s social and emotional studying wants.

Jennifer additionally teamed up with the California Division of Meals and Agriculture to launch a grant program, which expands entry to native farm recent meals in class cafeterias. On the subject of colleges, Jennifer has additionally advocated for California’s common college meals program which has led to varsities now providing two free meals a day to kids, no matter their household’s earnings.

As first companion of California, Jennifer additionally serves as honorary chair of the California Volunteers Fee and helped co-found the California Accomplice’s Mission, a nonprofit “devoted to selling gender equality and little one wellbeing.”

“There’s a lot alternative to champion girls and kids in California and anchor our public coverage priorities round uplifting girls and kids,” she instructed the Nob Hill Gazette. “We all know the household is the spine of the neighborhood, and girls are the spine of households, so I really feel like our work is absolutely having an influence.”

She continued, “As a father or mother, the governor additionally sees the worth within the work we do. He’s been very supportive of letting me lead the place I can contribute and bringing me in on issues which are vital to him as properly, that influence girls and kids.”