Gavin Newsom’s new book is a deep-dive into the California governor’s family history and his personal struggles with identity. But, like most politicians’ memoirs, it also contains plenty of juicy tidbits that will likely raise eyebrows from San Francisco to Washington.
From an unusual Air Force One tour with President Donald Trump to an explanation of how that photo with his now ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle came to be, here is a collection of the standout moments in “Young Man in a Hurry,” which will come out later this month:
The “Newscum” nickname isn’t unique to Trump
The president of the United States delights in turning Newsom’s last name into an epithet. But Trump was beaten to the punch by a middle-school bully, at least in Newsom’s telling. The California governor recounts hearing the “Newscum” insult from one of a half dozen teens who cornered him on his afternoon paper route when he was 13. Newsom escaped the confrontation physically unharmed, but plenty humiliated.
Newsom was a Tony Robbins superfan
Newsom credits the self-help guru’s advice with teaching him, a rudderless 24-year- old, how to project confidence and authority. His takeaway from Robbins’ teaching: “Find a person who embodies all the outward traits of personality, bearing, charisma, language, and power lacking in yourself. Study that person. Copy that person.” He adopted some of Robbins’ jargon and credos, sometimes a bit too much; sharp-eyed local journalists noted in 2009 that one of the motivational speaker’s aphorisms appeared uncredited in a speech by then-Mayor Newsom.
His vocabulary still shows signs of influence from Robbins — who was a recent guest at Trump’s White House for a screening of “Melania,” the documentary — especially in the governor’s frequent references to “stretch goals.”
Barack Obama wanted to keep his distance from Gavin Newsom over the gay marriage issue
Newsom’s decision to issue same-sex marriage licenses in 2004 propelled him to national prominence but made many in the Democratic establishment uncomfortable. Newsom recalls drawing fierce disapproval from one of his political mentors, the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Rep. Barney Frank, one of the first openly gay members of Congress, who accused him of moving too fast and damaging both John Kerry’s presidential run and the broader gay rights cause.
Obama, then a state senator who had just become a national sensation with his Democratic convention speech, was similarly uncomfortable. At a 2004 San Francisco fundraiser hosted by Mayor Willie Brown, Obama, who then backed civil unions but not gay marriage, avoided having his picture taken with Newsom — and continued to keep his distance during his presidential campaign. The snub irked Brown so much he shared the anecdote with the press when Obama’s position eventually changed to support same-sex unions.
The infamous Harper’s Bazaar photo with Kimberly Guilfoyle pointed to deeper problems in their marriage
Every couple of years, the internet rediscovers the 2004 photo of Newsom and Guilfoyle, his then-wife who went on to date Donald Trump Jr., sprawled in black-tie finery on the carpeted floor of the Getty mansion. Newsom says the photo was taken as a gag at the suggestion of Ann Getty, but ended up as part of the magazine’s eight-page spread titled “The New Kennedys.”
The photo earned Newsom immediate mockery. But to Newsom’s sister, Hilary, the episode revealed a more troubling pattern of allowing himself to be overpowered by Guilfoyle and other women in his personal life.
“The Harper’s Bazaar spread was case in point,” Newsom recalls her telling him. “Ann was there directing it. Kimberly was there. So you went along with it. Had I been there, I would have told you, ‘Get your ass off the floor. You’re the mayor of San Francisco. That’s not a good look.’”
Steve Jobs gave Newsom a sneak peek at the first iPhone
As a creature of tech-dominant San Francisco, Newsom was frequently rubbing elbows with the industry’s elite. Newsom tells of one cocktail party in the penthouse of the Fairmont Hotel, where Apple founder Steve Jobs summoned Newsom and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to show him a soon-to-be released product, the iPhone. Newsom’s first reaction: “Whoa.”
“We were quite aware that he was sharing something akin to a state secret,” Newsom wrote, “something that was proprietary in the fullest meaning of the word, something that might even make him a billionaire many times over.”
Newsom’s bachelor apartment gave off Patrick Bateman vibes to his future wife
His first date with now-wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom ended with a visit to his sparsely decorated apartment, which he had just moved into and wasn’t planning to stay in long-term. Siebel Newsom later told him that the barebones decorations — no sofa in the living room, black plastic taped over the window to make up for a lack of blinds — made her wonder: “Did this guy take his interior design inspiration from American Psycho?”
Newsom detractors, most recently Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, often compare him to the fictional yuppie serial killer. ABC News’ Jon Karl, in an interview last year, told Newsom that even his friends note his physical resemblance to Christian Bale, who played the Patrick Bateman character in the 2000 movie.
Dianne Feinstein’s dance floor diplomacy
On a trip to Shanghai, San Francisco’s sister city, Newsom describes how the typically straight-laced senator showed a different side at a small private lunch with Jiang Zemin, the just-retired Chinese leader. After several rounds of gan bei (the Chinese toast to “dry the cup” with a shot of alcohol), Newsom observed the conversation between Feinstein and Zemin turning “animated, maybe even flirty.” The chatter between the two, reminiscing about their first meeting when they were both mayors of their respective cities, culminated with a spontaneous dance break.
“Dianne was playful and Zemin was playful, and their playfulness took them right out of their chairs and onto the polished floor, where they began to dance, just the two of them,” Newsom writes.
Donald Trump gave Newsom a memorable tour of Air Force One
Newsom had just been elected California governor when the president visited California to view the damage from two wildfires that had torn through the state. Trump was keen to show off the trappings of his office, first on Marine One and then on the presidential airplane — the first time Newsom had been on Air Force One. He recounts Trump eagerly touring Newsom through the cabin, culminating in the president’s private bedroom suite. Trump was especially insistent that Newsom check out his lavatory which, he writes, “was a toilet with plumbing like any other.”
According to Newsom, the presidential bedroom had two beds, separated by “more than a few feet.”
“He did not wait for me to mentally fill in the blank,” Newsomn writes. “‘Melania wanted one bed,’ he said. ‘But two beds, you know, two beds next to each other.’ He seemed to be winking.”
…and pressed Jerry Brown on his romantic past
Newsom portrays Trump as a garrulous talker about anything other than wildfires, the stated reason for his trip to California. At one point, Newsom writes, Trump asked Gov. Jerry Brown who his former girlfriend was. “You know, the one who hasn’t aged well,” Trump said, according to Newsom.
The president was referring to Linda Ronstadt, the folk-rocker who has been public about her struggles with Parkinson’s disease. But Brown, Newsom said, decided to “mess with Trump” and named Natalie Wood, the Hollywood starlet who died in a mysterious drowning.
After considering this unlikely pairing, Trump, according to Newsom, responded: “‘So who killed her?’”
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