Jennifer Siebel Newsom Meets The Moment

0:00Get the news you need in just 15 minutes. Start your day with Bloomberg Daybreak, the podcast with a global view on the stories that matter. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Join us each morning for curated stories on current events, politics, business and foreign relations. Plus one conversation on the day's biggest developments all in just 15 minutes. Subscribe to Bloomberg Daybreak for a precise, thoughtful take on the stories that matter. Listen to Bloomberg Daybreak each morning on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen. When Jennifer Siebel Newsom arrived at the California governor's office, she scrapped the traditional first lady title and made up her own.

0:39She was a Division I soccer recruit to Stanford, where she later got her MBA, then became a documentary filmmaker, sparking national conversation. For the last 17 years, she's best known for being the wife of Governor Gavin Newsom. Not what you might expect from a girl who grew up in a prominent conservative family, and now stands by her husband's side, throwing flames at President Trump. I feel like sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. I mean, the stakes are just that high. We can't check out and move to another country or hide under a log. Like, we can't. That's not who we are. I spent three days with Siebel Newsom and her husband, the governor, to find out more about life in the Newsom family, at their home in Marin County and the governor's office in Sacramento.

1:28You can listen to my conversation with the governor in another episode of The Circuit Pod. In this episode, I talk to Siebel Newsom about pushing back against President Trump, holding tech companies accountable, raising four kids under intense public scrutiny, and whether her husband should make a run for the White House. Here's my conversation with California First partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. I really appreciate you. And I know you don't open your house up very often, so thank you. Thank you. Of course. For having us here. Happy to be here with you.

2:03You want to be called first partner instead of first lady. How are you trying to change the stereotype of what it means to be a politician's wife? It's a great question.

2:17So we agreed to give me the title first partner to really signify to the world what's possible that there will be a female governor, LGBTQ plus governor in the future. Also, we felt it was important to really shine a light on partnership. And partnership makes the world go round. We do live in a society that values the rugged individual and doesn't place enough value on the feminine and care and partnership and collaboration. And so for me, I really wanted to put out to Californians that I wanted to partner with California moms and families and women and children, and that I would be their partner, and that I also was a partner to the governor.

3:05I'm the first person that sees them in the morning, the last person before bed at night. We share our thoughts, our passions, our concerns for California and for the world. And while I am holding down the fort and so focused on ensuring that, you know, I raise healthy, whole, kind, contributing citizens. I am also his partner in both personally and publicly and then doing the other things that enable us to live in this state and live this life. And hopefully our lived experiences can help inform making California better for California families. What was it like to trade one stage for another and go from Hollywood to politics?

3:49Well, I think I was grateful for the experience that I had in the entertainment industry, just in terms of the storytelling component, not being afraid to give speeches and speak publicly. and I think just like the public nature. But, you know, I made my first documentary, Misrepresentation, after experiencing in the entertainment industry this not just misrepresentation, but the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. And I happened to be introduced to my husband in that time period where I was thinking about making this documentary and noted that there are all these powerful women in the real world, but the entertainment industry was sort of limiting powerful women initially to sort of our youth, our beauty, and our sexuality.

4:42And I felt like it was really important to expose that, that the media at the time wasn't giving justice to what a powerful woman really was outside of our sexuality. And so I think just bringing those experiences into the dating and then marrying a public servant gave me this like different perspective on everything. Media is the greatest cultural communicator of our time. And so for me, what I experienced growing up and ultimately what I then experienced in the entertainment industry helped me to kind of form narratives that ultimately I think could be helpful to the general public and Californians in the role of first partner.

5:25I want to linger on the Hollywood thing for a moment and how women have been historically represented there, but you were typecast as a trophy wife. Yes. Right. And is it true that your agent wanted you to take Stanford off your resume so you wouldn't seem smart? Yes. And to lie about my age, which I didn't do either. Cause that's not, you know, those are my values. And I was proud of my Stanford MBA and I was proud of my Stanford undergraduate degree. And I was proud of not just being educated and informed, but also of having lived and having had lived experiences and I didn't want to pretend to be someone that I wasn't.

6:00So you're still, you're a prolific filmmaker. You've covered these issues from the representation of women to raising young men to inequality. What are you taking from your filmmaking in terms of informing your agenda? How is what you've learned over the course of your career informing what you think the government needs? Well, prior to entertainment, but in the entertainment industry, I obviously saw a dearth of women in positions of power and influence. And I also saw women's voices be silenced because women weren't the majority of writers, directors, and producers. And similar to the political world, women may be rising in terms of our numbers and representation, but women don't have the same voice and power in politics.

6:50And so I do think that my experiences in that particular industry influenced my sort of observation in politics that women's voices were not as valuable, that our stories weren't being told, that our perspectives weren't necessarily being listened to. And therefore, the policies that were being created weren't always helping our progress. because they were made by and informed by a male perspective for the most part. So again, even if things were shifting, just as they started to shift in the entertainment industry, we were still not achieving the progress that was possible, again, because of the underrepresentation and the misrepresentations.

7:35You're still making movies. You're being first partner. You're a mom to four kids. How do you divide your time between Sacramento and here? I mean, you're spending a lot of time in the car, right? Like what's your daily and weekly routine? Well, we used, great question. I mean, I think for all of us working moms, it's a juggle, it's messy. It takes a village, right? It really does take a team. We did live in Sacramento for six years and that was, we also lived there during the pandemic. Our world in a sense was smaller. We had fewer friends, a smaller community. It was work, work, work and the kids.

8:10I do have some wonderful girlfriends up there, but it really was a smaller community. I think moving back here has been a transition, and that's part of why I feel like our home is a transition, because work is there for him, or it's been in L.A. since the fires. I mean, it's been in the Central Valley the entire time he's been governor. And so we're just constantly, like, on the road trying to be as efficient with our time as possible. but it's super messy. And the kids let you know when you've been gone too long, whether it's just that he's been gone too long or I've been gone too long or just we're not present or what have you.

8:49And so, you know, it's just like any working family's struggle of balance. And I would say, I'm pretty proud of me. My team's been awesome. I'm not in Sacramento as much as I used to be. And that is a bummer for me because I really enjoy all of that and the work that we're doing out of my office. We're so focused on we have a California for all women's agenda, California for all kids agenda and all of our work on belonging. And California really becoming the state of community and connection and social well-being. But there are also chapters. And so I'm just finishing my next documentary, Misrepresentation 2.0, which really looks at tech-facilitated gender-based violence as the new backlash against girls and women's mental health agency and political efficacy.

9:38So I've been on the road with that or I've been more focused on that. We just launched our Women's Wealth Gap initiative and council. And there's a lot of delegation going on. And it's really about partnership, right? So when you ask that big question of how do you do it all, I only do it through partnership. I could not do this on my own. And I definitely feel like I have partners in all these different places in my life. And it is exciting, but it's not easy, right? As I think just even raising four kids today, as I imagine for you, is not easy. It's not easy. No, definitely not easy. It's awesome, but it's definitely not easy.

10:17Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You and the governor met on a blind date. He was in the headlines, San Francisco's most eligible bachelor. Mayor McCaudy, I think I read, not untouched by scandal either. How did you handle all that? I honestly knew nothing about him. I was in my own little world in the entertainment industry trying to write stories for female protagonists and to kind of uplift what I thought were inspiring stories that weren't out there as a producer and also acting. But you had to start Googling at some point. Yeah. I don't know if I honestly don't know if I did. I really, no, no. Actually, the friend, the mutual friend that had introduced us, like sent me an article of him with a basketball in a bus.

11:06And I, my dad played, My dad, we all played basketball. Basketball was actually my favorite sport. I played soccer overseas on the under-23 national soccer team, and I played at Stanford. But basketball was my favorite sport. And I almost left Stanford to go play basketball at Princeton because I'd been recruited to play there. Wow. And I love basketball. And that was, like, kind of cool that he was a basketball player. And really, that's all I knew. I promise you I knew nothing. I'd done a commercial with his brother-in-law a year or so prior. and we were a married couple in this commercial and his brother-in-law was saying, you need to meet my brother.

11:41And I knew nothing about him because I just, I wasn't focused on politics. I wasn't really interested, but it was sort of, it just became this beautiful friendship and relationship and partnership. And then four kids later, here we go. Four kids later. We're going to talk about your kids in a moment, but you used to be a registered Republican. I was right, yeah. Your parents contributed to Ron DeSantis' campaign for Florida governor. I know your cousin, Tom Siebel, donated. No, he's not my cousin. So my dad is a wonderful human. I was raised in a conservative household, kind of Reagan-esque household.

12:17I didn't know any different than to kind of revere Reagan. I grew up in that generation. And I lived and worked in Africa and Latin America and all over the world with indigenous communities and Bush women in particular. and when I graduated college and was working for Conservation International I started to kind of connect the dots but didn't really pay much attention to political parties and then I think I at one point tried to be the version of decline to state but went independent instead and made that mistake just because I wasn't ready to just jump in just because he was a democrat but I'm a 100 % a progressive.

13:01How does this dynamic work in your own family? Like, what's the conversation like at the Thanksgiving table? Do you talk about politics? My mom and dad really respect Gavin. Gavin is an entrepreneur. He's a businessman. He is very forward-thinking, very fair, very balanced. I can be a little feistier. I feel a real responsibility to fight up and for and on behalf of women and girls. It's like, yeah. So I think it's, you know, so I think that's very much what can sometimes historically have triggered my dad because I'm the eldest of, well, we were five. I lost my older sister. And I think some of my dad's friends, to be honest, in his conservative financial circles that he worked in, were a little bit shocked by this, you know, Stanford graduating, soccer playing, basketball, tennis, whatever, athlete, star who he raised, who then went and got her MBA, kind of challenging him in certain realms just related to equality.

14:10And my dad's always been the biggest champion of women and girls and underprivileged communities. He was giving scholarships when he could to those who were under-resourced. but I think it was just a little bit of a check on the patriarchy that I started to bring home. And so it was, you know, at a time where I think that generation of men weren't ready for it and were less comfortable because they were used to being the boss. And I think we've grown through that. And there's so much, I love my dad so much. He is so kind, like my husband. And I think he's grown with me and seen, okay, she's totally fair, right?

14:55And that our perspective is not a threat. We're not taking away from them. It's just a shift in mentality and perspective generationally that my husband and I are equals. We're not in a household where I walk around on the eggshells and where I don't have financial control or say. And so it's just a different generation. And I feel like my dad and I have grown even closer as a result of some of these conversations. Well, part of the reason I ask is because this is happening in a lot of families right now. It's hard to talk about politics. Families are breaking up. Book clubs are breaking up. How do you talk to your family when you disagree about politics?

15:37If I may correct the record as well. My mom and dad were invited to a fundraiser by a mutual friend in Florida, which is why they gave money to Ron DeSantis. And they did not like the way it was manipulated by the DeSantis camp. But what I will say is that I think these conversations are hard. I don't think technology has helped in any way. In fact, it's further so division and othering. And it's one of the reasons I think we're in such a crisis in this country, because most people in public service are in it for the right reasons. And most people, I would argue that I know who are still voting conservative or Republican, they're just not getting all the facts of the other side.

16:26And so I really think so much of this has to do with the misinformation. And again, the othering that's sadly been the biggest negative outcome of this technological revolution. Well, we're going to talk a little bit more about that later. You just touched a little bit on growing up. You know, you grew up in this area. What was it like growing up, Jennifer Siebel? Ah, um...

16:58You know, I really... I mean, I really woke up after my sister died. But I also lived with a lot of guilt and pain. And the beauty... of surviving that was that there were so many beautiful moms and older women and older sisters who came in to support me and my family. But I think it was that sort of embracing of the feminine and how my parents themselves disconnected. And we just spent a lot of time in nature. We spent a lot of time. I spent a lot of time in gardens, in parks, healing. We moved to Montana for a year. My dad worked and commuted from there. And, you know, I just spent really time lost in the wilderness.

18:06And I think that between nature and the feminine and women and animals, I got through it to come out on the other side and realize that I survived and have

18:26this opportunity to be of service and be about more than myself and try to make a difference in the world and try to help other people and try to prevent suffering, unnecessary suffering and pain. Thank you for sharing that. You know, I've read about how you've talked about how she inspired your life in public service. And you've said you tried to be two people to be perfect because you didn't feel like you were enough. Do you feel like you're enough now? I do. I do. I don't think, though, that the world sees women as enough. I don't. I think we sadly live in a patriarchal society. I think our countries become even more patriarchal in that women are still relegated to second-class citizens And we only have to look at some of the policies that the current administration has championed, not just related to reproductive care, but obviously reproductive care, but ripping families apart, ripping children away from their mothers and their grandmothers, ripping health care away from vulnerable communities, SNAP benefits, you name it.

19:42And again, I equate it to a backlash because we have made progress. And I think there are so many good human beings that see the value in the feminine, that see the value in us standing in our power and having voices and using our voices to champion policies and practices that could make the world a better place. And yet there are a few that are now in power that are threatened by that and want to kind of push us back to the olden days where women had less power and privilege. And so it's a crazy time to be a woman. And while I feel enough, I do feel like my battle is to help other women feel like they're enough and to help the world and those in power see our value and stop rendering us invisible.

20:43How do you and the governor support and challenge each other? in your political ambitions? So we inform each other big time. He's learned so much from my documentaries. And he says that and he admits that. He's like literally line for line from my film. And so it's awesome because he really gets it. Misrepresentation, the mask you live in. Like he understands, he sees the connectivity. He is so bright and such a policy wonk. And I intuit a lot and I will check him with that. But I also don't know what I don't know. And I admire how studied he is and how informed he is. So, you know, I'm always going to lean into centering women, supporting women, because we are the backbones of our families, our communities, our economy.

21:36and I'm always going to lean into protecting and safeguarding children's rights and safety and giving kids the best start in life. And he already knows all of the policy stuff, but I'm going to always kind of bring the heart in and the check-in just to make sure that there's balance in California driving innovation while also keeping our kids safe. That's non-negotiable. And so that's really the dance, which he as a father totally gets. He also is an entrepreneur. We're both entrepreneurs. We're both really creative. We both think outside of the box. And he is even more of like a futurist and gets it in a way that I would argue I feel like the speed of technology and what it's doing to our nervous systems is a bit out of control and that we kind of need to come back to the speed of nature, mother nature.

22:31which is just about balance. Technology is here to stay. I just want a little more balance for all of us. There's so many incredible things that we can solve with technology and I want to make sure that it's in check and that there's a balance and harmony because technology shouldn't replace the real world and it is for so many people. Does he come to you for support or advice or validation? Oh yes, he does. Yeah, I mean he's hard on himself. He's really hard on himself. And I think he knows I'm going to give it to him straight. Some partners of government leaders enjoy the opportunity and the attention that comes with this position.

23:10Do you enjoy it? Or has it taken some getting used to? That's a good question. I just am a worker bee. I think my husband and I are just worker bees. I actually don't love the pomp and circumstance at all. We do it. but I'm like, I want to roll my sleeves up and get to work. That's who I am. And I think that's who he is too. I think he did a lot of pomp and circumstances, mayor. And I think it's the bores him. I just like being with people. I want to inspire people. I want to be inspired. I want to learn from people. I want to partner. I want to like, I want the best minds in a room. We had this earlier today.

23:53It was all these incredible people in tech aligned with tech, helping us solve some of these really vexing problems. It was a really, really great room to be in. I love that. He loves that. Okay, so outside of the political spotlight, when the cameras are off, the apps are put away, what are you two like as a couple? Like, what's something that might surprise us? We love design. You couldn't tell because we didn't finish the house.

24:23No, we do. We love the creative together. We love all that. He loves to cook. I like to cook. He's really fast and good at cleaning. Who does the dishes? Well, I feel like when he's around, he's good at the dishes. He's really fast at the dishes. It takes me like an hour. I'm like, let me put you to bed. Let me go read you a story. Let's start dancing. He's very like, get it done. So he is actually really good at the dishes. He's actually very neat. Sometimes I feel like I'm a mad scientist, but I've learned to be a lot more organized because of him. Look, we have like 12 million animals. The chaos works for me.

25:09It doesn't work for everybody. I remember when we brought our first puppy home. He was like, nope, nope, because then they die and then it's sad and, you know, something. And I found the puppy in bed the first night I came home. Like I had a late event or something and there's the puppy. And so clearly the puppy melded to him and, you know, we're relatively healthy. I love my chocolate. I love my dessert. We are both athletes and we hike all the time in our awesome state parks and local parks. You know, we used to play a lot of sports together with fractures here and there. It's become less, you know, exciting to get out there and be re-injured.

25:50I was going to say, I know you, I mean, you both played hardcore team sports. Are you competitive with each other? Totally. I beat him in free throws the other day. Thank you very much. No. Oh, yeah. I'm sure we are. I don't know. Life is big. Life is full. And so we just try to take moments. We love good food. We love different cultures. We love to travel together. We love music. It's full, right? It's full. It's fun. Work hard, play hard. Mm-hmm. Who's the stricter parent? I am. Totally. But he's very calm and he'll be like, oh, we're taking that away and you will not have that back. And I'm like, da-da-da-da.

26:33We're raised in different households. His parents separated when he was really young. He was raised by a single mom. She worked multiple jobs. He was a latchkey kid. So he was bullied by this neighbor. He had dyslexia. He had his stuff. I lost my sister, felt responsible, felt like I had to be perfect. Also, probably as a natural response, I think I dreamt a lot. I read a lot. I was in nature a lot. It was sort of like a trauma response of me trying to find solace in different ways. You testified against Harvey Weinstein in 2018. You testified that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted you. Yeah.

27:16And you were part of the Me Too movement. And there was that moment for women where it felt like progress was being made. And then there's the moment that we're in now where it feels like so many things women fought for are slipping away. Yeah. How do you make sense of this moment? Every time we make progress, there's another backlash. I would say technology is the new backlash. We don't have as many women in power starting, designing, running these tech companies. It's part of the problem. Historically, there's been an old boys club. And I mean, it's historic. It's old. It's not new. Silence women to get their voices and their power out of the public.

28:04It's disturbing. And it's terrifying, to be honest, that we're still experiencing this. But what could we expect when we have the person in the White House that we have in the White House? You made a documentary 10 years ago about an emerging crisis among young men. The governor credits you with identifying an epidemic that nobody else was talking about at the time. Right. Now we're seeing young men gravitating towards a certain kind of rhetoric. What do you think the problem is today with young men? How would you describe what they're going through? Well, I think culturally there's been a loneliness epidemic for many young men who maybe don't have team sports and don't have healthy home lives and who are drawn down this dark web of misogyny vis-a-vis whatever form of social media and technology and video games.

29:06And the manosphere online has really just capitalized on filling that void of loneliness and a lack of healthy role models. It's also a result, I would argue, of especially a certain population of young men thinking that there isn't room for them because the education system has leaned towards really kind of supporting young women's sort of where they are in their lives and their academic skills. and so it's a mix and a confluence because look I have two boys and two girls girl boy girl boy and I see I have kids with learning differences I have kids with not you know with with other we all have our thing and I just as I observe our larger culture I think as we've told our girls to stand up and and speak up and be proud and as we've supported them in their pursuits and they They work so hard.