7 Biggest Bombshells From Gavin Newsom's New Memoir 'Young Man in a Hurry'

Gavin Newsom pulled back the curtain on his family secrets, personal relationships and political path in his new memoir.

Released on February 24, the governor's new book, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, walked readers through his childhood as someone living in the shadow of his father, Judge William Newsom III.

The late judge was 32 when he married Gavin's then-19-year-old mother, Tessa Menzies Newsom, in 1966. They welcomed two children but divorced after about six years of marriage.

According to Gavin, he and his sister, Hilary Newsom, were raised mostly by their mother, particularly after William III moved to Lake Tahoe, Calif. Struggling to make ends meet after the separation, Tessa worked multiple jobs, often leaving Gavin and Hilary in the care of others.

At the same time, he had difficulty in school during his early years and was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia.

The politician was confronted with another emotional upheaval when he received a voicemail from his cancer-stricken mom in 2002. Tessa said she wanted to end her life after suffering from b---- cancer through assisted death, which was illegal in California at the time.

He recalled staying by Tessa's side until her last breath, holding her hand "tighter and tighter and sobbing."

Meanwhile, his father died at the age of 84 at his home in San Francisco on December 12, 2018, following a long illness. But when prompted by a caretaker, William III reportedly could not bring himself to say he loved his son.

"He would not utter those words," he wrote. "And yet I had not one ounce of doubt that he loved me dearly."

Though he detailed his hardships, Gavin occasionally noted the advantages he had.

"Photography became my safe space, a place where I could both observe and create," he said while sharing his childhood vacations with the Gettys.

Gavin later wrote, "Dad later blew up two of my pictures and sold them for four hundred dollars each at an auction to benefit his foundation to protect the California mountain lion."

In his memoir, Gavin recalled Hilary telling him he had "a pattern of letting the women in your life dictate [his] movements, referring to his wince-inducing hubris at a red carpet event because of his then-wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Ann Getty.

Hilary, who said he had no self-awareness, told her brother, "Had I been there, I would have told you: 'Get your a-- off the floor. You're the mayor of San Francisco. That is not a good look.'"

Additionally, he quoted his sibling who described Kimberly as "smart, quite smart, but not [her] type of gal" because "her need for attention and love could not be met."

"She was a little over-the-top. Overdone style. She was never not put together, but understatement was not one of her attributes," she added. "She needed to command a room. She needed to own a room. All eyes on her."

Gavin and the MAGA disciple held a wedding ceremony in December 2001, during which Tessa "put on a good smile."

"My mother was of the mind that the marriage between Kimberly and me would not last, but she chose to hide those feelings from me," he wrote.

He confirmed Kimberly was not with the family when Tessa died through a doctor-assisted suicide. She reportedly visited a day earlier "only to have [Tessa] scold her about things she'd seen in [their] marriage. Kimberly left in tears. Mom had finally found a voice, it seemed."

His sister witnessed a similar situation, noting, "I saw a lot of adoration from her to you, Gavin. But less from you to her."

With Tessa worried Gavin "had brought a kind of passivity into the relationship," he acknowledged in the book, "I gave only a little of myself to Kimberly. Instead of regretting this, I kept wishing I could have given a lot more to my dying mother… The distance between Kimberly and me became a breach, and the breach widened into a chasm that could not be repaired."

"When it was time to part after four years of marriage, we parted about as amicably as two people could," he added, referring to his and Kimberly's divorce.

Over two years after finalizing his divorce from Kimberly, Gavin moved on with actress and filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Upon meeting his future second wife, he learned Jennifer's sister, Stacey, was killed in a tragic golf cart accident. She also testified in Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial, accusing the disgraced film producer of sexually assaulting her.

Jennifer weathered another deeply traumatic ordeal in 2020 when she was required to undergo a surgical ablation of her uterus after an unexpected pregnancy resulted in a loss.

"Thank goodness this was California," Gavin wrote in his memoir. "Jen received the healthcare that would very soon be denied to countless women in red-state America because of the decision of Supreme Court Justices [Clarence] Thomas, [Samuel] Alito, [Brett] Kavanaugh, [Neil] Gorsuch and [Amy Coney] Barrett."

In 2018, Gavin had a painfully awkward meeting with Donald Trump while aboard Marine One during the POTUS' first presidential term. Sitting with the president and JaredKushner, Donald reportedly shared he tried to set up his daughter Ivanka Trump and Tom Brady.

Gavin depicted The Apprentice star as yet another overbearing patriarch, as Donald admitted he was disappointed when he discovered Ivanka was already seeing Jared.

"It was dead air for a moment. Kushner wore a face that somehow retained its impassivity. He finally muttered, with the slyest grin, 'Yes, sir. I know I wasn't your first choice.' And then Trump turned to me and said, "Not even close, right, Gavin? Tom Brady. Tom Brady,'" he wrote, according to an excerpt obtained by The Atlantic.

"In front of the governor and future governor of California, Trump was making his son-in-law feel two feet tall," Gavin added. "And Kushner just let him do it."

In Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Gavin looked back at the time he attended President George W. Bush's State of the Union address, where he criticized "activist judges" for expanding marriage rights. The then-San Francisco mayor, with an aim to be "bold," allowed same-s-- couples to get married at City Hall for 28 days when he returned to the city — but the California Supreme Court later voided the marriages.

His unprecedented move reportedly sparked backlash from both Republicans and Democrats, including Dianne Feinstein, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Lockyer.

Gavin wrote he was excluded from speaking at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was told not to pose for photos with then-Senator Barack Obama at a party.

Elsewhere in the book, Gavin recounted attending a party where tech industry heavyweights, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, gathered. He also saw Apple founder Steve Jobs take a "sleek device" out of his pocket, describing it as "a solid piece of glass with no keyboard that could be held in one hand."

Gavin said the Google bosses later developed the Android version of the smartphone.