California Gov. Gavin Newsom Mocked Over Childhood “Hustle” Story — Critics Call It Tone-Deaf, Allies Say It’s MisunderstoodBy Showbizz Daily | October 28, 2025

Cal­i­for­nia Gov­er­nor Gavin New­som is once again at the cen­ter of an online firestorm — this time, not over pol­i­cy, but over a per­son­al sto­ry from his youth. In a new episode of the NBA pod­cast All The Smoke, host­ed by for­mer cham­pi­ons Matt Barnes and Stephen Jack­son, New­som shared what he described as a rough-and-tum­ble upbring­ing — but the com­ments quick­ly drew mock­ery and dis­be­lief from con­ser­v­a­tive cor­ners of social media.

“It was about pay­ing the bills, man,” New­som said. “It was just, like, hus­tling. And so I was out there just kind of rais­ing myself.”

The gov­er­nor recalled his moth­er jug­gling “two and a half jobs,” while he spent after­noons glued to the tele­vi­sion, “sit­ting there with the Won­der Bread.” The light­heart­ed tone of the exchange prompt­ed laugh­ter from the hosts — and with­in hours, the clip went viral on X (for­mer­ly Twit­ter).

🎙️ From Podcast to Political Punchline

For­mer invest­ment banker and con­ser­v­a­tive com­men­ta­tor John LeFevre shared the clip, which racked up more than 4.3 mil­lion views in under 24 hours. Crit­ics were quick to pounce, point­ing out that Newsom’s father, William New­som, had been a judge and lawyer for the bil­lion­aire Get­ty fam­i­ly — one of the wealth­i­est dynas­ties in Cal­i­for­nia.

“Won­der Bread and mac and cheese? His dad was an appel­late court jus­tice con­nect­ed to the Get­tys,” one user wrote. Anoth­er added: “The dude is the most com­mon species in pol­i­tics — a shape-shift­ing sociopath. He doesn’t even know when he’s lying any­more.”

Cal­i­for­nia Gov­er­nor Gavin New­som is being mocked by con­ser­v­a­tives on social media for a pod­cast clip in which he said his fam­i­ly had to ‘hus­tle’ to make ends meet

The clip was from the most recent episode of All The Smoke, a pod­cast host­ed by NBA cham­pi­ons Matt Barnes (mid­dle) and Stephen Jack­son (right)

One viral meme edit­ed the pod­cast clip to show New­som wear­ing a gold chain and a Dodgers cap, a tongue-in-cheek nod to what crit­ics saw as a con­trived attempt at relata­bil­i­ty.

🏠 The Truth About Newsom’s Upbringing

While the back­lash was swift, some sup­port­ers and fact-check­ers have not­ed that Newsom’s sto­ry isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. His par­ents, William and Tes­sa New­som, divorced when he was a tod­dler, leav­ing his moth­er to raise him and his sis­ter large­ly on her own in San Fran­cis­co.

“She worked mul­ti­ple jobs — as a sec­re­tary, wait­ress, and para­le­gal — just to keep food on the table,” said a spokesper­son from the governor’s office. “Any­one with more than an inch of curios­i­ty would know that Gov­er­nor New­som was raised by his moth­er after her divorce from his father.”

Though the fam­i­ly had con­nec­tions to the Get­tys, wealth didn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly fol­low. A San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle pro­file from 2003 report­ed that William Newsom’s high­est salary as a lawyer was around $75,000 — com­fort­able, but far from elite by Cal­i­for­nia stan­dards.

A home New­som lived in dur­ing his child­hood was indeed recent­ly list­ed for $3.6 mil­lion, but it was pur­chased by his mater­nal grand­fa­ther decades ago, when San Fran­cis­co real estate was a frac­tion of today’s prices.

Judge’s son Gavin New­som mocked for claim­ing well-con­nect­ed fam­i­ly had to ‘hus­tle to pay the bills’

Judge’s son Gavin New­som mocked for claim­ing well-con­nect­ed fam­i­ly had to ‘hus­tle to pay the bills’

Judge’s son Gavin New­som mocked for claim­ing well-con­nect­ed fam­i­ly had to ‘hus­tle to pay the bills’

Judge’s son Gavin New­som mocked for claim­ing well-con­nect­ed fam­i­ly had to ‘hus­tle to pay the bills’

Judge’s son Gavin New­som mocked for claim­ing well-con­nect­ed fam­i­ly had to ‘hus­tle to pay the bills’

⚾ From Baseball Dreams to Politics

New­som attend­ed San­ta Clara Uni­ver­si­ty on stu­dent loans and a par­tial base­ball schol­ar­ship. In the pod­cast, he even men­tioned that his father only began show­ing up again when he start­ed excelling at sports.

“All of a sud­den, I start­ed throw­ing the base­ball a lit­tle faster than every­one else,” New­som recalled. “And in high school, I look up in the stands — my dad’s back up there.”

While he may not have grown up in lux­u­ry, Newsom’s con­nec­tions to the Get­ty fam­i­ly unde­ni­ably shaped his career tra­jec­to­ry. As a young entre­pre­neur, he co-found­ed a wine shop with Gor­don Getty’s son, William, who invest­ed up to $15,000 in the ven­ture — and lat­er became a major backer of Newsom’s sub­se­quent busi­ness­es and polit­i­cal cam­paigns.

💬 A Story About Class, Image, and Perception

The viral moment high­lights a recur­ring chal­lenge for New­som: walk­ing the fine line between relata­bil­i­ty and priv­i­lege. For crit­ics, his “hus­tle” com­ments echo a broad­er frus­tra­tion with politi­cians who appear dis­con­nect­ed from every­day strug­gles. For allies, the mock­ery reveals how polit­i­cal nar­ra­tives can be twist­ed online — espe­cial­ly in the era of clipped sound bites and instant out­rage.

As one sup­port­er on X put it, “It’s not that he was poor — it’s that his mom real­ly did work her tail off while his dad was gone. That’s a sto­ry a lot of peo­ple can relate to.”

🕊️ Between Two Worlds

New­som him­self has described his upbring­ing as one split “between two dif­fer­ent worlds” — the work­ing-class house­hold of his moth­er and the social cir­cles of his father’s wealthy acquain­tances.

“I’ve always felt like an out­sider look­ing in,” he once said in a cam­paign speech.

But in the age of social media, nuance rarely trends. And for now, his sto­ry of Won­der Bread and mac­a­roni may serve as a fresh reminder that — for politi­cians — even child­hood mem­o­ries can become bat­tle­grounds.