Speaker 1: When Jennifer Siebel Newsom arrived at the California Governor's office,
Speaker 1: she scrapped the traditional first lady title and made up
Speaker 1: her own.
Speaker 2: She was a Division I soccer.
Speaker 1: Recruit to Stanford, where she later got her MBA, then
Speaker 1: became a documentary filmmaker, sparking national conversation for the last
Speaker 1: seventeen years. She's best known for being the wife of
Speaker 1: Governor Gavin Newsom. Not what you might expect from a
Speaker 1: girl who grew up in a prominent conservative family and
Speaker 1: now stands by her husband's side throwing flames at President Trump.
Speaker 3: I feel like sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
Speaker 3: I mean, mistakes are just that high. We can't check
Speaker 3: out and move to another country or hide under a
Speaker 3: log like we can't.
Speaker 4: That's not who we are.
Speaker 1: I spent three days with Siebel Newsom and her husband,
Speaker 1: the Governor, to find out more about life in the
Speaker 1: Newsom family at their home in Marin County and the
Speaker 1: Governor's office in Sacramento. You can listen to my conversation
Speaker 1: with the Governor in another episode of the Circuit Pod.
Speaker 1: In this episode, I talked to Siebel Newsom about pushing
Speaker 1: back against President Trump. Holding tech companies accountable, raising four
Speaker 1: kids under intense public scrutiny, and whether her husband should.
Speaker 4: Make a run for the White House.
Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you really
Speaker 2: appreciate you.
Speaker 1: And you know, I know you don't open your house
Speaker 1: up very often, so thank you.
Speaker 4: Thank you for course here, happy to be with you.
Speaker 1: You want to be called first partner instead of first lady.
Speaker 1: How are you trying to change the stereotype of what
Speaker 1: it means to be a politician's wife.
Speaker 4: That's a great question.
Speaker 3: So I we agreed to give me the title first
Speaker 3: Partner to really signify to.
Speaker 4: The world what's possible that there will be.
Speaker 3: A female governor LGBTQ plus governor in the future. Also,
Speaker 3: we felt it was important to really shine a light
Speaker 3: on partnership, and partnership makes the world go round. We
Speaker 3: do live in a society that values the rugged individual
Speaker 3: and doesn't place enough value on the feminine and care
Speaker 3: and partnership and collaboration, and so for me, I really
Speaker 3: wanted to put out to Californians that I wanted to
Speaker 3: partner with California moms and families and women and children,
Speaker 3: and that I would be their partner, and that I
Speaker 3: also was a partner to the governor. I'm the first
Speaker 3: person that sees them in the morning, the last person
Speaker 3: before bed at night. We share our thoughts, our passions,
Speaker 3: our concerns for California and for the world. And while
Speaker 3: I am holding down the fort and so focused on
Speaker 3: ensuring that I raise healthy, whole kind, contributing citizens, I
Speaker 3: am also his partner in both and publicly and then
Speaker 3: doing the other things that enable us to live in
Speaker 3: this state and live this life, and hopefully our lived
Speaker 3: experiences can help inform making California better for California families.
Speaker 1: What was it like to trade one stage for another
Speaker 1: and go from Hollywood to politics.
Speaker 3: Well, I think I was grateful for the experience that
Speaker 3: I had in the entertainment industry, just in terms of
Speaker 3: the storytelling component, not being afraid to give speeches.
Speaker 4: And speak publicly, and I think just like the public nature.
Speaker 3: But you know, I made my first documentary misrepresentation after
Speaker 3: experiencing in the entertainment industry. This not just misrepresentation, but
Speaker 3: the underrepresentation of women of positions of power, and influence,
Speaker 3: and I happen to be introduced to my husband in
Speaker 3: that time period where thinking about making this documentary and
Speaker 3: noted that there are all these powerful women in the
Speaker 3: real world, but the entertainment industry was sort of limiting
Speaker 3: powerful women initially to sort of oar youth, our beauty,
Speaker 3: and our sexuality.
Speaker 4: And I felt like it was really important.
Speaker 3: To expose that that the media at the time wasn't
Speaker 3: giving justice to what a powerful woman really was outside
Speaker 3: of our sexuality. And so I think just bringing those
Speaker 3: experiences into the dating and then marrying a public servant
Speaker 3: gave me this like different perspective on everything. Media is
Speaker 3: the greatest cultural communicator of our time, and so for me,
Speaker 3: what I experienced growing up and ultimately what I then
Speaker 3: experienced in the entertainment industry helped me to kind of
Speaker 3: form narratives that ultimately I think could be helpful to
Speaker 3: the general public and Californians in the role of first partner.
Speaker 1: I want to linger on the Hollywood thing for a
Speaker 1: moment and how women have been historically represent there. But
Speaker 1: you were typecast as a trophy wife, yes, right, And
Speaker 1: is it true that your agent wanted you to take
Speaker 1: Stanford off your resume, so you wouldn't seem smart.
Speaker 3: Yes, and to lie about my age, which I didn't
Speaker 3: do either, because that's not you know, those are my values.
Speaker 3: And I was proud of my Stanford MBA, and I
Speaker 3: was proud of my Stanford undergraduate degree. And I was
Speaker 3: proud of not just being educated and informed, but also
Speaker 3: of having lived and having had lived experiences.
Speaker 4: And I didn't want to pretend to be someone that
Speaker 4: I wasn't.
Speaker 2: So you're still you're a prolific filmmaker.
Speaker 1: You've covered these issues from the representation of women, to
Speaker 1: raising young men to inequality. What are you taking from
Speaker 1: your filmmaking in terms of informing your agenda? How is
Speaker 1: what you've learned over the course of your career informing
Speaker 1: what you think the government needs?
Speaker 3: Well prior to entertainment, but in the entertainment industry, I
Speaker 3: obviously saw a dearth of.
Speaker 4: Women in positions of power and influence.
Speaker 3: And I also saw women's voices be silenced because women
Speaker 3: weren't the majority of writers, directors, and producers.
Speaker 4: And similar to the political world, women may be rising
Speaker 4: in terms of our numbers and representation.
Speaker 3: But women don't have the same voice and power in politics,
Speaker 3: and so I do think that my experiences in that
Speaker 3: particular industry influenced my observation in politics, that women's voices
Speaker 3: were not as valuable, that our stories weren't being told,
Speaker 3: that our perspectives weren't necessarily being listened to, and therefore
Speaker 3: the policies that were being created weren't always helping our
Speaker 3: progress because they were made by and informed by a
Speaker 3: male perspective for the most part. So again, even if
Speaker 3: things were shifting, just as they started to shift in
Speaker 3: the entertainment industry, we were still not achieving the progress
Speaker 3: that was possible. Again because at the end of representation
Speaker 3: and the misrepresentations.
Speaker 1: You're still making movies, you're being first partner, you're a
Speaker 1: mom to four kids. How do you divide your time
Speaker 1: between Sacramento and here? I mean, you're spending a lot
Speaker 1: of time in the car, right, Like what's your daily
Speaker 1: and weekly reas well?
Speaker 4: We used with a great question.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think for all of us working moms,
Speaker 3: it's a juggle, it's messy.
Speaker 4: It takes a village, right, It really does take a team.
Speaker 3: We did live in Sacramento for six years, and that
Speaker 3: was we also lived there during the pandemic. Our world,
Speaker 3: in a sense was smaller. We had fewer friends, a
Speaker 3: smaller community. It was work, work, work, and the kids.
Speaker 3: I do have some wonderful girlfriends up there, but it
Speaker 3: really was a smaller community. I think moving back here
Speaker 3: has been a transition, and that's part of why I
Speaker 3: feel like our home is a transition because work is
Speaker 3: there for him or it's been in La since the fires.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's been in the Central Valley the entire
Speaker 3: time he's been governor, and so we're just constantly, like
Speaker 3: on the road, trying to be as efficient with our
Speaker 3: time as possible. But it's super messy, and the kids
Speaker 3: let you know when you've been gone too long, whether
Speaker 3: it's just that he's been gone too long, or I've
Speaker 3: been gone too long, or just we're not present or
Speaker 3: what have you. And so you know, it's just like
Speaker 3: any working famili's struggle of balance. And I would say
Speaker 3: I'm pretty proud. I mean, my team's been awesome. I'm
Speaker 3: not in Sacramento as much as I used to be,
Speaker 3: and that is a bummer for me because I really
Speaker 3: enjoy all of that and the work that we're doing
Speaker 3: out of my office. It's we're so focused on We've
Speaker 3: been California for All Women's Agenda, California for All Kids' Agenda,
Speaker 3: and all of our work on belonging and California really
Speaker 3: becoming the state of community and connection and social wellbeing.
Speaker 4: But they are also chapters.
Speaker 3: And so I'm just finishing my next documentary, Misrepresentation two
Speaker 3: point zero, which really looks at tech facilitated gender based
Speaker 3: violence is the new backlash against girls and women's mental
Speaker 3: health agency and political efficacy. So I've been on the
Speaker 3: road with that or I've been more focused on that.
Speaker 3: We just launched our Women's Wealth Gap Initiative and Council,
Speaker 3: and there's a lot of delegation going on. And it's
Speaker 3: really about partnership, right, So when you ask that big
Speaker 3: question of how do you do it all, I only
Speaker 3: do it through partnership.
Speaker 4: I could not do this on my own.
Speaker 3: And I definitely feel like I have partners in all
Speaker 3: these different places in my life and it is exciting.
Speaker 4: But it's not easy, right.
Speaker 3: As I think just even raising four kids today, as
Speaker 3: I imagine for you, is not easy.
Speaker 4: It's not easy. No, definitely not easy. It's awesome, but
Speaker 4: it's definitely not easy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you and the governor met on a blind date.
Speaker 1: He was in the headline San Francisco's most Eligible bachelor,
Speaker 1: Mayor McCatty. I think I read.
Speaker 4: Not untouched by scandal either.
Speaker 2: How did you handle all that?
Speaker 3: I honestly knew nothing about him. I was in my
Speaker 3: own little world in the entertainment industry, trying to write
Speaker 3: stories for female protagonists and to kind of uplift what
Speaker 3: I thought were inspiring stories that weren't out there as
Speaker 3: a producer and also acting.
Speaker 2: But you had to start googling at some point.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know if. I honestly don't know if
Speaker 4: I did. I really no.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 3: Actually, the friend, the mutual friend that had introduced us,
Speaker 3: like sent me an article of him with a basketball
Speaker 3: in a bus. And my dad played my dad, we
Speaker 3: all played basketball. Basketball was actually my favorite sport. I
Speaker 3: played soccer overseas on the under twenty three national soccer team,
Speaker 3: and I played at Stanford, but basketball was my favorite sport.
Speaker 3: And I almost left Stanford to go play basketball at
Speaker 3: Princeton because I've been recruited to play there. Wow, and
Speaker 3: I love basketball, and that was like kind of cool.
Speaker 3: Then he was a basketball player, and really that's all
Speaker 3: I knew.
Speaker 4: I promise you I knew nothing.
Speaker 3: I'd done a commercial with his brother in law a
Speaker 3: year or so prior, and we were a married couple
Speaker 3: in this commercial, and his brother in law was saying,
Speaker 3: you need to meet my brother, and I knew nothing
Speaker 3: about him because I wasn't focused on politics.
Speaker 4: I wasn't really interested, but it.
Speaker 3: Was sort of it just became this beautiful friendship and
Speaker 3: relationship and partnership.
Speaker 4: And then four kids later. Here we more kids later.
Speaker 4: We're gonna talk about your kids in a moment.
Speaker 2: But you used to be a registered Republican.
Speaker 4: I was. Ye.
Speaker 1: Your parents contributed to Ronda Santis' campaign for Florida governor.
Speaker 1: I know your cousin Tom Siebel.
Speaker 2: Don't.
Speaker 3: No, he's not my cousin. So my dad is a
Speaker 3: wonderful human. I was raised in a conservative household, kind
Speaker 3: of Reagan esque household. I didn't know any different than
Speaker 3: to kind of Revere Reagan.
Speaker 4: I grew up.
Speaker 3: In that generation, and I lived and worked in Africa
Speaker 3: and Latin American all over the world with indigenous communities
Speaker 3: and bush women in particular. And when I graduated college
Speaker 3: and was working for conservation international. I started to kind
Speaker 3: of connect the dots, but didn't really pay much attention
Speaker 3: to political parties. And then I think I at one
Speaker 3: point tried to be the version of declined to state
Speaker 3: but went independent instead and made that mistake just because
Speaker 3: I wasn't ready to just jump in just because he
Speaker 3: was a Democrat, but I'm one hundred percent of progressive.
Speaker 1: How does this dynamic work in your own family, Like,
Speaker 1: what's the conversation like at the Thanksgiving table?
Speaker 2: Do you talk about politics?
Speaker 3: My mom and dad really respect. Gavin is an entrepreneur,
Speaker 3: He's a businessman. He is very forward thinking, very fair,
Speaker 3: very balanced. I can be a little feistier. I feel
Speaker 3: a real responsibility to fight up for and on behalf
Speaker 3: of women and girls. It's like, yeah, yeah, so I
Speaker 3: think it's you know so, I think that's very much
Speaker 3: what can sometimes historically have triggered my dad because I'm.
Speaker 4: The eldest of well we were five, I lost my older.
Speaker 3: Sister, and I think some of my dad's friends, to
Speaker 3: be honest, in his conservative financial circles that he worked in,
Speaker 3: were a little.
Speaker 4: Bit shocked by this.
Speaker 3: You know, Stanford graduating soccer, playing basketball, tennis, whatever athlete
Speaker 3: star who he raised, who then went and got her
Speaker 3: MBA kind of challenging him in certain realms just related
Speaker 3: to equality.
Speaker 4: And my dad's always been the biggest.
Speaker 3: Champion of women and girls and underprivileged communities. He was
Speaker 3: giving scholarships when he could to those who were under resource.
Speaker 3: But I think it was just a little bit of
Speaker 3: a check on the patriarchy that.
Speaker 4: I started to bring home.
Speaker 3: And so it was, you know, at a time where
Speaker 3: I think that generation of men weren't ready for it,
Speaker 3: and we're less comfortable because they were used to being
Speaker 3: the boss. And I think we've grown through that, and
Speaker 3: there's so much I love my dad so much. He
Speaker 3: is so kind like my husband, and I think he's
Speaker 3: grown with me and seeing Okay, she's totally fair, right,
Speaker 3: and that our perspective is not a threat.
Speaker 4: We're not taking away from them.
Speaker 3: It's just a shift in mentality and perspective generationally that
Speaker 3: my husband and I are equals. Were not in a
Speaker 3: household where I walk around on eggshells and where I
Speaker 3: don't have financial control or say and so it's just
Speaker 3: a different generation. And I feel like my dad and
Speaker 3: I have grown even closer as a result of some
Speaker 3: of these conversations.
Speaker 1: Well, part of the reason I ask is because I
Speaker 1: this is happening in a lot of families right now.
Speaker 4: Hard to talk about politics.
Speaker 2: Families are breaking up, book clubs are breaking up.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you talk to your family when
Speaker 1: you disagree about politics?
Speaker 3: If I may correct the record as well, my mom
Speaker 3: and dad were invited to a fundraiser by a mutual
Speaker 3: friend in Florida, which is why they gave money to
Speaker 3: Ron DeSantis, and they did not like the way it
Speaker 3: was manipulated by the Desantas camp. But what I will
Speaker 3: say is that I think these conversations are hard. I
Speaker 3: don't think technology has helped in any way. In fact,
Speaker 3: it's further so division and othering, and it's one of
Speaker 3: the reasons I think we're in such a crisis in
Speaker 3: this country, because most people in public service are in
Speaker 3: it for the right reasons, and most people I would
Speaker 3: argue that I know who are still voting conservative or Republican.
Speaker 3: They're just not getting all the facts of the other side.
Speaker 3: And so I really think so much of this has
Speaker 3: to do with the misinformation and again the othering that's
Speaker 3: sadly been the biggest negative outcome of this technological revolution.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk a little bit more about
Speaker 1: that way. You just touched a little bit up on
Speaker 1: growing up. You know, you grew up in this area.
Speaker 2: What was it like growing up, Jennifer Sebel?
Speaker 3: You know, I really, I mean, I really woke up
Speaker 3: after my sister died, But I also.
Speaker 4: Lived with a lot of guilt and pain.
Speaker 3: And the beauty of surviving that was that there were
Speaker 3: so many beautiful moms and older women and older.
Speaker 4: Sisters who came in to support me and my family.
Speaker 4: But I think it was that sort of embracing.
Speaker 3: Of the feminine and how my parents themselves disconnected and
Speaker 3: we just spent a lot of time in nature.
Speaker 4: We spent a lot of time.
Speaker 3: I spent a lot of time in gardens, in parks, healing.
Speaker 4: We moved to Montana for a year.
Speaker 3: My dad worked and commuted from there, and you know,
Speaker 3: I just spent really time lost in the wilderness. And
Speaker 3: I think that between nature and the feminine and women
Speaker 3: and animals, I got through it to come out on
Speaker 3: the other side and realize that I survived.
Speaker 4: And have.
Speaker 5: This opportunity to be service and be about more than
Speaker 5: myself and try to make a difference in the world
Speaker 5: and try to help other people and try to prevent suffering,
Speaker 5: a necessary suffering in pain.
Speaker 2: Thank you for sure.
Speaker 1: And you know I've read about how you've talked about
Speaker 1: how she inspired her life in public service, and you've
Speaker 1: said you tried to be two people, to be perfect
Speaker 1: because you didn't feel like you were enough.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like you're enough now?
Speaker 5: I do?
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 3: I don't think, though, that the world sees women as enough.
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 3: I think we sadly live in a patriarchal society. I
Speaker 3: think our countries become even more patriarchal in that women are.
Speaker 4: Still relegated to second class citizens. And we only have to.
Speaker 3: Look at some of the policies that the current administration
Speaker 3: has championed, not just related to reproductive care, but obviously
Speaker 3: reproductive care, but ripping families apart, ripping children away from
Speaker 3: their mothers and their grandmothers, ripping healthcare away from vulnerable communities,
Speaker 3: snap benefits, you name it. And again I equate it
Speaker 3: to a backlash because we have made progress, and I
Speaker 3: think there are so many good human beings that see
Speaker 3: the value and the feminine, that see the value in
Speaker 3: us standing in our power and having voices and using
Speaker 3: our voices to champion policies and practices that could make
Speaker 3: the world a better place.
Speaker 4: And yet there are a.
Speaker 3: Few that are now in power that are threatened by
Speaker 3: that and want to kind of push us back to
Speaker 3: the olden days where women had less power and privilege.
Speaker 4: And so it's a crazy time to be a woman.
Speaker 3: And while I feel enough, I do feel like my
Speaker 3: battle is to help other women feel like they're enough,
Speaker 3: and to help the world and those in power see
Speaker 3: our value.
Speaker 4: And stop rendering us invisible.
Speaker 1: How do you and the governor's support and challenge each
Speaker 1: other in your political ambitions?
Speaker 3: So we inform each other big time. He's learned so
Speaker 3: much from my documentaries, and.
Speaker 6: He says that, and he admits that he's like literally
Speaker 6: line for line from by film, and so it's awesome
Speaker 6: because he really gets it, misrepresentation, the mask you live in,
Speaker 6: Like he understands, he sees the connectivity.
Speaker 4: He is so bright and such a policy wonk.
Speaker 3: And I into it a lot, and I will check
Speaker 3: him with that, but I also don't know what I
Speaker 3: don't know, and I admire how studied he is and
Speaker 3: how informed he is, So you know, I'm always going
Speaker 3: to lean into centering women, supporting women because we are
Speaker 3: the backbones of our families, our communities, our economy. And
Speaker 3: I'm always going to lean into protecting and safeguarding children's
Speaker 3: rights and safety and giving kids the best start in life.
Speaker 3: And he already knows all of the policy stuff, but
Speaker 3: I'm going to always kind of bring the heart in
Speaker 3: and the check in just to make sure that there's
Speaker 3: balance in California driving innovation while also keeping our kids safe.
Speaker 4: That's not negotiable.
Speaker 3: And so that's really the dance, which he is a
Speaker 3: father totally gets. He also is an entrepreneur. We're both entrepreneurs.
Speaker 3: We're both really creative. We both think outside of the box.
Speaker 3: And he is even more of like a futurist and
Speaker 3: gets it in a way that I would argue.
Speaker 4: I feel like.
Speaker 3: The speed of technology and what it's doing to our
Speaker 3: nervous systems is a bit out of control and that
Speaker 3: we kind of need to come back to the speed
Speaker 3: of nature mother nature, which is just about balance. Technology
Speaker 3: is here to stay. I just want a little more
Speaker 3: balance for all of us. There's so many incredible things
Speaker 3: that we can solve with technology, and I want to
Speaker 3: make sure that it's in check and that there's a
Speaker 3: balance and harmony, because technology shouldn't replace the real world,
Speaker 3: and it is for so many people.
Speaker 1: Does he come to you for support or advice or validation?
Speaker 4: Oh, yes he does. Yeah. I mean he's hard on himself.
Speaker 3: He's really hard on himself, and I think he knows
Speaker 3: I'm going to give it to him straight.
Speaker 1: Some partners of government leaders enjoy the opportunity and the
Speaker 1: attention that comes with this position.
Speaker 2: Do you enjoy it or has it taken some getting
Speaker 2: used to?
Speaker 3: It's a good question. I just am a worker bee.
Speaker 3: I think my husband ires just worker bees. I actually
Speaker 3: don't love the pomp and circumstance at all. We do it,
Speaker 3: but I'm like, I want to roll my sleeves up
Speaker 3: and get to work. That's who I am, and I
Speaker 3: think that's who he is too. I think he did
Speaker 3: a lot of pomp and circumstances mayor, and I think
Speaker 3: it's that bores him. I just like being with people.
Speaker 3: I want to inspire people. I want to be inspired.
Speaker 3: I want to learn from people. I want to partner.
Speaker 3: I want to like I want.
Speaker 4: The best minds in a room.
Speaker 3: We had this earlier today, it was all these incredible
Speaker 3: people in tech, aligned with tech helping us solve some
Speaker 3: of these really vexing problems.
Speaker 4: It was a really really great room to be in.
Speaker 4: I love that he loves that.
Speaker 1: Okay, so outside of the political spotlight, when the cameras
Speaker 1: are off, the apps are put away, what are you
Speaker 1: two like as a couple, Like, what's something that might
Speaker 1: surprise us?
Speaker 3: We love design. You couldn't tell because we didn't finish
Speaker 3: the house. No, I'm we do. We love the creative together.
Speaker 4: We love all that. He loves to cook. I like
Speaker 4: to cook. He's really fast and good at cleaning. Who
Speaker 4: does the dishes? Well? I feel like.
Speaker 3: When he's around, he's good at the dishes. He's really
Speaker 3: fast at the dishes.
Speaker 4: It takes me like an hour. I'm like, let me put.
Speaker 3: You to bed, let me go reach you a story,
Speaker 3: let's start dancing. You know, he's very like it done. So,
Speaker 3: he is actually really good at the dishes. He's actually
Speaker 3: very neat. Sometimes I feel like I'm a mad scientist,
Speaker 3: But I've learned to be a lot more organized because
Speaker 3: of him. Look, we have like twelve million animals. I
Speaker 3: the chaos works for me. It doesn't work for everybody.
Speaker 3: I remember when we brought our first puppy home. He
Speaker 3: was like, nope, nope, because then they die and then
Speaker 3: it's sad, and you.
Speaker 4: Know, it's something.
Speaker 3: And I found the puppy in bed the first night
Speaker 3: I came home, like I was, I had a like
Speaker 3: late event or something, and there's the puppy.
Speaker 4: And so clearly the puppy.
Speaker 3: Melded to him. And you know, we're relative healthy. I
Speaker 3: love my chocolate, I love my dessert. We are both
Speaker 3: athletes and were We hike all the time in our
Speaker 3: awesome state parks and local parks.
Speaker 4: You know, we used to play a lot of sports together.
Speaker 3: With fractures here and there, it's become less, you know,
Speaker 3: exciting to get out there and be reinjured.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, I know, you mean you
Speaker 1: both played hardcore team sports.
Speaker 4: Are you competitive with each other? Totally?
Speaker 3: I beat him in free throws the other day, Thank
Speaker 3: you very much. No, oh, yeah, I'm sure we are.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 7: Life is big, Life is is is full, and so
Speaker 7: we just try to take moments. We love good food,
Speaker 7: we love different cultures, we love to travel together.
Speaker 4: We love music. It's full, right, it's full, it's fun,
Speaker 4: work hard, play hard.
Speaker 2: Who's the stricter parent.
Speaker 3: I am, totally, But he's very calm and he'll be like, oh,
Speaker 3: we're taking that otway and you will not have that back.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, we're raised in different households. His parents
Speaker 3: separated when he was really young. He was raised by
Speaker 3: a single mom. She worked multiple jobs. He was a
Speaker 3: latch key kid, so he was bullied by this neighbor.
Speaker 3: He had dyslexia, he had his stuff, I lost my sister,
Speaker 3: felt responsible, felt like I had to be perfect. Also,
Speaker 3: probably asious a natural response. I think I dreamt a lot,
Speaker 3: I read a lot, I was in nature a lot.
Speaker 3: It was sort of like a trauma response of me
Speaker 3: trying to find solace in different ways.
Speaker 1: You testified against Harvey Weinstein in twenty eighteen. You testified
Speaker 1: that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted you. And you were part
Speaker 1: of the Mechi movement. And there was that moment for
Speaker 1: women where it felt like progress was being made, and
Speaker 1: then there's the moment that we're in now where it
Speaker 1: feels like so many things women fought for are slipping away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how do you make sense of this moment?
Speaker 3: Every time we make progress, there's another backlash. I would
Speaker 3: say technology is the new backlash. We don't have as
Speaker 3: many women in power starting designing, running these tech companies.
Speaker 3: It's part of the problem. Historically there's been an old
Speaker 3: boys club, and I mean it's historic.
Speaker 4: It's old, it's not new.
Speaker 3: Silence women to get their voices and their power out
Speaker 3: of the public. It's disturbing and it's terrifying to be
Speaker 3: honest that we're still experiencing this. But what could we
Speaker 3: expect when we have the person in the White House
Speaker 3: that we have in the White House.
Speaker 1: You made a documentary ten years ago about an emerging
Speaker 1: crisis among young men. The governor credits you with identifying
Speaker 1: it epidemic that nobody else was talking about by the time.
Speaker 1: Now we're seeing young men gravituating towards a certain kind
Speaker 1: of rhetoric. What do you think the problem is today
Speaker 1: with young men, Like, how would you describe what they're
Speaker 1: going through?
Speaker 3: Well, I think culturally there's been a loneliness epidemic for
Speaker 3: many young men who maybe don't have team sports and
Speaker 3: don't have healthy home lives, and who are drawn down
Speaker 3: these dark web of misogyny visa VI whatever form of
Speaker 3: social media and technology and video games and the manisphere
Speaker 3: online has really just capitalized on filling that void of
Speaker 3: loneliness and a lack of.
Speaker 4: Healthy role models.
Speaker 3: It's also a result, I would argue, of especially a
Speaker 3: certain population of young men, thinking that there isn't room
Speaker 3: for them, because the education system has leaned towards really
Speaker 3: kind of supporting young women's sort of where they are
Speaker 3: in their lives and their academic skills. And so it's
Speaker 3: a mix and a confluence because look, I have two
Speaker 3: boys and two girls, girl boy, girl boy, and I
Speaker 3: see I have kids with learning differences. I have kids
Speaker 3: not you know, with other We all have our thing,
Speaker 3: and I just as I observe our larger culture, I
Speaker 3: think as we've told our girls to stand up and
Speaker 3: speak up and be proud, and as we've supported them
Speaker 3: in their pursuits and they work so hard.
Speaker 4: Like this is not to take away from girls at all.
Speaker 3: I think in some ways boys were left behind, whether
Speaker 3: because of absentee fathers, absentee mentors, a culture that also
Speaker 3: wasn't holding them and really kind of socializing them in
Speaker 3: this sort of healthy development. You know, the newest thing
Speaker 3: with young men is that they think that they have
Speaker 3: to make money in that school isn't important, and part
Speaker 3: of that's a reaction right to maybe not doing as
Speaker 3: well in school. And so there's a lot of obstacles
Speaker 3: in front of us, but there's also a lot of
Speaker 3: hope that we can fix this, and I think that's
Speaker 3: you know, when I made The Mask You Live In,
Speaker 3: it didn't get the distribution that we had with Misrepresentation
Speaker 3: because that film sort of was blown up with Oprahimpy
Speaker 3: Network buying it and promoting it and it had a
Speaker 3: real cult like following. But with The Mask You Live In,
Speaker 3: it was sort of a quieter distribution, and yet people
Speaker 3: would use the film for health reasons, for medical reasons,
Speaker 3: for mentorship reasons, because I think we were a little
Speaker 3: bit ahead of the time, ahead of the curve. So
Speaker 3: obviously it still resonates today. But again, as I'm making
Speaker 3: misrep two point oh, I will turn to making Mask
Speaker 3: two point zero because technology, again, it's like the backlash
Speaker 3: on steroids and what it's doing to young boys and
Speaker 3: men in reinforcing through figures like Andrew Tait and Rogan
Speaker 3: and the whole Manosphere mafia, is that they need to
Speaker 3: disconnect their heads from their hearts and repress parts of
Speaker 3: themselves and again, and hearing that message over and over again,
Speaker 3: in denying parts of themselves and telling them that their
Speaker 3: only value is in their economic prowess and success.
Speaker 4: And owning and controlling women.
Speaker 3: That is so harmful, that is so dehumanizing, and then
Speaker 3: reinforced by the rhetoric and behavior of the current President
Speaker 3: of the United States of America.
Speaker 4: It's so confusing.
Speaker 3: So it is a crisis, and it's one of the
Speaker 3: reasons that Governor championed and executive order to really investigate
Speaker 3: and dive deep into how we can actually address.
Speaker 4: This boy crisis.
Speaker 3: And the work is ongoing, and it was a big
Speaker 3: topic in today's earlier discussion on helping hold the tech
Speaker 3: companies to help us address us.
Speaker 1: So you have two sons and two daughters. Yes, how
Speaker 1: do you see some of these issues playing out in
Speaker 1: your own home?
Speaker 4: I see the frailty of the male ego.
Speaker 3: I see the perfectionists, you're not enough messaging narrative to
Speaker 3: our girls.
Speaker 4: I see it all.
Speaker 3: And my family's not unique, and my kids are so
Speaker 3: normal and so kind, and I'm so proud of them
Speaker 3: as human beings. Look, we didn't give the kids' phones
Speaker 3: till they were fourteen, so there's just two with phones.
Speaker 3: But I also see the addictive tendencies and my little guy,
Speaker 3: this whole crew of nine year olds are all playing
Speaker 3: video games now, and I actually need to text all
Speaker 3: them moms and be like, I need to text the
Speaker 3: moms and just be can we just have a pact
Speaker 3: that we're going to limit. I know part of it's
Speaker 3: the sports culture is so intense that these boys just
Speaker 3: then want to get on you know, they're candy, which
Speaker 3: is these video games after and it's too much.
Speaker 4: I mean, after forty five minutes, it's like you've lost
Speaker 4: your kid.
Speaker 3: I've also been on chains with the seventh grade girls
Speaker 3: prior to the start of seventh grade, just saying, hey,
Speaker 3: I'm not giving my daughter a phone this year.
Speaker 4: She'll get it when she's fourteen.
Speaker 3: Those of you who want to follow the model of
Speaker 3: wait till eighth or listen to some of our favorite
Speaker 3: minds in this topic, like please talk to me, because
Speaker 3: I just want to delay as much phone use and
Speaker 3: social media use amongst this group of girls, because they're
Speaker 3: such a bright, kind talented group of girls, and seventh
Speaker 3: grade is not always fun.
Speaker 4: For young women.
Speaker 3: So I just really wanted to put out there like
Speaker 3: we can prevent some of the unnecessary pain and suffering,
Speaker 3: but we have to be in it together.
Speaker 1: The Governor talked about on his podcast how one of
Speaker 1: your sounds was really excited about his interview with Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 1: When did you find out he had this sort of
Speaker 1: admiration for Charlie Kirk or interest in Charlie Kirk And
Speaker 1: how did that.
Speaker 2: Make you feel?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was really exaggerated by the media, and
Speaker 3: I was a little upset about that, to be honest,
Speaker 3: but it was a curiosity. I mean, my son, he
Speaker 3: loves his grandfather and he loves who's a conservative, and
Speaker 3: he loves my husband, and my conservative father loves my husband, and.
Speaker 4: He's just curious, curious and kind of like, oh, I.
Speaker 3: Know this you're trying to you know, they're trying on
Speaker 3: masculinities at that age. They're trying things on, and the
Speaker 3: Right really is co op to that. They've really manipulated
Speaker 3: that these boys trying things on.
Speaker 4: And so I did not like it being rewritten.
Speaker 3: Of course it's now going to be in this but yeah,
Speaker 3: I was not happy about it because it's not our values,
Speaker 3: and it's not who my child is. It's just you know,
Speaker 3: kids try things on. But it's also horrible what happened.
Speaker 2: It's horrible.
Speaker 3: It is so sad, and nobody should be shot and
Speaker 3: killed nobody, and so I you know, I don't really
Speaker 3: have anything more to say other than I feel so
Speaker 3: sorry for his family. I feel so sorry for his community.
Speaker 3: My husband said he was a nice man. He didn't
Speaker 3: debate him. They tried to have a civil conversation. And
Speaker 3: I do feel like my son was used to kind
Speaker 3: of further, you know, but whatever, We should all know that.
Speaker 4: That's the world we're in.
Speaker 1: Well, political violence seems to be escalating. How much do
Speaker 1: you think about the threat of something happening to your
Speaker 1: husband or to you or to your kids?
Speaker 2: Like, do you worry about that?
Speaker 4: We all should worry about it. It is a really
Speaker 4: scary time.
Speaker 3: I thought we were making so much progress in our
Speaker 3: country on just common sense gun control. My dad's a hunter,
Speaker 3: my son hunts, my husband, we hunt, and we eat
Speaker 3: what we hunt.
Speaker 4: That is just normal.
Speaker 3: Having a semiaticmatic weapon in your home is not normal.
Speaker 3: Having a semi automatic weapon when you have a serious
Speaker 3: mental health or even a minor mental health condition.
Speaker 4: Is not safe.
Speaker 3: We had great laws in place, some of which are
Speaker 3: being challenged in the courts in California, which is very
Speaker 3: disheartening because we were.
Speaker 4: On the right side of this. We're like, go hunt,
Speaker 4: have your gun. You don't need a semi automatic weapon.
Speaker 4: So that piece is part of the problem.
Speaker 3: And the other again, the other part of the problem
Speaker 3: is that these tech titans are profiting off of misinformation
Speaker 3: and disinformation that is dividing our country. And it's like
Speaker 3: chinking kaching with all of this misinformation and hate and
Speaker 3: bigotry and othering and misogyny, and it's not who we
Speaker 3: are as human beings. It is not what we are
Speaker 3: as Americans. It alarms me that we've gotten to this
Speaker 3: place and that we've allowed it. It disturbs me that
Speaker 3: if you go on X, people that spew hate consistently
Speaker 3: have millions of viewers and followers that are not particularly
Speaker 3: successful people. That is alarming, and that people are getting
Speaker 3: paid to spew all of this hate and disinformation and misinformation.
Speaker 3: So it is a very dangerous time. It is a
Speaker 3: very precarious time. I do believe that there are so
Speaker 3: many more good people in the world, and good people
Speaker 3: in our state and good people in our country who
Speaker 3: aren't online, who are informed, who are maybe scared and silent,
Speaker 3: but who would stand up and speak out if they
Speaker 3: felt like somebody was going to harm somebody else. And
Speaker 3: that gives me hope we will find our way. Doesn't
Speaker 3: feel like it necessarily today, but I do feel like
Speaker 3: there's a reckoning and a healing ultimately that is going
Speaker 3: to be essential in our country and that we will
Speaker 3: get back on track. We've been here before, so maybe
Speaker 3: you just I guess you have to have hope.
Speaker 1: The governor had a huge victory with Prop fifty. California
Speaker 1: overwhelmingly voted yes. Does that feel like a mandate to
Speaker 1: do more? A green light to go harder?
Speaker 3: I feel like Prop fifty was a California We are
Speaker 3: on the right side of history. We have each other's backs.
Speaker 3: We'll go back to independent redistricting in twenty thirty. We are, though,
Speaker 3: saying no more to Trump's tactic employees to jerry mander
Speaker 3: and basically manipulate elections and really, you know, take over
Speaker 3: our country and indefinitely. So I think it was a
Speaker 3: win and really a testament and statement to our collective
Speaker 3: values in California and hopefully it will inspire other states
Speaker 3: to follow suit and just to realize we're stronger than
Speaker 3: we think we are and that we don't have to
Speaker 3: put up with this. I can't tell you how many
Speaker 3: people stop me and the governor and are so grateful
Speaker 3: for his courage and also so grateful to finally have
Speaker 3: hope again, because it's been really demoralizing for so many
Speaker 3: people to see families harassed and raided and all these
Speaker 3: rights stripped away, and just to see the unnecessary violence
Speaker 3: and harm towards American citizens. So I'm proud of him
Speaker 3: and the collective for getting us to this point where
Speaker 3: we actually.
Speaker 4: Could have a choice.
Speaker 1: Your husband is one of the president's most outspoken critics. Yes,
Speaker 1: some might call him the President's biggest troll. When you
Speaker 1: found out that this was going to be the strategy,
Speaker 1: what did you think?
Speaker 3: You know, My husband is such a nice human and
Speaker 3: he's so fair that he's also very strong, and I
Speaker 3: think for him to like really put his foot down
Speaker 3: and shine a mirror back to reflect what we're all
Speaker 3: getting this lunacy and crazy from the President and the
Speaker 3: White House accounts and their folks, I think it was important.
Speaker 3: It was critical because you can't normalize what's coming out
Speaker 3: of these people's mouths and phones. You cannot normalize that behavior.
Speaker 3: It is not healthy. It is not healthy. I mean,
Speaker 3: what do we say to our kids, like we are
Speaker 3: raising our kids to be kind and other oriented and
Speaker 3: to be civil and respectful, and to not lie and
Speaker 3: to not cheat. And yet all of this stuff that's
Speaker 3: coming out of the mouth and fingers of He who
Speaker 3: shall not be named and his minions is it's wrong.
Speaker 3: It's just wrong. And so you just got to like,
Speaker 3: it's parody, it's mimicry, it's and frankly, we need it
Speaker 3: a little levity because it's been so intense and scary
Speaker 3: for so many Californians and so many Americans. So we
Speaker 3: just I think I was really proud of him and
Speaker 3: his team. I mean, it's look, it's a team effort.
Speaker 3: It's not like he's typing these things himself or even
Speaker 3: coming up with all the concepts. It's a real team
Speaker 3: effort to just reflect back the lunacy and.
Speaker 4: Idiocy of what we're all receiving.
Speaker 1: Your prop fifty victory speech got heated too, so you've
Speaker 1: joined it on some of the sparring. I just I
Speaker 1: have a line that I want to read back to you.
Speaker 1: You said, when he knows he's going to lose, he cheats.
Speaker 1: When the game isn't rigged for him, he rigs it himself.
Speaker 1: He's a con artist, a predator, a malignant narcissist in chief,
Speaker 1: and the worst president in our nation's history.
Speaker 2: Is this rhetoric natural for you?
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm a better writer than I am a speaker,
Speaker 3: So yes, I say this stuff all the time. I
Speaker 3: really do, because we know the truth. We know that
Speaker 3: something's wrong, we know that someone's.
Speaker 4: Lying, we know that he's not in bonding leadership.
Speaker 3: This is such a revered, esteemed position in our country,
Speaker 3: and it's it's an embarrassment that this.
Speaker 4: Is what we've got.
Speaker 1: Is this advancing debate or deepening division or is it
Speaker 1: just what it takes to win elections.
Speaker 4: I think it's.
Speaker 3: Sadly we're living in a time and a place where
Speaker 3: the governor and Trump worked together.
Speaker 4: In Trump's first term, we worked together.
Speaker 3: And when in this news cycle, as more investigation surfaced
Speaker 3: about his criminal conduct, the president's criminal conduct, and he
Speaker 3: was still elected president of the United States of America,
Speaker 3: And then what he accuses people of is actually him
Speaker 3: projecting what he's actually doing, which was lock her up.
Speaker 4: He should have been locked up. I mean, who's bankrupt
Speaker 4: at six companies? This?
Speaker 3: I just I feel like sometimes you have to fight
Speaker 3: fire with fire. I mean, the stakes are just that high.
Speaker 3: We can't check out and move to another country or
Speaker 3: hide under a log like we can't. That's not who
Speaker 3: we are, that's not in the cards for us.
Speaker 4: We're here.
Speaker 3: This is our country, our state that we are so
Speaker 3: proud of, and my husband cares so much about this
Speaker 3: country and our democracy, and we care so much about California.
Speaker 3: And it has been extremely harmful what he has done,
Speaker 3: not just to the country but to California with his
Speaker 3: policies of bringing the National Guarden rating families, separating families.
Speaker 4: I mean, my husband and I have both been.
Speaker 3: With children who have been separated from their parents, whose
Speaker 3: parents are in a jail in another country. It's so inhuman,
Speaker 3: it's so cruel. It is not what it means to
Speaker 3: be American. And so we have to signal to the
Speaker 3: rest of the world that we're going to be the
Speaker 3: stable state as the fourth largest economy in the world
Speaker 3: for you all. So that our economy in America doesn't
Speaker 3: go to kouts because we're going to need.
Speaker 4: The rest of the world to have our back.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty eight is a long time away, and I
Speaker 1: know the governor hasn't confirmed anything yet.
Speaker 2: But he and you both have the attention right now.
Speaker 1: Do you see yourself in the White House? Do you
Speaker 1: let yourself imagine what that life would.
Speaker 3: Be Like, I am so focused on this house in California.
Speaker 4: I have no thoughts about that.
Speaker 3: That's a family decision for down the line, if when,
Speaker 3: really if I know my husband is talented. I love
Speaker 3: how passionate he is about policy and big ideas and
Speaker 3: systems change.
Speaker 4: And transforming this quote.
Speaker 3: I care so much about systems change, especially with regards
Speaker 3: to centering women and giving them all the support they
Speaker 3: need not just to survive but thrive, but also giving
Speaker 3: kids the best start in life. So it's flattering, Like
Speaker 3: I read an article about him being the front runner
Speaker 3: and if, of course is bout it, And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: he's really talented, and that is like really far away.
Speaker 3: And we have a state to end strong in, a
Speaker 3: family to hold and launch, and I have no idea.
Speaker 1: That said, you both have a lot of momentum. How
Speaker 1: do you keep that up for let's say three more years.
Speaker 3: I can't speak to him, and what key I mean,
Speaker 3: we've talked about things regardless, because that is a very
Speaker 3: small percentage chance of ending up there. And I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know if I want it. To be honest,
Speaker 3: He's never he never dreamt of it.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like he said this publicly. It was not
Speaker 3: this big aspiration of his. It's just there's been a
Speaker 3: void and standing up to Trump and just deconstructing what
Speaker 3: he's doing that is so harmful to our nation. You know,
Speaker 3: I really think Gov always wanted to be GOV. I
Speaker 3: think when he was mayor, and I actually was so naive.
Speaker 3: I didn't I thought we were done after the mayor.
Speaker 4: I was like, he's going to go back to being
Speaker 4: an entrepreneur and I'm going to make my.
Speaker 3: Documentaries and change the world in my own way for
Speaker 3: women and girls and children. So we'll always innovate. That's
Speaker 3: who we are. We'll always innovate. We'll always find new
Speaker 3: ways to try to make a difference. And I really
Speaker 3: it's been a wild seven years and so we might
Speaker 3: need a little break. I might need a little vacation
Speaker 3: and some good family time. We'll see I have no idea.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Circuit.
Speaker 1: Check out the full episode to see the newsoms open
Speaker 1: up about tech shift to the right, bare knuckle politics,
Speaker 1: family life, and the weight of a potential presidential run.
Speaker 2: I'm Emily Chang.
Speaker 1: You can follow me on x and Instagram at Emily
Speaker 1: Chang TV. You can watch new episodes of the Circuit
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Speaker 1: the Bloomberg app.
Speaker 2: To your smart TV.
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Speaker 1: I'm your host and executive producer. Our senior producer is
Speaker 1: Lauren Ellis. Our writer is Rob Moraskin. Our editor is
Speaker 1: Grammercy Post.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.