Something unexpected surfaces early in Gavin Newsom’s forthcoming memoir, and it has little to do with legislation or campaigns. In Young Man in a Hurry, the California governor alleges that a prominent San Francisco journalist once tried to obtain his DNA to investigate rumors about his family lineage. Newsom presented the claim as a defining moment in his rise through city politics.
According to Newsom, the episode dates back to his time as mayor of San Francisco, when Phil Bronstein was editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Newsom writes that Bronstein was convinced he could disprove Newsom’s stated parentage by securing a strand of his hair. He was determined to show that Newsom had been lying to the public.
“He was convinced that if he could just lay his hands on a strand, it would be the first step in proving, once and for all, that my father wasn’t William Alfred Newsom but Gordon Peter Getty,” Newsom writes in the book, via New York Post.
Bronstein, a longtime media figure who was once married to actor Sharon Stone, led the Chronicle during Newsom’s early political career. Newsom describes the relationship as openly hostile, framing the alleged DNA effort as part of a broader attempt to undermine Newsom’s credibility. The politician believes the hostility was rooted in his connection to the affluent Gettys.
“Gavin Newsom makes wild claim about journalist trying to steal his DNA for paternity test in new book” – New York Post #SmartNews https://t.co/Z2z0LwhUG9
— Joe Honest Truth (@JoeHonestTruth) February 4, 2026
Newsom penned that Bronstein was so desperate for evidence that he was Getty’s son that he devised a plan to obtain some of his hair. After San Francisco made composting mandatory, the editor sent a journalist to search through Newsom’s trash.
The rumors Newsom references are not new, and he openly discusses it in his book. His family has had close ties to the Getty family for generations. His father, William Newsom, grew up alongside Gordon Getty and later worked as an attorney for the Getty family, managing elements of the family trust. Gordon Getty has previously spoken publicly about his closeness to the Newsom family.
Over the years, the Getty family also made donations connected to Newsom’s political and business ventures, including backing tied to the PlumpJack Group, the hospitality company Newsom co-founded before entering public office. Yet, he put in the work to reap the rewards.
Newsom had a difficult childhood with his mother working multiple jobs at once, taking in boarders, and fostering children. His sister, Hilary Newsom Callan, once told reporters, “Nothing was handed to us, ever. People can believe it, or not, but it was never handed to us.”
Newsom mocked for memoir’s poor childhood sob story despite Getty family connections | Zain Khan, New York Post
Gavin Newsom is getting roasted online after claiming in his new memoir he grew up poor.
In profile pieces ahead of the February 24 launch of “Young Man in a Hurry”… pic.twitter.com/NlTHj1nk7f
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) February 2, 2026
Phil Matier, a veteran San Francisco political journalist, said that the relationship between Newsom and Bronstein was tense from the start. “From the get-go, it was back and forth,” Matier said, adding that the rivalry was well known in city political circles at the time. “Gavin is known to be aloof and he can be brutally honest,” he added.
But the animosity was two-sided, according to Matier. He continued, ” “I don’t know what Gavin said about Phil, but Phil definitely had an ax to grind with Gavin.”
In the memoir, Newsom does not claim that any DNA was actually taken, only that he believed the effort was real and deliberate. Newsom said that as his profile grew, questions about his wealth, access, and inherited influence became topics of hot contention.
Young Man in a Hurry is scheduled for release later this month, as Newsom approaches the final stretch of his term as governor and remains widely viewed as a potential national political contender.
