Gavin Newsom has had to get through a difficult childhood, and not many people know about it. The California Governor faced several setbacks when he was as young as two years old.
Newsom has earned a reputation for being one of Trump’s biggest critics. The 58-year-old is often seen penning fiery posts to troll the 79-year-old, sometimes even with the President’s own tactics. Last month, Newsom declared that he would be open to running for President during a CBS interview.
Gavin Newsom says he’s open to running for President. Would you consider him come 2028?
A. No
B. Yes pic.twitter.com/og6abpiqey
— Godly Nation (@GodlyNations) October 27, 2025
“Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” he admitted. Regardless of the future outcomes, the Governor has already achieved goals that his younger self might have thought impossible. The father of 4 had a rough childhood that he had to get through to be where he is right now.
Newsom has openly spoken about his struggles with being diagnosed with dyslexia at a very young age. He shared how reading and writing, which came easily to his peers, were a constant battle for him. “That was more difficult than you can imagine,” he noted during a talk at The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.
He revealed how watching his younger sister easily do what he couldn’t do added to the struggle. “I was always wondering why she would get done with her homework quickly, and I was still struggling to work through it,” the Governor recalled.
A younger Newsom was also continuously bullied in school. “I used to have a lisp. I couldn’t speak,” he admitted while adding how that resulted in him going to speech therapy. For that, he was teased by his classmates, which made him grow shy and extremely quiet.
He opened up about how he was laughed at for not being able to read. Newsom’s parents decided to divorce when he was only 2 years old, which left a lasting mark on him. The Governor has spoken about how his father has a scarce presence in his and his sister’s lives.
“He was never terrible, but… he didn’t raise us,” he noted on October 2025. Newsom also noted how his mother would often make him feel guilty after he would come back home from vacations with his father. “The guilt. She made me feel horrible,” he noted.
Gavin Newsom, the pampered son of an elite lawyer, explains that he “raised himself” as a street hustla subsisting on Mac N’ Cheese: “That’s how I grew up, bro.” pic.twitter.com/hw0JoscXCU
— Armageddon Prose (@ArmageddonProse) October 26, 2025
Then came the constant friction between his divorced parents. Newsom recalled how the fights did not stop after they separated. His mother would often get frustrated and yell at his father for not being able to help out financially when he was on the brink of bankruptcy.
“So I was out there kind of raising myself,” he noted on All the Smoke. When he finally reached high school, his father became more present in his life, often attending his baseball games.
