Gavin Newsom’s wife pushed weird gender films into California classrooms

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker whose documentaries have been seen by millions —but that didn’t happen purely because of talent.

Siebel Newsom leaned on her powerful hubby and his education board to push preachy flicks about “toxic masculinity” into classrooms, casting her husband as an enlightened Democratic savior —all while raking in up to $300,000 annually through her nonprofit, The Representation Project, and for-profit outfit Girls Club Entertainment.

“I turned the lens on boys and men and looked at the boy crisis in America and how we were failing our boys and men with this sort of rigid notion of toxic masculinity,” Siebel Newsom said about one of her films in an interview.(snip)

Newsom’s own Department of Education shilled his wife’s documentaries in official state guidelines —after the Representation Project bragged in a 2014 tax filing that its films and “curricula” were used in 1,000 California public schools.

Newsom’s Board of Education recommended Siebel Newsom’s films in controversial health education guidance in 2019 — shortly after he became governor —that was later adopted by the state education department. The guidance sparked heated debate for its focus on sexuality and gender identity.

In 2020, the Department of Education worked with partners, including Siebel Newsom’s state-sponsored Office of First Partner, to push “social-emotional learning” in low-performing California schools —again recommending her films for classrooms.(snip)

Representation Project, which Siebel Newsom founded in 2011 when her husband was lieutenant governor, licenses her gender-obsessed documentary trilogy — “Miss Representation,” “The Mask You Live in,” and “The Great American Lie” —and another film called “Fair Play” to K-12 schools, universities and corporations, charging anywhere from $49 to $1500, according to its website.

Her for-profit outfit, Girls Club, produces the films out of the Newsoms’ palatial, $9 million estate in Kentfield, Calif.

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snopes.com
Rae Deng
Published Sept. 10, 2025

Newsom rumored to have laundered tax dollars through wife

In 2025, a rumor circulated online that California Gov. Gavin Newsom laundered millions of dollars through his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, by creating a state Office of the First Partner and funneling taxpayer money to it. “Through shady budget allocations and backdoor deals, Newsom funneled over $5 million in taxpayer funds to bankroll Jennifer’s pet projects, private ventures, and personal branding campaigns,” one popular Facebook post claimed. “This was a fake government office, made up for his wife, to funnel millions to her. Funded by you.”

Similar posts spread on platforms such as Facebook, X and LinkedIn. According to many of these posts, Siebel Newsom supposedly received a government salary from the office despite doing no work for it. Multiple Snopes readers also wrote in to ask whether “Gavin Newsom laundered money through ‘Office of First Partner’ in 2019.”

While Newsom did create an Office of the First Partner in 2019, with a roughly $1 million annual budget, there was no evidence as of this writing that the office funneled millions of dollars to his wife in any sort of money-laundering scheme or other type of fraud. In fact, public records showed Newsom’s wife does not receive a government salary.

We have not rated this claim, however, because that would require an independent audit of the governor’s office — although, for the record, the California State Auditor did not report any issues with the Office of the First Partner in its 2023 statewide financial audit, the most recent available as of this writing.

“Rumors suggesting financial impropriety of any kind are completely false and have no basis in evidence or fact,” Holly Martinez, chief of staff of the Office of the First Partner, said in an emailed statement. “Like many spouses of state governors, Siebel Newsom has a staff within the larger Governor’s Office, made up primarily of staff who manage portfolios of work benefitting the people of California.” The Office of the First Partner’s webpage says it focuses on promoting gender equality and advocating for children and families.

Following the money
According to public budget documents, the Office of the First Partner has been allocated $7.22 million total from the 2019-20 budget through the 2025-26 budget; the budget increased from $791,000 in the 2019-20 to $1.23 million in 2025-26. For context, the entire state budget in the 2025-26 fiscal year was approximately $321 billion, and the governor’s office, in total — including the Office of the First Partner — received $30.26 million.

Based on a records request to the Office of the Governor, all taxpayer funding for the Office of the First Partner paid salaries for government employees. The governor’s office sent Snopes a list of seven staff positions with salary and benefits information. Annual salaries in the office as of this writing ranged from $72,120, paid to the scheduler and executive assistant, to $206,004, paid to the chief of staff. These positions also came with benefits such as health care and a telework stipend. The records request noted that Siebel Newsom did not receive a salary for her work at the Office of the First Partner.

The full records request is available below at web site.

If the Republicans are smart they’ll start tearing down this California prick, who is the only Democrat that can do anything in 2028.

I doubt they will for two reasons.

1) The same money funds both political parties, and would prefer a competitive horse race that has their best interests. Democrat or Republican we get the same policies.

2) The leadership Republicans like to run stupid people.

In my state of Oregon I’m always supposed to support a stupid Republican woman who’s hero is Martin Luther King.
Which is pretty stupid since the county I live in was never segregated & never lynched any human being at anytime in its history.

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