Meet Jennifer Siebel, the actress and new fiancée of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. See her biography and photos here.
Jennifer Siebel Is Mayor s Fianc e
Jennifer Siebel
Over the New Year’s weekend, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed to his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Siebel while in Hawaii. She accepted, and the two are now engaged to be married.
Jennifer Siebel Biography
As a biography, Jennifer Siebel was born June 19, 1974 in San Francisco, California, so her age is 33. Her measurements are 5′7 1/2″.
When she was seven, Jennifer lost her older sister in an accident in Hawaii. She says since then she tried to make up for the loss by being the “perfect” kid. This energy was channeled into playing sports and other activities, and she was recruited to play soccer at Stanford where she received her BA and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Between degrees, Siebel had worked for Conservation International doing environmental work. Her concern for the world started after a trip to Africa at age 12.
‘It was then that I realized how fortunate I was, but that I had grown up in a bubble of sorts. It made me want to know more about other cultures and people and how to make for a happier, safer, healthier world. I decided then and there that I wanted to live in Africa someday and contribute to making the world a better place.’
But acting was where her heart was, and after graduating she began taking night classes San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater. Later she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the arts. Jennifer speaks fluent Spanish and is conversational in French.
Siebel wanted to produce films highlighting complex female characters, so she formed a production company called Girls’ Club Entertainment. One of the films to be produced will highlight the atrocities of the global sex trade and child prostitution.
Though Jennifer has been quite successful professionally so far, it’s her love life that gets the attention. She once dated George Clooney, but her relationship with the mayor of San Francisco is getting more attention. The two have dated since around October 2006, so Jennifer was by the mayor’s side during the sex scandal he endured. (While divorcing wife Kimberly Guilfoyle, Newsom had an affair with his appointment secretary Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who was married to his campaign director, Alex Tourk.) Siebel stood by Newsom, and the two were engaged in December 2007. Jennifer says there are many things they have in common.
Mayor Newsom, Jennifer Siebel engaged to be married
(12-31) 20:31 PST San Francisco - — San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Siebel, became engaged in Hawaii over the weekend, knowledgeable sources said Monday.
One of Newsom’s closest friends, high society party planner Stanlee Gatti, confirmed the engagement. The mayor’s spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said the mayor popped the question on Saturday.
“Jennifer told me (about it). She was on the phone first, and then he got on the phone,” said Gatti, reached in Raton, N.M., where he was on vacation.
Gatti had no details about the proposal, other than that Newsom spoke with his girlfriend’s father first and then proposed marriage. No wedding date has been set, Gatti said.
It will be the second marriage for Newsom, 40, one of the Bay Area’s most eligible bachelors, and the first for Siebel, 33. In December 2001, Newsom married lawyer and TV commentator Kimberly Guilfoyle in a lavish wedding at St. Ignatius Church followed by a reception for 500 at the home of billionaire philanthropists Ann and Gordon Getty.
They divorced in March 2006. Guilfoyle has remarried and lives in New York City, where she hosts “The Lineup” on Fox News.
Before meeting Siebel, Newsom briefly dated “CSI: Miami” star Sofia Milos. Siebel, an aspiring Hollywood actress, was raised in Ross, where her parents still live, and attended the private Branson School preparatory school and graduated from Stanford University, where she also earned a graduate degree in business.
She has traveled around the globe to work with Conservation International, an environmental group. Her father, Ken, is an investment manager. Her mother, Judy, co-founded the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.
Newsom’s mother, Tessa, died in 2002. His father is retired Judge William Newsom.
The couple met on a blind date at the Artists Ball at Yerba Buena Center in October 2006. Mutual high-society friend Kathy Wilsey set up the meeting. The theme was “Stanlee’s Brain,” a spoof on Gatti, one of high society’s most sought-after party planners known for his extravagant stagings.
“I actually think they were made for one another,” Gatti said. “You know the kind of thing where people finish each other’s sentences? They do. Yet they’re respectful of each other. They’re pretty in sync with the way they feel about some things.”
Siebel told The Chronicle last year that she knew little about Newsom when they met, except that her parents supported him and that he was a politician with aspirations. Even so, they hit it off right away.
“We had so much in common, we were blown away - from our love for Africa to our interests in political issues to art and the wine business and college sports,” she said.
As political couples go, they’ve already weathered the biggest scandal of his career to date. Three months after they met, Newsom’s campaign director, Alex Tourk, resigned after learning that the mayor had had an affair with Tourk’s wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who worked as Newsom’s appointments secretary.
The affair ended before he met Siebel and reportedly occurred while Newsom was getting a divorce from Guilfoyle. Rippey-Tourk confessed the affair to her husband during rehabilitation for substance abuse. Newsom acknowledged the relationship had occurred, apologized, admitted to having a drinking problem and said he would seek counseling from Mimi Silbert of the Delancey Street Foundation, a drug rehabilitation program.
He told The Chronicle at the time that he had “come to the conclusion that I will be a better person without alcohol in my life.”
The mayor’s colleagues at City Hall had nothing but compliments for Siebel.
“Jen is lovely, smart and kind,” Ballard said, “and we’re very pleased that she and the mayor are tying the knot.”