Gov. Gavin Newsom has opened up about a bitter falling-out with his former bestie Billy Getty — son of billionaire oil heir Gordon Getty, who reportedly came to resent the would-be governor over his financial ties and exceedingly close relationship with his father.
Newsom discussed themessy friendship breakup in his memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,”which details his childhood, rise in politics and wine-soaked escapades as thehot-to-trot single mayor of San Francisco.
Newsom and Billy grew close after his brother, aspiring filmmaker Andrew Getty, receded into drug addiction andeventually died at his Hollywood Hills mansion, Newsom writes.“The youngest of the Getty boys, Billy liked to recite arcane facts and figures from San Francisco’s past and was captivated by the subject of wine and its making and selling and pairing with food,” Newsom writes.
The two went into business together at the upscaleBalboa Cafeand Plumpjack, theSan Francisco wine shop that launched Newsom’s wine empire— with the help of Billy’s father Gordon Getty, who bankrolled the venture with a group of high-society investors.
A 1998New York Timesarticle described Balboa Cafe as a “glittering nexus for Gen-X San Franciscans with social and political connections” — run by the two most “eligible bachelors in town,” young Newsom and a soft-spoken, ponytailed Getty.
The two young chums were so close they went on a group vacation to Maui with Newsom’s then-girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle and Getty’s future wife Vanessa Getty.
Getty had even dated Guilfoyle prior to her relationship with Newsom. But that wasn’t the source of their bitter friendship split — rather, Newsom’s close entanglements with his father caused “resentment,” Newsom suggests in his memoir.
The pair at one point bought a “fixer-upper in Pacific Heights and planned a complete remodel with the addition of a third floor.”
According to Newsom, the two agreed he would crash there and oversee the work, while Billy “threw himself into a 5,500 square foot” penthouse renovation atop Russian Hill, asking Newsom to pitch his father on the staggeringly expensive rehab.
“I never considered the possibility that Billy and Vanessa’s reliance on me would turn into resentment,” Newsom writes.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
