Resurfaced Video of Siebel Newsom Draws Criticism

A resurfaced video from 2016 shows Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, recounting a conversation with inmates at San Quentin State Prison in which she compared her own childhood accident to their life sentences for violent crimes. The clip, which has circulated widely on social media in recent days, has drawn sharp criticism from conservative commentators who argue the remarks minimize the severity of the inmates' offenses.

In the video, recorded during an interview at the Wisdom 2.0 conference, Siebel Newsom describes sharing her personal story while interviewing young men incarcerated at San Quentin for her documentary "The Mask You Live In," which explores masculinity and gender stereotypes. "I told them about my own loss, where I lost my older sister a few days before my seventh birthday, and I blame myself for her death," she says. She explains that the inmates, accused of violent crimes and sentenced to life, were surprised by the similarity to her experience. "It was perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time, but wasn't punished the way they were because clearly it was an accident, but theirs was probably an accident too," she adds.