The Getty Betrayal: How Gavin Newsom Chose Power Over Friendship—And the Billionaire Chose Him Over His Own Son

A billionaire oil heir once conducted a “forensic audit” of his own business partnership with Gavin Newsom—only to have his father side with the future governor instead of his own flesh and blood.

The extraordinary revelation comes from Newsom’s new memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” which inadvertently exposes a troubling pattern that has defined California’s ambitious governor: leveraging intimate personal relationships with wealthy benefactors to fuel his political ascent, regardless of the collateral damage.

The Golden Boy Who Replaced a Son

Billy Getty, son of billionaire Gordon Getty, didn’t just lose a business partner when his friendship with Newsom imploded. He lost his father’s loyalty.

When tensions erupted over Newsom’s entangled financial arrangements and suspiciously close relationship with the Getty patriarch, Gordon Getty made his choice crystal clear: “I believe 100% in Gavin. When he is accused of wrongdoing, I’m on his side.”

The elder Getty soon bought out his own son’s stake in their joint Plumpjack venture. The message was unmistakable—Newsom had become the favored son.

A Friendship Built on Getty Money

The relationship began innocently enough. Newsom and Billy Getty became close friends during a dark period when Billy’s brother Andrew spiraled into drug addiction, ultimately dying in his Hollywood Hills mansion.

“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,” Newsom writes with apparent nostalgia.

Together, they launched what Newsom now touts as his “wine empire”—the upscale Balboa Cafe and the Plumpjack wine shop that became the foundation of Newsom’s business credentials.

But here’s what Newsom glosses over: It was Gordon Getty’s money—not entrepreneurial genius—that made it all possible. The billionaire bankrolled the entire venture with a group of high-society investors, transforming two young socialites into what one publication called “the most eligible bachelors in town.”

Living Rent-Free While Building an Empire

The arrangement that destroyed their friendship reveals Newsom’s talent for blurring boundaries between friendship and financial opportunity.

According to Newsom’s own account, he and Billy bought a “fixer-upper in Pacific Heights” together. But while Billy invested in renovating a 5,500-square-foot penthouse atop Russian Hill, Newsom simply moved into their joint property and “oversaw the work.”

Translation: Newsom lived rent-free in Pacific Heights—San Francisco’s most exclusive neighborhood—while Billy paid for luxury renovations elsewhere.

Even more brazenly, Billy asked Newsom to pitch his own father on financing the expensive penthouse rehab. Newsom apparently saw nothing problematic about serving as financial intermediary between a son and his billionaire father.

“I never considered the possibility that Billy and Vanessa’s reliance on me would turn into resentment,” Newsom writes with stunning tone-deafness.

Reliance? Or calculated positioning between a wealthy family’s generations?

The Honeymoon Ends

When Billy Getty and his wife Vanessa returned from their two-week Bali honeymoon, the free ride ended.

Vanessa demanded that Newsom vacate the Pacific Heights property so they could capitalize on the hot housing market. Then came the forensic audit of Plumpjack—a clear signal that the Gettys suspected Newsom was benefiting at Billy’s expense.

Newsom portrays himself as the wounded party, blindsided by their suspicions. But if the arrangement was so obviously fair and above-board, why would his closest friend feel compelled to hire auditors?

A Father Chooses Political Ambition Over His Son

When local reporters confronted Gordon Getty about the dispute at Plumpjack Hotel in Lake Tahoe, the billionaire’s response should trouble anyone concerned about how power and influence operate in California politics.

Rather than supporting his own son or staying neutral in a business dispute between young partners, Gordon Getty publicly championed Newsom with absolute certainty.

The patriarch then bought out Billy’s entire stake in the business, cementing Newsom’s control over the Plumpjack empire and cutting his own son out completely.

This wasn’t just about a failed friendship. It was about a wealthy political benefactor choosing his protégé over his own family.

The Pattern That Explains California’s Decline

Newsom describes the lost friendship as “one of the great holes in my life,” but the real hole is in his account of what actually happened.

Why did Billy and Vanessa Getty suspect financial impropriety? What did that forensic audit reveal? Why would Gordon Getty choose Newsom over his own son with such vehemence?

These questions matter because they illuminate the network of wealth and influence that propelled Newsom to California’s highest office. His political career was literally bankrolled by Getty money, launched from Getty-funded businesses, and protected by Getty loyalty even when it meant fracturing a family.

This is how California’s political elite operates—not through merit and accountability to voters, but through carefully cultivated relationships with billionaire benefactors who provide money, connections, and protection from scrutiny.

Where They Are Now

Billy Getty still resides in Pacific Heights and works as a philanthropist with his wife Vanessa. They’ve moved on from the Newsom chapter of their lives, though it cost Billy both a friendship and his father’s business partnership.

Meanwhile, Newsom parlayed his Getty-funded wine business into a political career that has taken him to the governor’s mansion, with obvious presidential ambitions.

Last year, Vanessa Getty was sued for allegedly ramming her Porsche Taycan into a parked car, leaving a senior with brain injuries. She was reportedly “apologetic at the scene.”

At least someone in this story knows how to apologize.

The Unanswered Questions

Newsom’s memoir raises more questions than it answers. What exactly did that forensic audit uncover? Why did Newsom need to serve as financial intermediary between Billy and Gordon Getty? What were the specific arrangements that transformed friendship into resentment?

Most importantly: What does it say about California’s governor that a billionaire would side with him over his own son?

The people of California deserve answers. Instead, they get a carefully curated memoir that presents Newsom as the sympathetic victim of a friendship gone wrong, rather than an ambitious politician who leveraged personal relationships with the wealthy into political power.

That’s not just a hole in Newsom’s life. It’s a hole in his credibility—and a window into exactly how California’s political aristocracy maintains its grip on power.