The incident occurred while several children, including Jennifer and her sister Stacia, were playing with golf carts. Unaware that Stacia was hiding behind her cart, Jennifer accidentally ran over her sister when she reversed her vehicle. Tragically, Stacia did not survive the accident.
From Radar Online:
Jennifer tried to be perfect growing up, hoping she could make up for her sister's accidental death.
"I felt the pressure to be perfect, to make my parents forget, by being two daughters instead of one," she told the outlet, adding she still struggles over the trauma from the incident.
"I'm sure there was survivor's guilt, and I'm sure, in my subconscious, it's like I have to make up for that loss," Jennifer explained. "And I have to do something to improve other people's lives or have an impact, double my own, which is a little crazy. I don't use the word 'crazy.' But you know, it's aspirational.
"I realized that I'm really hard on myself. I realized that you can't blame a 6- [or] 7-year-old. You can't ask them to understand things."
Although I'm not particularly fond of her husband, Gavin Newsom, the story itself is undeniably heartbreaking.
One can only begin to comprehend the overwhelming burden of guilt and confusion Jennifer Siebel Newsom must have endured in the years that followed the tragic incident.
