Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is divorcing her husband, Bryon Noem, after 34 years of marriage.
Corinne Arnold, Noem’s mother, told the Daily Mail that her daughter shared the decision with family members after her husband’s cross-dressing scandal.
“It has been difficult, but we knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,” Corinne Arnold told the Daily Mail.
Arnold said Kristi Noem shared the news at a family gathering in late spring.
“I said: ‘What’s the deal? Are you going to get together again?’ And she said: ‘No. No. We’re going to get a divorce,'” Arnold said.
The news comes months after the Daily Mail reported allegations that Bryon Noem paid adult entertainers and cross-dressed.
The Mail reviewed hundreds of messages Bryon exchanged online with adult entertainers. Photos show him wearing women’s clothing and lingerie. And Bryon allegedly made indiscreet comments about his wife to adult entertainers online.
The news left the family “blindsided,” according to a spokesperson.
“Ms. Noem is devastated. The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time,” Noem’s representatives told the New York Post in March.
Noem was reassigned from her job as Homeland Security secretary by President Donald Trump in March.
CBS News reported that two administration officials said the president was unhappy with the fallout from botched immigration raids in Minnesota.