The scene was painfully uncomfortable: at a South Dakota birthday gathering in April for Kristi and Bryon Noem’s grandchild, relatives were trying to celebrate just weeks after Our News Outlet published reports about Bryon’s alleged cross-dressing fetish and explicit online conversations with porn models.
Amid the forced smiles and family festivities, Kristi Noem’s 77-year-old mother pulled her daughter aside and asked about the couple’s future.
“What’s the deal? Are you going to get together again?” Corinne Arnold asked.
Kristi reportedly answered plainly: “No. No. We’re going to get a divorce.” She also confirmed that she had hired an attorney.
Divorce documents were filed earlier that month.
Our News Outlet first reported in July that Kristi intended to end the marriage after speaking with her mother, who said Bryon, 56, had moved out and was living about 20 miles away.
The formal filing, which appeared this week in Hamlin County court, cited “irreconcilable differences” and came as little surprise to residents of the couple’s hometown, Castlewood.
“Everyone took what the mom said to you as truth,” a local acquaintance of the estranged couple told Our News Outlet on Tuesday.
Kristi Noem has remained largely out of sight in Castlewood, according to locals, although she shared weekend photos from the Buffalo Roundup in Custer, South Dakota.
Kristi filed for divorce from Bryon in April, shortly after Our News Outlet reported on his alleged cross-dressing fetish and explicit communications with porn models.
Our News Outlet reported that Bryon Noem’s private life came to light after photographs appeared to show him wearing tight pink shorts, a flesh-colored crop top and oversized artificial breasts.
“We knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,” Kristi’s mother, Corinne Arnold, told Our News Outlet in July.
“She said they were splitting up and divorcing. So this is no surprise now.”
The 54-year-old former Homeland Security secretary, who left the post in March, has since taken roles as a special envoy for the newly established Shield of the Americas and a strategic adviser to Vancouver-based NovaRed Mining Inc. She shared a series of social media posts over the weekend.
Among the appearances was a home-state pheasant hunting event with Greg Bovino, another former Homeland Security official who was also ousted.
Noem also took part in the Buffalo Roundup in Custer, South Dakota, where she was photographed on horseback.
However, a Castlewood businesswoman said Kristi, a former governor, and Bryon, with whom she operates an insurance company, have made few public appearances in town in recent months.
“Kristi is still out at her ranch but has kept a low profile,” the source told Our News Outlet. “She put up a bunch of new fencing.”
“I haven’t seen Bryon at all,” she added.
Kristi and Bryon married in 1992. Their relationship previously faced heightened public scrutiny in 2023, when Our News Outlet reported an alleged affair between Kristi and married political operative Corey Lewandowski.
Bryon Noem and Kristi were wed in 1992, but their marriage came under intense scrutiny in 2023 when Our News Outlet reported her alleged affair with married Corey Lewandowski. Kristi and Lewandowski were pictured spending quality time in Minnesota amid her divorce in August. She filed in April
News of the divorce filing comes just days the 54-year-old former Homeland Security Secretary posted a photo of herself on X at a home-state pheasant hunting event over the weekend with ex Homeland Security chief Greg Bovino
Noem, who is now special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York City last week. Despite her public facing appearances, locals say she has rarely been seen in her hometown of late
Her close relationship with Corey Lewandowski has been well documented ever since.
And observers wonder about the next step for the newly single former Secretary.
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‘Corey is still married, but the last time they were pictured together they seemed very close,’ said one.
Kristi and Lewandowski were pictured spending quality time in Minnesota amid her divorce in August, four months after she filed.
In images obtained by Our News Outlet, the two were seen cozying up to one another as they ate at an outdoor restaurant along the shores of Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata on Tuesday before enjoying a bike ride along the waterfront.
At one point during their outing, Noem was seen looking at something on her beau’s phone and laughing as they waited for food at The Grocer’s Table cafe.
‘Kristi and Corey are closer than ever,’ an insider told Our News Outlet after they were busted on the date-like outing.
It’s understood that Bryon, even after his own scandal broke, continued to message several of the women even after his lust for buxom fetish models was revealed to the world in March.
These included Shy Sotomayor, a Colorado-based dominatrix with massive 2500cc breast implants who was one of the several women to share their story with Our News Outlet.
Sotomayor was pictured and named in our April 10 article but she claims that Bryon got in touch with her five weeks later – as if nothing had happened.
‘May 17th, he texted me on iMessage. He’s like, “I’ve been a really bad boy.” I’m like, “Oh, I know. I know you’ve been a bad boy,”‘ Sotomayor told podcaster Spencer Macnaughton.
‘I sent him a very long message saying, you know, Bryon, I thought really hard on this. You obviously are very sick. You need help. If it’s not clear by now or after being America’s joke, I truly don’t know what is.’
Two more women have told Our News Outlet they, too, received messages from Bryon in the months after the bombshell expose.
One said the rancher and insurance mogul made small talk, refusing to be drawn on his future plans or say whether his marriage was over.
Another model said she didn’t respond because she was worried that Bryon was ‘fishing’ for information about Our News Outlet’s sources.
‘He’s still confused about who sent you the photos of him. I’m surprised he’s still reaching,’ she told us.
Bryon’s cross-dressing fetish and explicit exchanges with online porn models were exposed in March by Our News Outlet. The vast trove of saucy texts, WhatsApp messages and images revealed that clean-cut Bryon had his own share of secrets
Bryon supported his wife back in March by sitting dutifully beside her at a congressional hearing scrutinizing her aggressive immigration enforcement tactics
Dominatrix Shy Sotomayor, who goes by the stage name Raelynn Riley, says Bryon served as her ‘obedient boy’ on and off online for nearly a decade
Kristi and Byron wed in 1992 but their marriage has been dogged for years by reports that the former Homeland Security secretary was having an affair with her longtime adviser Corey Lewandowski (pictured above)
Meanwhile, in their hometown, some residents were ready to turn the page on the scandal.
‘It’s more of a national story,’ one local told Our News Outlet. ‘The interest has kind of waned.
‘Honestly, I’m not sure people really care anymore what she’s doing now,’ the woman continued.
‘She’s no longer in a position of real power. If she wasn’t such a striking person, I don’t think people around here would care at all.’
Greg Bovino, who joined Kristi last weekend, said she is herself ready to move on.
‘She’s a powerhouse, indefatigable in everything she does,’ he told Our News Outlet.
‘Anything she puts her mind to, she will be a resounding success.’
