Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband, Bryon, months after Our News Outlet reported allegations about his cross-dressing and online pornography activities.
Court documents filed on April 6 list “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the breakup. The filing did not appear on Hamlin County’s online court system until Monday.
Reports published in March detailed allegations about Bryon’s cross-dressing fetish and explicit online conversations with pornography models.
Our News Outlet first reported in July that Kristi planned to end the marriage after speaking with her mother, Corinne Arnold.
Kristi and Bryon married in 1992. Their relationship had also faced years of speculation over claims that the former Homeland Security secretary was involved with longtime adviser Corey Lewandowski.
Asked by a local South Dakota news outlet about the divorce filing, Bryon said: “I can’t comment right now.”
Weeks after Kristi left the Department of Homeland Security, Our News Outlet published photos appearing to show Bryon wearing tight pink shorts and a flesh-colored crop top over large fake breasts.
The reported fetish, described as “bimbofication,” involves an exaggerated Barbie-doll aesthetic. The online models Bryon allegedly contacted had undergone substantial breast enhancements to create that appearance.
Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband, Bryon Noem, months after Our News Outlet reported allegations about his cross-dressing and online pornography activities
Photos published by Our News Outlet appeared to show Bryon wearing tight pink shorts and a flesh-colored crop top over large fake breasts
The reports about Bryon’s alleged secret online pornography activities emerged weeks after Kristi Noem left her position as Donald Trump’s Homeland Security secretary
Bryon allegedly sent at least $25,000 to online fetish models using PayPal and Cash App. He reportedly contacted one woman under the name “Jason Jackson,” with payments from an account bearing that name generally ranging between $500 and $1,000.
Another model said she identified him after accidentally calling and hearing a voicemail greeting for Noem Insurance. Bryon operates the South Dakota insurance agency.
At the time, a spokesperson for Kristi said she was “devastated” and that the family had been “blindsided” by the reports.
Trump reacted to the reported affair allegations by saying: “Wow, well, I feel badly for the family if that’s the case, that’s too bad.”
By July, Our News Outlet reported that Bryon had moved out of the couple’s home in Castlewood, South Dakota, and was living roughly 20 miles away. Kristi and Bryon have three adult children together: two daughters and a son.
Arnold said in July that Kristi told her during a family birthday gathering that she planned to end the marriage and had hired a Sioux Falls attorney.
“It has been difficult, but we knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,” Arnold told Our News Outlet.
“I feel bad, sick that they’re getting a divorce, but what else can you do?” she added.
Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski at an August lunch in Minnesota
Kristi and Lewandowski ran the Department of Homeland Security together during their one-year tenure in the Trump administration
Her mother and grandchildren joined her for a ceremony unveiling a life-sized bronze statue of herself, but neither Bryon nor Lewandowski attended the event
Although Kristi and Lewandowski have long denied having a romantic affair, they were photographed in August having lunch in Minnesota.
The pair were also seen cycling along Lake Minnetonka, with a source telling Our News Outlet they were ‘closer than ever.’
Days after her lunch with Lewandowski, Kristi attended the unveiling of a life-sized bronze statue of herself in Pierre, South Dakota, honoring her six years as governor.
Her mother and grandchildren joined her for the ceremony, but neither Bryon nor Lewandowski attended the event.
The sculpture depicts Kristi as a cowgirl standing beside her horse Iceman and forms part of the city’s Trail of Governors.
During a congressional hearing in March, shortly before her removal, Kristi refused to say under oath whether she had an affair with Lewandowski as her husband Bryon watched from the audience.
Since departing Homeland Security, she has found a job at the State Department serving as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
