Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband, Bryon Noem, bringing their marriage of more than three decades toward an end after months of intense public scrutiny surrounding their relationship.
Court records from Hamlin County, South Dakota, show Noem seeking to dissolve the marriage on the grounds of “irreconcilable differences.” The couple married in 1992 and have three adult children. Reports differ on the filing date, with some outlets reporting an April filing that only recently appeared online, while local South Dakota reporting lists September 28 as the filing date.
Noem’s legal team confirmed the divorce and indicated that she would not publicly discuss the proceedings while the case moves through court. Bryon has likewise offered little public comment.
The divorce follows months of embarrassing publicity for the family.
Earlier this year, the Daily Mail published photographs and other material it said showed Bryon participating in an online fetish community and wearing women’s clothing and prosthetic breasts. The outlet also alleged that he sent more than $25,000 to adult performers while communicating under another name. Other outlets subsequently reported those allegations but have not independently established all of the underlying claims.
At the time, a spokesperson for Kristi Noem said she was “devastated.”
“The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at this time,” the spokesperson said.
Noem’s mother, Corinne Arnold, later publicly discussed the deteriorating marriage, saying during the summer that the family already expected a divorce.
“It has been difficult, but we knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,” Arnold said, according to reporting about the family’s situation.
The marriage has also faced years of speculation involving Noem’s professional relationship with longtime political adviser Corey Lewandowski. Reports have alleged a romantic relationship between the two, but Noem and Lewandowski have denied affair allegations, and the divorce filing cited in current reporting does not publicly establish such a relationship as the cause of the breakup.
The personal turmoil unfolded alongside major changes in Noem’s political career. After serving as South Dakota governor and then as President Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, Noem left DHS earlier this year. She subsequently became a special envoy for the State Department’s Shield of the Americas initiative. Government records from March identify her in that role alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The divorce now formalizes a separation that relatives and media reports had described for months.
For Noem, it represents a deeply personal transition after a marriage that stretched across virtually her entire political career, from her years in South Dakota politics through Congress, the governor’s mansion and eventually a Cabinet-level position in Washington.
Whatever additional details emerge in court, the publicly confirmed basis for the case remains straightforward: after 34 years of marriage, Kristi Noem is asking a South Dakota court to end it on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.
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