Kristi Noem Files for Divorce After 34 Years Amid DHS Shakeup and Reports About Husband

Kristi Noem has filed for divorce from her husband, Bryon Noem, ending a 34-year marriage, according to court records filed Sept. 28 in Hamlin County, South Dakota.

The former U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary submitted the paperwork in the community where she and Bryon — high school sweethearts — grew up and later lived while she served as South Dakota governor and then in the Trump administration. The filing lists "irreconcilable differences" as the grounds for divorce.

Timeline and Context

The filing follows several tumultuous months for Kristi Noem. In March she was removed from the top DHS role and reassigned to lead a new Western Hemisphere security initiative called Shield of the Americas. Around the same time, media reports, including a March story by The Daily Mail, published photographs and private messages that they said showed Bryon Noem participating in online fetish forums.

Bryon Noem (L) looks on as Kristi Noem (R) testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Credit: ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty

Allegations and Responses

Media accounts reported that Bryon, 56, spent more than $25,000 in so-called "bimbofication" chatrooms — a role-play community centered on exaggerated femininity and extreme body modification — and included images described as Bryon wearing bright pink spandex and oversized, balloonlike prosthetic breasts. Those reports quoted private messages attributed to Bryon and interviews with individuals who said they had interacted with him online.

Reported: A representative for Noem told The New York Post in March that Kristi Noem had been "blindsided" by the reporting and was "devastated." Attorneys for the Noems did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the divorce filing.

Personal Background

Kristi and Bryon Noem married in 1992. She is 54; he is 56. The couple has three adult children — daughters Kassidy and Kennedy and son Booker — and are grandparents to children of Kassidy and Kennedy. Bryon grew up in Hamlin County, attended Hamlin High School, and later ran a crop insurance agency near Castlewood, S.D., according to biographical sources.

Kristi Noem worked as a rancher and farmer before entering politics in 2006. She served multiple terms in Congress, was elected governor of South Dakota in 2018 (taking office in 2019), and was named by former President Donald Trump in 2024 to lead DHS during his second administration.

Kristi Noem and Bryon NoemCredit: Rebecca Blackwell / POOL / AFP via Getty; Heather Diehl/Getty

Related Controversies

In March, during a tense House hearing about her leadership and immigration policies, lawmakers raised questions about long-running rumors of an affair between Noem and Trump ally Corey Lewandowski, whom she had appointed as an unpaid DHS adviser. Both Noem and Lewandowski have denied an extramarital relationship; under oath, Noem twice declined to answer directly whether she had a sexual relationship with Lewandowski, calling such questions "tabloid garbage."

Reports this year quoted a family member — Kristi's mother, Corinne Arnold — saying the couple had been separating months earlier. "I feel bad, sick that they're getting a divorce, but what else can you do?" Arnold told The Daily Mail in July.

This article summarizes court records and media reporting. Several details about private online activity were published by outlets that attribute the material to sources and screenshots; some claims have been described in original reporting as alleged and disputed. Neither Kristi Noem nor Bryon Noem has issued a public statement confirming the divorce filing beyond the court record, and their attorneys did not immediately comment.