Questions surrounding the former Homeland Security Secretary’s marriage have been swirling for months, but a new interview with someone closest to her has pushed the story in an unexpected direction.
Now, her own mother is sharing what she says Kristi told her privately —
offering the clearest indication yet of where the longtime marriage
allegedly stands.
Based on a report by the Daily Mail, former Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem has reportedly told family members that she has begun
divorce proceedings against her husband, Bryon Noem, after more than
three decades of marriage.
The publication reported that Bryon has also recently moved out of the
couple’s home in Castlewood, South Dakota, marking what appears to be a
major turning point for the family. The reported split follows months of
public scrutiny surrounding the couple, although neither Kristi nor
Bryon has publicly confirmed that divorce proceedings have been filed.
The newest development comes from Kristi’s 77-year-old mother, Corinne
Arnold, who sat down for an interview with the Daily Mail and said the
family had been expecting this outcome.
Based on Corinne, the situation had been painful but not entirely
surprising. “It has been difficult, but we knew this was coming, that
they were going to get divorced,” Corinne said.
She also recalled the last time she saw Kristi and Bryon together, at a
family gathering in late spring to celebrate one of her grandchildren’s
birthdays.
Corinne described the birthday party as a gathering where the entire
family was present. “This was a big party where the whole family was
there, Kristi and Bryon, all my kids, all my grandkids,” she recalled.
Despite everything that had reportedly unfolded in the months before,
she said Bryon appeared affectionate with the children. “Bryon was
holding and hugging the kids,” she said. “It seemed like the old Bryon.”
She added, “He was very nice. I hugged him, told him I loved him, and he
said the same.” At that point, however, one question had been weighing
on her mind.
During the family gathering, Corinne said she finally decided to ask her
daughter directly about the future of her marriage. Based on her, Kristi
had generally kept her feelings to herself. “She doesn’t tell me what
she thinks,” Corinne said.
But she said she eventually asked the question that had been lingering.
“Finally, I said: ‘What’s the deal? Are you going to get together
again?’”
Corinne then recounted Kristi’s alleged response. “And she said:
‘No. No. We’re going to get a divorce.’”
She said she immediately followed up with another question. “And I said:
‘Who is your lawyer?’ And she said it was somebody from Sioux Falls.”
The reported divorce comes months after the Daily Mail published another
claim that Bryon had been participating online in the “bimbofication”
fetish community. Based on the outlet, Bryon allegedly shared
compromising images of himself wearing women’s clothing stuffed with
balloons to imitate large breasts while interacting with online fetish
models.
The report also said national security experts consulted by the
publication believed the alleged activity could have left Kristi — who
has often been nicknamed “ICE Barbie” — potentially vulnerable to
blackmail because of her high-profile government role.
Corinne told the publication that the controversy surrounding Bryon was
the final blow to the couple’s 34-year marriage, saying the scandal
ultimately became too much for the relationship to withstand. It is
worth noting that on March 31, 2026, the claim detailed Bryon’s secret
life as a cross-dresser. The outlet alleged that he exchanged photos
with online fetish models showing himself in tight-fitting clothes, pink
hotpants, and artificial breasts.
In addition, he supposedly praised women in the so-called
“bimbofication” scene, talked openly about his attraction to “huge, huge
ridiculous boobs,” and sent at least $25,000 through Cash App and PayPal
over roughly 14 months.
That alone would have been explosive, but the stakes were even higher
because his wife had recently been serving at the top of the federal
government.
Experts cited in the report warned that this kind of concealed behavior
could create a blackmail risk. One former CIA officer bluntly argued
that if journalists could uncover it, hostile intelligence services
likely could too.
During a phone call with the publication, Bryon didn’t deny that he sent
photos or engaged in explicit chats. He did, however, dispute the claim
that his behavior jeopardized national security.
At the same time, Kristi’s spokesperson said the news devastated her and
that the situation completely caught the family off guard.
These developments stand in sharp contrast to the long history and
previously good image the couple had publicly. Here are several facts
about them that most people might not know.
Kristi and Bryon’s story began years before her political career and
national headlines. They met in high school in Castlewood, began dating
while she was a junior and pageant queen, while he was already attending
college.
They got engaged on the Fourth of July in 1991. He proposed during the
fireworks on his grandfather’s boat in Lake Kampeska. They finally got
married in May 1992.
On the about page of their company, Noem Insurance, Bryon describes
growing up on a farm in Hamlin County between Bryant and Lake Norden,
graduating from Hamlin High School in 1988, and from Northern State
University in 1993.
He also says he worked for his father through college, then spent 10
years working on Kristi’s family farm before moving into the insurance
business in 2003.
He later bought that insurance agency in 2010 and continued running it
while the couple raised their three children, Kassidy, Kennedy, and
Booker Noem. In public, it all seemed like a deeply traditional life
built on small-town roots, hard work, and family loyalty.
Additionally, Bryon was not a side character in Kristi’s life. He was
repeatedly described as one of its moral anchors.
Faith Was Not Just Part of the Brand In a 2018 Father’s Day Facebook
post, Kristi painted her husband as the steady force behind their family
and made religion central to that image.
She wrote, “When Bryon married me, he thought I’d be a farmer the rest
of my life. God had different plans for us.” Then she added that he was
the family’s support, a funny presence and a serious motivator, and the
father who taught their children to be tough, self-sufficient, and to
“love the Lord.” As a result, Bryon was the man helping shape the
family’s spiritual life while Kristi’s career expanded far beyond the
farm.
And that is where the contradiction starts feeling especially difficult
to look away from. The person described as guiding his children toward
faith is now tied to allegations of a hidden taboo world that could not
be further from the image his family projected. A Tragedy Reshaped Their
Future Long before the recent scandal, one of the most important turns
in their marriage came after a family loss. Kristi never finished
college when she was younger because she left school at 22 after her
father was killed in a farming accident. In a CBS News profile from
2012, she described how devastating that moment was. “It turned our
whole lives upside down. He was the guy who could do anything,” she
said. “I remember going to bed that night thinking, ‘I have no idea what
tomorrow looks like because he’s not here.’” That loss pulled her back
into family responsibilities and changed the path she had expected to
follow. It also meant Bryon’s role in the years after was not just as a
husband in the background, but as someone helping hold together a family
navigating considerable challenges.
So when Kristi later praised him as the one who steadied the household,
there was real history behind it. And she complimented him again the
following year, not just for his faith but also for being a good dad.
Kristi Praised Him in Almost Sacred Terms In a 2019 column titled
“Husband, Father, Servant,” the former Department of Homeland Security
Secretary wrote about Bryon in the best way a wife can.
“I had a sneaking suspicion he would be a great dad because he has a
wonderful father who is a great role model,” she explained, then added:
She further described him as the parent who handled chores while she was
away, cared for the children through illnesses, prayed over their son
Booker, recorded family memories on video, and supported their daughter
Kassidy as she got married.
It was an intensely personal and deeply religious portrait of the man by
her side. And she wasn’t the only one who saw him that way.
Relatives Say He Had a Calling In a March 6 report from the New York
Post, members of Bryon’s extended family claimed he had long viewed
staying by Kristi’s side as a religious obligation.
One relative said, “He said he decided about 20 years ago that it was
his calling from God to support her in whatever she decided to do.”
The couple also raised their children in an ultra-strict church
community, which makes sense because of how he viewed himself.
Unfortunately, private behavior, public loyalty, and strict religious
values are now sitting in the same story, and none of them fit together
neatly.
He Stayed Visible Even When Rumors Swirled Their marriage had already
been under pressure before the latest claims about Bryon’s online life
surfaced. Speculation had been building for years around Kristi’s
alleged relationship with Corey Lewandowski, which she denied.
Even so, the couple continued to present a united front. Bryon showed
his support during a congressional hearing last month and sat behind her
while lawmakers questioned her strategies for enforcing immigration
laws. But that appearance backfired when a Democratic lawmaker directly
asked Kristi whether she had intimate relations with Corey. She did not
issue a flat no. Instead, she snapped that the committee was peddling
“tabloid garbage.”
And now more outlets have a lot more to say.
The Rare Facts Now Read Differently Some of the rare facts about Bryon
once made him sound like the ideal conservative husband: farm-raised,
college-educated, business owner, father of three, church-centered, and
publicly committed to standing behind his wife. Kristi Noem herself
reinforced that image again and again.
But after the latest revelations, those same details no longer land the
same way. The husband, once praised for teaching his children to love
the Lord, is now accused of maintaining a secret, controversial life
built on questionable behavior.