Former US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has begun divorce proceedings against her husband of 34 years, Bryon Noem, who has reportedly moved out of the couple's home in Castlewood, South Dakota. The news was disclosed by Noem's mother, Corinne Arnold, 77, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, in which she described the divorce as widely anticipated within the family following the exposure of Bryon's secret double life as a cross-dresser.

According to the report, the Daily Mail revealed in March that Bryon Noem, 56, had been participating in an online fetish scene, sending compromising images of himself to online models. National security experts quoted at the time suggested such behaviour could have left Noem — nicknamed "ICE Barbie" — vulnerable to blackmail. The couple share three adult children. Arnold said she last saw the pair together at an awkward family birthday gathering in late spring, weeks after the story broke. Noem, 54, was also said to be facing other pressures at the time, having been removed from her DHS role by President Trump in March and scrutinised over an alleged affair with senior aide Corey Lewandowski; she was subsequently reassigned to lead the Shield of the Americas.