It was one of the most devastatingly awkward moments imaginable - a hometown birthday party in April in South Dakota for Kristi and Bryon Noem's grandchild, just weeks after the Daily Mail exposed Bryon's crossdressing fetish and explicit exchanges with online porn models.
asserted
Mail → expose → models
As the adults put on smiling faces to celebrate, Kristi Noem's 77-year-old mother took her aside to address the elephant in the room.
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mother → put → room
Are you going to get together again?' Corinne Arnold asked.
asserted
Arnold → go → ?
We're going to get a divorce,' the daughter replied, and told her that, yes, she'd hired a lawyer.
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she → go → lawyer
The paperwork was filed early that same month.
asserted
paperwork → file → ?
The Daily Mail broke the news of Kristi's plans to divorce him in July, after speaking to her mother who shared her account and explained how Bryon, 56, had already moved out and was living 20 miles away.
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Bryon → break → account
It therefore came as no shock to locals in hometown Castlewood this week when the filing was finally posted in Hamlin County court, citing 'irreconcilable differences' as the grounds for the split.
'Everyone took what the mom said to you as truth,' a local acquaintance of the now exes told the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
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acquaintance → come → Tuesday
Kristi Noem has been keeping a low profile in her hometown, locals say.
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locals → keep → hometown
But she posted photos over the weekend of herself attending the Buffalo Roundup in Custer, South Dakota
Kristi filed for divorce from Bryon Noem in April - soon after the Daily Mail exposed his cross-dressing fetish and explicit exchanges with porn models
Bryon Noem's secret double life as a cross-dresser was exposed when the Daily Mail published photos of him posing in tight pink shorts and a flesh-colored crop top stretched over enormous fake breasts
'We knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,' Kristi's mother Corinne Arnold told the Daily Mail back in July
'
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mother → post → July
She said they were splitting up and divorcing.
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they → say → ?
The 54-year-old former Homeland Security Secretary, who was ousted in March and is now working as a special envoy for the newly created Shield of the Americas and as a strategic adviser to Vancouver-based NovaRed Mining Inc, posted a slew of photos on social media over the weekend.
asserted
who → oust → weekend
She attended a home-state pheasant hunting event over the weekend with fellow ousted Homeland Security official Greg Bovino.
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She → attend → Bovino
And she also got on the saddle at the Buffalo Roundup in Custer, South Dakota.
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she → get → Custer
But according to the Castlewood businesswoman, Kristi, who previously served as governor, and her now estranged husband, who run an insurance company, haven't ventured out much in public in their hometown for months.
uncertain
who → accord → months
'Kristi is still out at her ranch but has kept a low profile,' the source told the Daily Mail.
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source → keep → Mail
'She put up a bunch of new fencing.
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She → put → fencing
'
'I haven't seen Bryon at all,' she added.
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she → see → Bryon
The couple were wed in 1992, but their marriage came under intense scrutiny in 2023 when the Daily Mail reported her alleged affair with married Corey Lewandowski.
Bryon Noem and Kristi were wed in 1992, but their marriage came under intense scrutiny in 2023 when the Daily Mail reported her alleged affair with married Corey Lewandowski.
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Mail → we → Lewandowski
Kristi and Lewandowski were pictured spending quality time in Minnesota amid her divorce in August.
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Kristi → picture → August
She filed in April
News of the divorce filing comes just days the 54-year-old former Homeland Security Secretary posted a photo of herself on X at a home-state pheasant hunting event over the weekend with ex Homeland Security chief Greg Bovino
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Secretary → file → Bovino
Noem, who is now special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York City last week.
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who → attend → City
Despite her public facing appearances, locals say she has rarely been seen in her hometown of late
Her close relationship with Corey Lewandowski has been well documented ever since.
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relationship → face → Lewandowski
And observers wonder about the next step for the newly single former Secretary.
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observers → wonder → Secretary
'Corey is still married, but the last time they were pictured together they seemed very close,' said one.
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one → picture → ?
Kristi and Lewandowski were pictured spending quality time in Minnesota amid her divorce in August, four months after she filed.
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she → picture → August
In images obtained by the Daily Mail, the two were seen cozying up to one another as they ate at an outdoor restaurant along the shores of Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata on Tuesday before enjoying a bike ride along the waterfront.
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they → obtain → waterfront
At one point during their outing, Noem was seen looking at something on her beau's phone and laughing as they waited for food at The Grocer's Table cafe.
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they → see → cafe
'Kristi and Corey are closer than ever,' an insider told the Daily Mail after they were busted on the date-like outing.
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they → tell → outing
It's understood that Bryon, even after his own scandal broke, continued to message several of the women even after his lust for buxom fetish models was revealed to the world in March.
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lust → understand → March
These included Shy Sotomayor, a Colorado-based dominatrix with massive 2500cc breast implants who was one of the several women to share their story with the Daily Mail.
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who → include → Mail
Sotomayor was pictured and named in our April 10 article but she claims that Bryon got in touch with her five weeks later - as if nothing had happened.
uncertain
nothing → picture → her
'May 17th, he texted me on iMessage.
uncertain
he → texte → iMessage
I'm like, "Oh, I know.
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I → know → ?
I know you've been a bad boy,"' Sotomayor told podcaster Spencer Macnaughton.
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Sotomayor → know → Macnaughton
'I sent him a very long message saying, you know, Bryon, I thought really hard on this.
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I → send → this
You need help.
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You → need → help
If it's not clear by now or after being America's joke, I truly don't know what is.'
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what → know → ?
Two more women have told the Daily Mail they, too, received messages from Bryon in the months after the bombshell expose.
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they → tell → expose
One said the rancher and insurance mogul made small talk, refusing to be drawn on his future plans or say whether his marriage was over.
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marriage → say → plans
Another model said she didn't respond because she was worried that Bryon was 'fishing' for information about the Daily Mail's sources.
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Bryon → say → sources
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
