Kristi Noem is DIVORCING cross-dressing husband Bryon: Distraught mother reveals every word of excruciating birthday party showdown after unbearable final blow

By SHAWN COHEN IN CASTLEWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA Published: 16:09, 10 July 2026 | Updated: 16:09, 10 July 2026 Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has told family she has begun divorce proceedings against her husband Bryon and that he recently moved out of their home in Castlewood, South Dakota, after his secret double life as a cross-dresser was exposed. Noem’s own mother shared the sobering news Thursday in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, explaining how the scandal proved to be the unbearable final blow to their 34-year marriage. ‘It has been difficult, but we knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,' Corinne Arnold, 77, said during a sit-down interview at her home, abutting the ranch where her daughter had been living with Bryon. Arnold told the Daily Mail that she last saw the two of them together at a particularly awkward family birthday in late spring, just weeks after the news broke. In March, the Daily Mail reported that Bryon Noem, 56, had been actively participating online in the bimbofication scene, sending online fetish models compromising pictures of himself with balloons stuffed under women’s clothing imitating huge breasts. National Security experts consulted by the Daily Mail at the time said his brazen behavior could have left Noem – nicknamed ICE Barbie – vulnerable to blackmail.  Noem, who shares three adult children with Bryon, had already been struggling with her own challenges at the time, after being ousted from DHS by President Trump in March and subjected to intense scrutiny over her alleged affair with senior aide Corey Lewandowski. Noem, 54, who was reassigned to lead the Shield of the Americas, a newly created, much smaller agency in the State Department, declared herself ‘blindsided’ and ‘devastated’ by the news about her husband. She appealed for privacy and prayers. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s own mother shared the sobering news of the divorce on  Thursday in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, explaining how the scandal proved to be the unbearable final blow to their 34-year marriage. In April, the Daily Mail reported that Bryon Noem, 56, had been actively participating in the bimbofication scene and published photos of him in fake breasts and hot pink pants  The Daily Mail can now reveal that in the aftermath she flew back to South Dakota to celebrate one of her grandchildren’s birthday parties.  'This was a big party where the whole family was there, Kristi and Bryon, all my kids, all my grandkids,’ Arnold told the Daily Mail. ‘Bryon was holding and hugging the kids,’ she said. ‘It seemed like the old Bryon. 'He was very nice,’ she added. ‘I hugged him, told him I loved him and he said the same.’ She also broached a difficult subject with her daughter at the party. 'She doesn’t tell me what she thinks,’ the mom said. 'Finally, I said: "What’s the deal? Are you going to get together again?" 'And she said: "No. No. We’re going to get a divorce." ‘And I said: "Who is your lawyer?’ And she said it was somebody from Sioux Falls." The vast trove of saucy texts, WhatsApp messages and images obtained by the Daily Mail revealed that clean-cut Bryon had his own share of secrets Bryon supported his wife last March by sitting dutifully beside her at a congressional hearing scrutinizing her aggressive immigration enforcement tactics Arnold, who was widowed in 1994 when Kristi's father Ron was killed in a grain bin accident, was left heartbroken but also understood the decision, confirming it was prompted by the news about her daughter's husband.  'I feel bad, sick that they’re getting a divorce, but what else can you do?’ she asked. 'We knew this was coming, that they were going to get divorced,' Kristi's mother Corinne Arnold told the Daily Mail 'The way that I brought up my kids, I know that they don’t just jump into big decisions,’ she added. 'It took a long time for her to figure it out.' The Daily Mail has reached out to both Kristi and Bryon Noem for comment. Bryon, who packed up and left home after the Daily Mail exclusive broke, is now living 20 miles away, while still running an insurance agency. ‘I haven’t seen him now for a couple months, since the party,’ Arnold said. ‘It’s sad,’ she continued. 'You have to remember that Bryon’s been in our family for many years. 'The sad part is that he’s a grandpa. And the little kiddies love him. We all love him, like you would your family.’ Kristi Arnold and Bryon Noem met in high school, married in 1992, and raised daughters Kassidy, now 32, and Kennedy, 29, and a son, Booker, 24. Their marriage became the subject of intense speculation when the Daily Mail revealed her closeness to Lewandowski in a 2023 exposé. Lewandowski showed he was so close to his boss he could joke with her when he went to a South Dakota kennel with her to pick out a dog for her son in 2020. They have both denied having an affair Noem took Lewandowski, then a 'special government employee', to a tour of Latin American companies including a meeting with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogota in March Kristi, at that time the Republican governor of South Dakota, denied the fling and the Noems put a united front. Bryon Noem supported his wife in February by sitting dutifully with her at a congressional hearing scrutinizing her aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. But the cameo backfired horribly when California Democrat Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked the outgoing DHS secretary: 'Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?’ Noem didn't issue an outright denial, instead snapping back: 'I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee.’ The vast trove of saucy texts, WhatsApp messages and images obtained by the Daily Mail revealed that clean-cut Bryon had his own share of secrets. The Daily Mail reviewed hundreds of messages involving three women from the 'bimbofication' scene – where porn performers transform themselves into real-life Barbie dolls by pumping colossal amounts of saline into their breasts. Bryon has lavished praise on their surgically enhanced bodies, confessed his lust for 'huge, huge ridiculous boobs', and even made indiscreet remarks about his marriage to Kristi, our investigation disclosed. Dominatrix Shy Sotomayor, who goes by the stage name Raelynn Riley, says Bryon Noem served as her 'obedient boy' on and off online for nearly a decade Receipts reviewed by Daily Mail show thousands of dollars sent to multiple women - including fetish model Nicole Raccagno – over several years  The couple's finances have come under fresh scrutiny following revelations of Bryon's spending on fetish models online The Daily Mail spotted Bryon Noem taking out the trash at his home in Castlewood, South Dakota, days after we exposed his bimbofication secrets National Security experts meanwhile said his brazen behavior could have left Noem vulnerable to blackmail. Noem reacted with shock when the Daily Mail posted sordid details of Bryon’s sexual proclivities, however we revealed that even MAGA stalwarts were openly gossiping about Bryon's fetishes going back many months. Noem’s alleged relationship with the married Lewandowski was also an open secret. Corinne Arnold called those allegations about her daughter, however, a ‘bunch of crap'. ‘Kristi would never do that,’ she insisted. 'That’s not how I brought my kids up. ‘And Corey’s got his own wonderful family and little kids,’ she continued. She said she has met Lewandowski and that he has been nothing but decent to her as well as her daughter and family. ‘He has been friends with all the kids in our family.'