Affair Rumors That Have Haunted Politicians Over The Years
There's something about politicians that makes them think they can get away with anything, even though they have some of the most highly-scrutinized jobs in the world. Some of the most famous people in the United States have tried to get away with stepping out on their spouses, only to be dragged into the spotlight when news breaks.
There was President Bill Clinton's public scandal with Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's awkward press conference in 2008 that inspired "The Good Wife." That same year, New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey resigned after his affair went public, telling the "Today" show that being a politician had warped his worldview. "You begin to think of yourself as master of your own universe and your own set of ethical structures," he said (via NBC News). Then in 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for a few days claiming to have been "hiking the Appalachian Trail," — quite the euphemism for "having an affair."
Sometimes, though, politicians caught in scandals don't admit wrongdoing or step down but instead, power through, choosing to deny any rumors. Sometimes it works out and those who have been accused of affairs continue to climb the ladders of power. Sometimes that strategy doesn't succeed, and they've been forced to resign anyway. After all, "narcissism is an occupational hazard for political leaders," political psychologist Stanley Renshon told NBC News.
Both JFK and RFK were rumored to have had a fling with Marilyn Monroe
Few affairs in political history are as legendary as the one that reportedly took place between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. According to biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli's book "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret," the president and the iconic actor had a weekend-long fling in March 1962, mere months before Monroe died. "He thought she was beautiful, but maybe not the smartest girl in the world," Senator George Smathers later recalled (via Fox News). "He liked her sense of humor and her playfulness." The whole world got a glimpse of that playfulness a few months after their reported weekend together when Monroe performed a sultry version of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in the now-iconic sheer, crystal-studded gown that left very little to the imagination.
JFK isn't the only Kennedy brother rumored to have had a fling with the blonde bombshell. It seems that Robert F. Kennedy, too, had an affair with Monroe. According to pollster Lou Harris, Monroe pursued Bobby at his brother's infamous birthday party. "She literally pinned him against the wall, and she had him trapped," Harris said. While speculation about what went down has swirled for decades, a letter from Jean Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe went up for auction in 2016, appearing to confirm the rumors. "Understand that you and Bobby are the new item!"Jean wrote (via the Daily Mail). "We all think you should come with him when he comes back East!"
An alleged affair stopped Gary Hart's presidential campaign cold
Gary Hart was considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president in 1988, but he didn't make it to the election year. He had a reputation as a "womanizer" no thanks to the New York Post which manufactured a quote from the candidate and put him on the front page under the headline, "Gary: I'm No Womanizer" (via The New York Times).
Hart reportedly told The New York Times, "Follow me around, I don't care. I'm serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'd be very bored" (via the Miami Herald). That article hadn't been published yet when journalists decided to do just that, tipped off by a caller that Hart was having an affair with a woman named Donna Rice. Sure enough, when a team of reporters staked out Hart's D.C. home, they witnessed Rice entering on a Friday and not leaving until Saturday. When they published their story, they blew the race wide open.
Hart's campaign manager, William Dixon, denied the affair in a statement to The Washington Post. "It's character assassination. It's harassment. He's offended and he's outraged. He's furious. He's a victim," Dixon said, perhaps doth protesting too much. The National Enquirer then published a photo of Rice sitting on Hart's lap aboard a yacht fittingly called Monkey Business. Though Rice and Hart continued denying the affair, Hart's campaign was over.
President George H. W. Bush denied suggestions that he had an affair
In 1992, as President George H. W. Bush was running for re-election, he was confronted by rumors that he'd had an extramarital affair with an aide named Jennifer Fitzgerald. According to The Washington Post, a CNN reporter confronted Bush with the rumors at a press conference, and he called the whole thing "a lie." Later, he appeared on "Dateline NBC" where he was once again asked about whether he'd had an ongoing fling with someone who used to work for him. "You're perpetuating the sleaze by even asking the question, to say nothing of asking in the Oval Office," Bush shot back.
Hillary Clinton mentioned the affair in a 1992 Vanity Fair interview, recalling a conversation with an heiress named Anne Cox Chambers. Chambers told her, "Everybody knows about George Bush," pointing out that the media had mostly avoided investigating the rumored dalliance. According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's book, "Grace & Steel: Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty" the president's mother insisted that Clinton's interview was the reason her son lost re-election, calling the scandal "all Hillary's fault."
Former First Lady Barbara Bush later admitted she had suicidal thoughts after learning about the affair. In the book, "The Matriarch," Barbara told author Susan Page, "I felt terrible. I would pull over and park so I wouldn't go hit a tree ... I almost wonder why he didn't leave me."
John McCain was rumored to have had an affair with a lobbyist
In 2000, rumors spread that John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman were having an affair after she was spotted accompanying the politician at numerous events. McCain's staffers were reportedly nervous that the affair would become public and affect his run for president so they began to limit the pair's visibility, making sure the public was unaware they were spending a lot of time together. Things got so intense, apparently, that a McCain employee confronted Iseman at Union Station, warning her to stay away.
In 2008, John McCain was busy running for president again but his campaign would be smeared by an investigation published by The New York Times into the relationship between McCain and Iseman. "I have never betrayed the public trust by doing anything like that," McCain said in response to the allegations. He eventually wound up holding a press conference where his wife Cindy McCain stepped up to the mic and told reporters, "My children and I not only trust my husband but, more importantly, know that he would never do anything to disappoint our family" (via The Guardian).
A few years after the senator died in 2018, former campaign advisor Steve Schmidt wrote on his Substack that McCain lied to the country about his affair. Schmidt wrote that he helped discredit The New York Times article, only for McCain to tell him afterward, "Boy, I had a long relationship with her."
Gary Condit denied an affair with murder victim, Chandra Levy
In May 2001, graduate student Chandra Levy vanished. She was living in Washington, D.C., for an internship at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and on May 1, she seemingly packed some luggage before being reported missing. "My man will be coming back here when Congress starts up again, I'm looking forward to seeing him," she wrote before her disappearance (via ABC News). The investigation quickly zeroed in on Rep. Gary Condit, Levy's own congressman from California. "At this time, there is no concrete evidence to confirm these various rumors," Police Chief Charles Ramsey told The Washington Post in 2001 (via ABC News).
But here's where things get murky. Condit publicly denied having had an affair with Levy, claiming she was merely a "good friend," though police sources told CNN that he'd admitted it to them privately. Terrance Gainer, Executive Assistant Chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police, reiterated that they'd interviewed Condit three times and understood their relationship just fine. "He was not a suspect before the meeting, he was not a suspect during the meeting, and he's not a suspect since the meeting," Gainer said.
Levy's body was found a year later, and Condit was not charged with any crime. He's continued to publicly deny any affair, telling Dr. Phil McGraw in 2016 (via People), "I did not have a romantic involvement with her." Levy's mother Susan Levy, on the other hand, told People, "That's not true."
Governor Gavin Newsom reportedly broke COVID-19 lockdown to have an affair
In 2007, California Governor Gavin Newsom — then-Mayor of San Francisco — confessed to having had an affair with a staffer's wife. His re-election campaign manager Alex Tourk resigned on a Wednesday, and by the next day, Newsom admitted that he'd had a fling with Tourk's wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk. Newsom held a press conference about the rumors that had landed him in the media, telling reporters, "Everything you've heard and read is true. And I am deeply sorry about that" (via The New York Times). The year before the scandal, Newsom divorced Kimberly Guilfoyle, future paramour of Donald Trump Jr., and in 2008, he married Jennifer Siebel.
More than a decade later, Newsom was dogged again by rumors of infidelity. According to The San Joaquin Valley Sun, it was an open secret in Sacramento that the governor had multiple affairs during 2020, flouting his own lockdown rules. Furthermore, the outlet insisted that one of the affairs was with someone who worked in his office in a high-ranking role. "This is spiraling into the worst-kept secret in town," one source told the newspaper.
That being said, it seems the secret was kept a while longer. As of 2024, no more specifics have been revealed about the rumors that were meant to have been flying fast and furious through the halls of the Californian government.
Al Gore's divorce was rumored to be caused by an affair
Al Gore, Vice President under Bill Clinton, often touted the strength of his marriage. At the Democratic National Convention in 2000, as he was named the party's nominee for president, the politician gave his wife Tipper Gore a long, passionate kiss. "Gore seems like he really loves his wife and she loves him," one voter told The Boston Globe (via The Washington Post). "That long kiss, against the backdrop of the hideous things Clinton did, for me, it's important that the president set that tone, as a family man."
Though they'd been together for four decades, Tipper and Al divorced in 2010, and their separation opened the floodgates to years of affair rumors. Star Magazine, for example, reported the former VP cheated on Tipper with Laurie David, Larry David's ex-wife, who co-produced Al's climate change documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." A source told the tabloid, "Al and Laurie went from friends to lovers. It couldn't be avoided" (via the Washington Examiner).
The National Enquirer, then fresh off of breaking the John Edwards sex scandal, wrote that the couple divorced because Tipper had become paranoid about Al's reported affairs, whether or not there was any truth to the rumors. "I think she's always believed there was something going on between Al and many of the women in his life," one source told the outlet. "Al finally told her their relationship was over because he couldn't stand her jealous rages anymore."
Old rumors of Nikki Haley's affair cropped up during the 2024 presidential race
Back in 2010, Nikki Haley was a candidate for the governorship of South Carolina, but a blogger named Will Folks threw a grenade into the race when he wrote how he had been romantically involved with the politician. On his website FITSNews, he wrote, "I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki." He refused to elaborate, but Haley gave a statement to WIS-TV (via CBS News) claiming that nothing happened. "I have been 100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage," she said.
Merely one week later, another man came out of the woodwork and claimed to have had a one-night stand with Haley. Lobbyist Larry Marchant, who worked for Haley's opponent, came forward to say they had slept together in Salt Lake City while both attending a conference in 2008. Tim Pearson, Haley's spokesman, told Politico, "This is a false and outrageous desperate attack from a losing candidate's paid campaign consultant in the final week of the race." Haley won her race, and her national profile grew so much that by the end of 2023, she was one of the only remaining candidates for the Republican nomination for the presidency.
The affair rumors resurfaced on X in 2023 when conservative activist Laura Loomer tweeted two affidavits from the men who claimed to have had affairs with Haley. "Tell me again how @NikkiHaley is such a good 'military spouse,'" Loomer wrote.
Affair allegations quashed Kevin McCarthy's first bid for speakership
In 2018, Rep. Kevin McCarthy was named Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. Five years later, in 2023, he became Speaker of the House after a record 15 votes. That was a far cry from what happened several years earlier, back in October 2015, when McCarthy's play for the speakership was stopped cold by allegations of an affair with another member of Congress.
On October 6, 2015, Rep. Walter B. Jones sent a letter to the party chairman, writing in bold and underlined text that he was "asking that any candidate for Speaker of the House ... withdraw himself from the leadership election if there are any misdeeds he has committed since joining Congress that will embarrass himself, the Republican Conference, and the House of Representatives if they become public" (via the United States House of Representatives). Two days later, McCarthy campaigned for votes but received a threatening email from GOP donor Steve Baer suggesting he drop out, and he did exactly that. When reporters asked if his shocking withdrawal was related to the open letter, McCarthy replied, "No. No. Come on" (via Roll Call).
Politico reported that Rep. Renee Ellmers addressed a meeting of Republican lawmakers on the morning of October 9th, thanking them for their support after "nasty emails" went around Capitol Hill. "I will be praying for those who find it acceptable to bear false witness," she said, not getting into specifics for some reason.
Donald Trump's supposed fling with Stormy Daniels led to jail time
In 2018, amid swirling rumors of a hush-money payment and legal threats from then-President Donald Trump, adult performer Stormy Daniels went on "60 Minutes Australia" and detailed what she described as a fling between the two at a golf tournament in 2006. "He was like, 'Wow, you — you are special. You remind me of my daughter,'" Daniels recalled (via Business Insider), describing how she playfully spanked the future politician with a rolled-up magazine featuring his face on the cover. She would later go into great detail about the specifics of his anatomy in her book "Full Disclosure."
Trump denied that anything had happened between the two of them, however, he confessed on X, formerly Twitter, that Daniels was paid to keep her from going public during the 2016 election. "The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair," he wrote. His wife Melania Trump stood by her husband amid the scandal, telling ABC News, "I know what is right and what is wrong and what is true and not true."
Whether they had an affair or not, the trouble was that the former president seemed to have paid her off with campaign funds. That would be illegal, and in fact, it landed his lawyer Michael Cohen in prison. Trump's criminal trial in the case is set to start in March 2024.
Rep. Katie Hill resigned after photos were published without her consent
In 2018, Katie Hill ran for Congress, mounting what Vice News called the "most millennial campaign ever." She was elected that fall alongside progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. While the latter two are still firebrands today, Hill's tenure in Congress didn't last.
In October 2019, the right-wing blog RedState reported that Hill allegedly engaged in an affair with legislative director Graham Kelly, a married member of her staff, which would be against Congressional rules. They also reported on a supposed threesome between Hill and a campaign staffer, including publishing a nude photo of the Congresswoman, a clear case of revenge porn. "Intimate photos of me and another individual were published by Republican operatives on the internet without my consent," she told The Hill, pointing out that she was involved in a contentious divorce. She denied an affair with Kelly but admitted to the one with the campaign staffer. "I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate, but I still allowed it to happen despite my better judgment," Hill said in a letter to constituents (via the Los Angeles Times).
A few days later, Hill resigned amid an ethics probe, pointing out how painful the revenge porn situation had been. "I know that as long as I am in Congress, we'll live fearful of what might come next and how much it will hurt," she wrote (via BBC News).
A divorce followed Marjorie Taylor Greene's affair rumors
Controversial Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has made a career out of her "family values" and going out of her way to demean LGBTQ+ people. "Probably in about four or five generations, no one will be straight anymore," she once said (via Forbes). The outlet noted that she's accused the Uvalde gunman of being transgender without evidence and tried to put an end to Pride Month celebrations, among many other efforts to turn back the clock on LGBTQ+ acceptance.
In February 2021, the Daily Mail broke the news that Taylor Greene had allegedly been cheating on her husband with not one but two different men, neither of whom denied the rumors when contacted by the outlet. Greene reportedly cheated with both Craig Ivey, who the Daily Mail described as "a tantric sex guru," and Justin Tway, a gym manager. Apparently, the affairs happened right out in the open. "It wasn't a secret," one source told the Daily Mail. "Everyone who moved in her circles knew about both the affairs."
By the end of the following year, the congresswoman's marriage was over, and she'd finalized her divorce from her husband Perry Greene. In his court papers, Perry described the marriage as "irretrievably broken" following the rumored affairs (via the Toronto Sun).
Governor Kristi Noem may have had an affair with a Trump aide
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has made family values a core tenet of her political philosophy. "Strengthening families is a key element to every decision I make as governor, and I'm committed to keeping it at the center," she wrote on her website. That's why her constituents were surprised when the Daily Mail reported that Noem had been having an affair with former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski. Both are married, but the outlet got hold of evidence of dozens of joint trips, and they weren't the only ones to report on the supposed fling. The New York Post spoke to sources who told a similar story. One said they witnessed Noem and Lewandowski kissing at a hotel bar. "It was so absurdly blatant and public," the source said.
Initially, the Daily Mail reported that neither Noem nor Lewandowski had denied the affair when they were contacted for comment. After the article was published, however, both camps came out against the reporting, claiming that it was all made up. Noem took to X to talk about the article, writing, "These rumors are total garbage and a disgusting lie ... I love Bryon. I'm proud of the God-fearing family we've raised together."
Around the same time, Lewandowski was accused of sexual harassment. "Accusations and rumors appear to be morphing by the minute and we will not dignify them with a further response," Lewandowski's attorney told People.
Rep. Jeff Duncan's wife claims he had an affair
Often, when politicians are involved in sex scandals, it's the media that breaks the story wide open and makes constituents aware of what their elected officials have been up to. That wasn't the case with Rep. Jeff Duncan, a congressman from South Carolina. News of his alleged infidelity broke in September 2023, going public when his wife filed for divorce.
In court papers asking for the dissolution of their marriage, Melody Duncan wrote that her husband was effectively living with his mistress, a lobbyist named Liz Williams. She described a campaign event called a "Faith and Freedom BBQ," where the congressman stood on stage and talked about what a loving, supportive marriage he was in ... only to then head home to be with Williams instead of his wife. The politician "admitted this adulterous relationship to many people, including [the couple's three sons] and members of his staff," the court papers alleged (per the New York Post).
After details of the divorce documents went public, Duncan took to X to downplay the situation. "My family is dealing with a difficult and private moment and I'm not going to comment on a deeply personal matter," he wrote, claiming instead to be focused on an upcoming government shutdown. "I am proud to have one of the most conservative voting records in all of Congress."