Kristi Noem's Pageant Past Foreshadowed Her Obsession With Being On TV Screens

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been practicing for her closeup for years. In 2015, while serving as South Dakota's representative in the House, Noem took to Facebook to share a throwback pic of her as a pageant queen. "Tbt — Snow Queen Days...wonderful program for young women...but what was I thinking with all that hair???" she captioned the post. Noem's pageant girl past hints that she's always been obsessed with her looks, and the former governor serving in the Trump White House seems to only have amplified her desire to be in the spotlight. Noem has, quite literally, been in the American people's faces ever since she kicked off her tenure. 

In fact, by October 2025, some folks had already had quite enough of her as the government shutdown dragged on and Noem filmed an ad, which was set to be played at airports all across the nation, blaming the Democrats for the inevitable delays at TSA checkpoints. Several airport officials deemed it in violation of the Hatch Act and opted not to display it. The footage showed the DHS secretary in full glam as she delivered the controversial message, and Noem's giant fake eyelashes stole the show, proving she's always ready to grace our screens, even when the government is closed.

It's no secret that President Donald Trump loves the cameras, and evidently so does Kristi Noem. She always appears camera-ready, even when the White House staffer is out on the streets with ICE agents — something even her Republican ally, Megyn Kelly, notably criticized. The former Fox News host decried Noem's ICE glam "ridiculous photo ops" on "The Megyn Kelly Show" in April 2025. Kelly commended her work but implored Noem to "stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay ICE agent, which you're not." Noem has seemed all too happy to be the face of the Department of Homeland Security. She proudly told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference's Ronald Reagan dinner in February 2025 that Trump told her he wanted her to be the face of his immigration crackdown. 

Noem recalled the president explaining, "I want you in the ads, and I want your face in the ads [...] but I want the first ad, I want you to thank me. I want you to thank me for closing the border," (via Rolling Stone). Knowing she was going to be Trump's latest TV star is likely one of the things that prompted Noem's most obvious attempts to hide her true age. The DHS secretary has, at times, arguably taken her mission a tad too far. In March 2025, she addressed the media from in front of an El Salvadorian prison as she warned immigrants about the consequences of entering the U.S. illegally. The footage sparked huge criticism from social media users, who accused Noem of "using the prisoners as props without their consent" and flaunting her $50,000 Rolex.