Rumors That Will Haunt Mike Johnson For The Rest Of His Career

Mike Johnson made history when he became one of the least experienced Speakers of the House in 2023, having served in Congress for less than seven years. The Louisiana Republican had never held any prior leadership roles, but he quickly found himself under the spotlight. It seems that Johnson wasn't ready for his high-pressure position and may just be finding it harder to deal with Congress than raising four kids. While on the Katie Miller Podcast in November 2025, Johnson opened up about the difficulties of his position, saying, "We're kind of in survival mode right now," and comparing his role as Speaker to being a mental health counselor.

Seemingly unable or unwilling to speak his mind, Mike Johnson has come up with a laughable way to get out of answering questions about Donald Trump. And while he'll never live down the constant claims that he's unaware of the events taking place around him, this isn't the only thing that will follow Johnson around for the rest of his life. Several rumors have spread about Johnson since he became Speaker, and they may follow him throughout his career.

In September 2025, TikTok user @razzledazzlemo posted a video claiming to have evidence that Mike Johnson is gay. In the video, a copy of which can be viewed here, the social media user, whose real name is unknown, claimed to have access to Johnson's Grindr profile and IP address and said he would release both if Johnson didn't swear in Arizona Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva by October 1. Per NPR, Johnson was using the government shutdown to delay swearing in Grijalva, who would have been the final signature needed to force a vote on the Epstein files.

October 1 came and went, and even though Johnson hadn't sworn in Representative Grijalva, @razzledazzlemo failed to release his "proof." He did, however, create a GoFundMe that has raised over $25,000. But this TikTok video wasn't the first time someone spread rumors about Mike Johnson's sexuality. According to Snopes, previous claims alleged that Johnson said he conducted "extensive studies of homosexual relationships" while in college, leading to rumors about his own sexuality. The reality is that Mike Johnson wed Kelly Larry in 1999 via a "covenant marriage."

In October 2025, rumors began to spread about Mike Johnson's wife, Kelly. According to Facebook users, MS Now's Rachel Maddow revealed live on air that Kelly Johnson was secretly connected to an LLC that had received over $2 million in payments from "entities with business before Congress." To make matters more suspicious, these accounts claimed that Mike Johnson failed to list these transactions in his financial disclosure report.

Of course, this never happened, but the fabricated event may have come out of a real mystery about Mike Johnson's finances. In 2023, Daily Beast reported that Mike Johnson had not listed a bank account on his financial disclosure forms dating back to 2016. According to House Ethics guidelines, a member of Congress must disclose any bank account with over $1,000, as well as any account belonging to their spouse or dependents that exceeds $5,000. That Johnson didn't list any accounts would mean that he and his family are living paycheck to paycheck, which is difficult to believe.

Rumors can go in multiple directions, and one prompted claims on Facebook that Johnson had no savings because he donates almost every penny he makes to help others. Johnson himself explained his financial situation on Fox News, saying, " I have kids in graduate school, law school, undergraduate. We have a lot of expenses."

Mike Johnson's appearance has changed over the years, and it isn't just because he shaved his beard. As happens with most famous people, rumors about Johnson allegedly getting plastic surgery have surfaced from time to time. 

Theories and claims started to spread on social media early in 2025, with users on X saying things like, "He got that Mar-a-Lago glow up." Even Aaron Pupar, who usually sticks to reporting on what politicians are saying and not on how they look, commented on the topic on Blue Sky, saying, "Something is up with Mike Johnson's face." The rumors hit a fever pitch when Desi Lydic discussed them on The Daily Show in November, saying that the Speaker of the House was "looking glowed up from the throat up."

While there's no proof that Mike Johnson has had work done, whether it be actual surgery or, as Nicki Swift suggests, botox, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if he has. Rumors about both Republican and Democratic members of government undergoing procedures are nothing new. Per The Hill, Linsey Graham made jokes about Nancy Pelosi's supposed plastic surgery, and there's no denying that many in the MAGA movement have gone under the knife, with even Mike Johnson's wife Kelly suspected of jumping on the "Mar-a-Lago face" train.

In the lead-up to the October 2025 "No Kings" rallies held nationwide to protest the Trump administration, reports emerged that Mike Johnson had called for changes to the First Amendment. The report originated from The Borowitz Report, with a supposed quote from Speaker Johnson saying, "We'd be so much better off without the First Amendment." The article quickly made the rounds across social media, but people spreading the article missed that the Borowitz Report is a satirical site. 

Andy Borowitz, the man behind the Borowitz Report, is open about his work being satire on the site's About page, writing, "I'm Andy Borowitz, a writer and comedian," and detailing his career as a satirist. And while there is nothing on the front page of the Borowitz Report to clearly delineate the site as a fake news space, Andy Borowitz is a well-known New Yorker writer who started the Borowitz Report in 2001, with his political parodies syndicated in papers across the country. This rumor is a case of people seeing something they wanted to believe and not checking the source. 

While Stormy Daniels is best known for her never-ending drama with Donald Trump, the president isn't the only politician the former adult performer has been connected to. In November 2023, a now-deleted post on X (but still available via Archive) claimed that Daniels had business dealings with Mike Johnson. What the supposed business relationship was and how long it lasted was left to the imagination. According to USA Today, the rumor was shared on Instagram and TikTok, even though there was almost no information to go with it. 

Just like the claim that Johnson wanted to repeal the First Amendment, the Stormy Daniels rumor was meant to be humorous, but many of the people who saw the claim — and the videos connected to it — didn't get the joke and believed it was true. On the internet, especially when it comes to writing, it can sometimes be difficult to tell what is real, a lie, a joke, or an unsubstantiated rumor. 

According to a report by the University of Colorado, people, especially those over 55, will share fake news online not because they believe it, but because it aligns with their political beliefs. And while younger adults are less likely to share fake news based on their political stances, they are also less likely to be able to spot a false story.