Affairs And Rumors That Will Always Haunt These 11 Political Figures

Affairs and politics seem to go hand in hand. King Henry VIII allegedly had multiple mistresses, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with Sally Hemings, a woman he enslaved. Moreover, JFK had a long list of alleged mistresses, too. Infidelity is as old as time, and unfortunately, even those who are supposed to be the most upstanding citizens among us are not impervious to sexual whims.

None of the aforementioned men escaped the claims of their extramarital activities while they were in positions of power, and it seems that most political figures in modern times aren't able to outrun affair allegations either. For some, affairs and rumors have all but ended their careers. For others, the stories have been repeated pieces of evidence as to why they can't be trusted. For each of these political figures, their affairs and rumors will always haunt them.

It's hard to keep track of all the litigation involving Donald Trump, but one case in particular involves his alleged past affairs. Adult film star Stormy Daniels claims that in 2006, shortly after Melania Trump had given birth to their son, Donald slept with Daniels. "He said that it was great, he had a great evening, and it was nothing like he expected, that I really surprised him, that a lotta people must underestimate me — that he hoped that I would be willing to see him again and that we would discuss the things we had talked about earlier in the evening," Daniels said on "60 Minutes" in 2018. Daniels noted that Donald suggested she become a contestant on "The Apprentice." The former president has denied the affair.

In 2024, Donald Trump went to court after being charged with 34 felony counts in relation to hush money payments made to Daniels. Donald was found guilty on all counts, making him the first former president in United States history to become a felon.

Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff got into some hot water amid the announcement of her 2024 presidential bid after it was reported that in his previous marriage he had an affair. Doug was married to Kerstin Emhoff and they had two children together, Cole Emhoff and Ella Emhoff. Upon the reports, Doug admitted to the extramarital affair. "During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side," Doug said in a statement to CNN.

Doug and Kerstin divorced as a result of the affair, but the two continued co-parenting and are seemingly on good terms. Kerstin has even been supportive of Harris' political ambitions, reportedly volunteering for her presidential campaign back in 2019. "[Doug] is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together," Kerstin said in a statement of Doug and Kamala, as reported by The Washington Post. "I love our blended family and am grateful to have [Kamala] in it." Despite Doug's ownership of the affair, experts still believe that it could hurt Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Anthony Weiner's time as a political hero came and went all too quickly. After gaining notoriety in 2010 for giving a fierce speech in support of healthcare for 9/11 first responders, Weiner became a popular figure in Congress. However, the following year, he became embroiled in a sexting scandal after inappropriate photos of him surfaced online. Weiner first claimed to have been hacked, but he soon admitted to his wrongdoing. Subsequently, Weiner checked into a treatment facility, and he ultimately resigned from Congress over the scandal. "I am announcing my resignation from Congress so my colleagues can get back to work, my neighbors can choose a new representative, and, most importantly, that my wife and I can continue to heal from the damage I have caused," Weiner said in a press conference (via ABC News).

Weiner did try to return to politics with a bid to become the mayor of New York City in 2013, but he couldn't shake the scandal that had ended his congressional career. In the years following, more sexting allegations arose, and in 2016, Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, filed for divorce. In 2024, news of Abedin's engagement to George Soros' son Alex Soros was announced.

Before Donald Trump, Bill Clinton was the most famous president in modern American history to have been plagued by an affair scandal. Starting in November of 1995 and lasting a year and a half, Bill Clinton had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. After being transferred to the Pentagon, Lewinsky began sharing details of the affair with her co-worker Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded Lewinsky. By 1997, the affair had ended, but the scandal was hardly over. The next several months of Lewinsky's life were full of subpoenas, affidavits, immunity agreements, and media frenzy.

Things were messy for Clinton, too. Initially he publicly denied the affair with Lewinsky, famously saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," as archived by The Washington Post. Not long after, Clinton testified in front of a grand jury, and just after that, he addressed the nation and admitted to his wrongdoing. The affair permanently altered the public's perception of Clinton, and it led to him becoming the second president in American history to be impeached. The impeachment, however, was not because of his relationship with Lewinsky itself, but rather on charges of lying under oath and obstructing justice. Clinton was later acquitted and served the remainder of his second presidential term, but the affair more than defined his legacy.

Newt Gingrich wasn't the only powerful political figure in the United States who was having an affair in the '90s. During his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives and while pursuing articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton for misconduct related to an affair, Gingrich was having extramarital relations of his own. Near the end of the decade, Gingrich told his then-wife, Marianne Ginther, that he no longer wanted to be married and that he'd been having an affair with a woman named Callista Bisek, who at the time was a congressional aide. While Ginther was left in the dark, Washington politicians reportedly knew about Gingrich's affair.

Gingrich and Ginther divorced in 1999, but it wasn't until 2007 when Gingrich was running for president that he acknowledged his infidelity. He also explained why he pursued impeachment of Clinton while guilty of his own sins. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept felonies and you cannot accept perjury in your highest officials," Gingrich said on a radio interview, as reported by ABC News. For years afterward, Gingrich's opponents would remind the public of his past errors.

Ahead of the 2008 presidential election, both major parties in the United States were searching for a viable candidate. For the Democratic party, one option was John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina. Edwards was seen as a family man by the public, and his emotional pull was even stronger due to the fact that his wife was fighting breast cancer. But during his presidential campaign, Edwards began sleeping with a woman named Rielle Hunter, who believed their affair would only last for one night, but it continued for months until Edwards' wife caught on.

To make matters more dramatic, Hunter learned that she was pregnant with Edwards' child. Initially, Edwards denied paternity publicly, pinning it on Andrew Young, a member of his campaign staff. Edwards dropped out of the presidential race in early 2008, but it wasn't for another two years that he admitted he had fathered Hunter's child. "I am Quinn's father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves," Edwards said in a statement in 2010, as reported by ABC News. Edwards and his wife did not stay married, and a few years after the affair, she died from cancer.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the rare people to successfully transition from entertainment to politics, but his time in the spotlight hasn't been spotless. Just after his time as governor of California ended, Schwarzenegger made headlines when he and his then-wife, Maria Shriver, separated after learning that Schwarzenegger had been having an affair with the family's housekeeper. "This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us. After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion and prayer, we came to this decision together. At this time, we are living apart while we work on the future of our relationship," the two shared in a statement, as reported by E! News. Soon after, Schwarzenegger also admitted to fathering a child with another member of his personal staff nearly a decade prior, though he noted that Shriver was aware of the child.

Like all affairs concerning political figures, the dust eventually settled on the unsavory end to Schwarzenegger and Shriver's marriage, and the two were able to co-parent, but the former governor has no interest in discussing his past indiscretions anymore. "I won't be rehashing that story here. I've told it before in other places, and other places have told it multiple times. All of you know the story. If you don't, you've heard of Google, and you know how to find it," Schwarzenegger wrote in his 2023 memoir, "Be Useful: The Seven Tools For Life."

Eliot Spitzer was inducted as governor of New York in 2007, and by 2008, he was out of office. In March of that year, it was reported that four people had been arrested for running a prostitution ring, and days later it was reported that Spitzer had been involved as a client (the sex worker Spitzer slept with was Ashley Dupré, the now-stepmother of TikTok star Alix Earle). Spitzer immediately held a press conference to address the reports. "I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong," Spitzer said, as reported by The New York Times. "I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family."

Days later, Spitzer officially resigned from his position as governor. "I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the peoples' work. Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself," Spitzer said in a press conference, as reported by The Gazette. Years later, in 2013, Spitzer and his wife separated, and in their divorce, Spitzer lost millions.

It's not often that an affair had by a state senator makes national news, but such was the case for Amy Koch. Koch was state senator in Minnesota in the latter half of the '00s, and in 2011 she resigned from office, shocking state pundits, her constituents, and fellow party members (Koch was serving as the senate majority leader for the Republican party). "I want to explore some other options. I want to spend a little time with my daughter. I think it's ok to pass off the baton," Koch said at the time, as reported by MPR News. Her purported reason for resignation only further confused Minnesotans.

The truth didn't stay hidden for too long. The actual reason for Koch's resignation was revealed by other top party leaders — the legislator had an affair with a senate staffer named Michael Brodkorb. Koch eventually took responsibility for what happened, but she fired back at the GOP, saying party members mishandled the situation, causing it to continue longer than necessary. "I think they knew what they were doing going into it. Again it's not justifying what I did, I just think there was missed steps and that's why this story goes on," Koch said to WCCO, as reported by CBS News.

Jim McGreevey didn't serve the shortest gubernatorial term in American history, but he certainly didn't serve the longest. After two and a half years as the governor of New Jersey in the early aughts, McGreevey resigned from office. At the time, McGreevey was married to a woman but had an affair with a man reportedly named Golan Cipel who joined the then-governor's staff. Upon his resignation, McGreevey publicly came out as gay, saying at a press conference, "At a point in every person's life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul and decide one's unique truth in the world, not as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is. And so, my truth is that I am a gay American," as reported by the Independent.

But it wasn't McGreevey's sexuality that caused him to resign, it was because he was being blackmailed. McGreevey said that Cipel had warned that, unless McGreevey coughed up millions, he was going to sue the politician for sexual harassment. The New Jersey leader decided that the circumstances were too dangerous for him to remain in office. In 2023, McGreevey announced he was running for mayorship in Jersey City, New Jersey, with some constituents not supporting him on account of his past indiscretions.

Mark Sanford has been involved in politics for decades, but his most notable turn was as governor of South Carolina, and not because of his political influence. In 2009, it was reported that Sanford had gone missing. Soon after the reports surfaced, Sanford's staff followed up with the claim that the governor had been hiking in the Appalachian Mountains. One reporter found the claim particularly dishonest, and he went to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport where he found Sanford getting off a flight from Argentina. Rumors swirled, and when Sanford returned home, he held a press conference where he confessed to an affair with a woman from Argentina whom he'd met years prior and whom he was visiting there. "I've been unfaithful to my wife. I've let down a lot of people. That's the bottom line ... I have let [my family] down in a profound way," Sanford said, as reported by The State.

After admitting to the affair, Sanford remained governor, but different groups with the South Carolina state government tried to impeach him. The impeachment never came to fruition, but Sanford was formally censured. In addition to the censure, Sanford's wife filed for divorce, and the South Carolina State Ethics Commission charged him with 37 ethics violations. Sanford served in Congress years after his time as governor ended, but hasn't been an elected official at all this decade.