Fox News Host Pete Hegseth Has Had A Messy Love Life

Pete Hegseth, a longtime host of "Fox & Friends Weekend," was named as Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense days after the 2024 election. People were quick to note that Trump's cabinet choices seemed hand-selected to inflate his already overblown ego but also couldn't get over Hegseth's gross on-air confession about his lack of hand hygiene or the twists and turns of his romantic past. The TV host has been married three times, starting in 2004, when he married Meredith Schwarz. After five years together, the couple divorced amid allegations that Hegseth cheated. 

A year later, Hegseth married Samantha Deering. In 2014, four years into their marriage, Hegseth started his job at Fox News. Hegseth's shift in employment also led to complications in his love life when he got involved with Jennifer Rauchet, a producer at the network. Rauchet was also married at the beginning of her relationship with Hegseth, and they reportedly kept their infidelity under wraps. However, in 2017 the situation became public knowledge. Hegseth was already a father of three kids with Deering, and, in 2017, he and Rauchet had a child together. Both Rauchet and Hegseth began divorce proceedings this same year.

Then, in August 2019, Hegseth and Rauchet got married at Trump's New Jersey golf resort, complete with MAGA-esque hats that said "Make Marriage Great Again." The couple had announced their engagement two months earlier. "They will have a fantastic life together," Trump predicted on X (formerly Twitter).

While Pete Hegseth's first two marriages are years in the past, judging by social media posts, his infidelity is still on people's minds. In 2020, a year after he and Jennifer Rauchet married, Hegseth posted an emotional tribute on Instagram, writing, "Thank you for changing my life — and loving me so soulfully." Some followers weren't so charmed, however, and began questioning his treatment of his two former wives, as well as questioning if he would be getting divorced and married again in the future. When Hegseth posted birthday wishes for Rauchet in 2023, his phrase "the love of my life," attracted some sarcastic comments. "The *third* love of your life," corrected one individual on Instagram.

A glimpse of Hegseth's second marriage to Samantha Deering is also accessible online in a video for his U.S. Senate campaign. Here, footage of the then-couple shows what appears to be a happy marriage. "He's just devoted to his wife, Hegseth's father, Brian Hegseth, explained in the video. Deering was pregnant with the couple's second child at the time, and she happily extoled Hegseth's parenting ability to their young son. 

Ironically, Hegseth himself has weighed in on the topic of divorce and expressed that he's not in favor of it. "The focus on family policy should instead be on strengthening families and creating good citizens by preventing divorce of parents with kids," he wrote in his 2016 book, "In the Arena" (via American Public Media).