Rumors About Kristi Noem We Can't Ignore

While it's hard to find anyone in politics who isn't hounded by speculation and scandal, there are a few public figures who seem to generate more rumors and controversy than the former South Dakota governor and Donald Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Once considered to be a front-runner to be Trump's VP in the 2024 election, her rising star was sidelined by a number of different scandals that proved to be too damaging even for Trump to come near — so we instead have Vice President JD Vance and his slew of weird moments and bizarre dramas making headlines instead.

So what kind of scandal does it take to get a MAGA hardliner in trouble with other right-wing figures who are all riding the Trump train? Well, it takes embarrassing rumors of public affairs with other married staffers and a memoir in which you brag about killing your family's puppy. Noem ticked both these boxes and more, just in the days leading up to when Trump was set to announce his pick for vice presidents.

However, extramarital liaisons and "Old Yeller" anecdotes aren't the only persistent skeletons in Noem's closet. For years she's faced rumors of plastic surgery and numerous ethics violations during her time as governor, all of which are hard to forget as she now sits on Trump's cabinet in the highest echelons of power in America.

Kristi Noem's remarkable style transformation is evident in throwback photos and has been a point of debate online since 2023. A post on X (formerly Twitter) that showed a side-by-side of Noem from 2019 and 2025 went viral, sparking a flurry of debate with the simple question, "What has happened to Kristi Noem's face?" It's clear that the former governor of South Dakota seemed to undergo something of a makeover — or, more accurately, a total visual overhaul aimed at appealing to MAGA hardliners.

What has happened to Kristi Noem's face? 😳

2019 2025 https://t.co/pFMDlcZH6K pic.twitter.com/akAqHYesEz

— Bad Fox Graphics (@BadFoxGraphics) February 9, 2025

Republican strategist Ron Bonjean spoke with The New York Times in March 2024, and explained that he felt Noem's makeover was meant specifically to appeal to Trump and make him think of her as a viable VP possibility. "It's all about her appeal to an audience of one," Bonjean shared. "She is showing him she works well in front of the camera, that she has that star power he wants onstage with him, while fitting into the mode of women in the Trump universe."

While Noem has admitted to undergoing cosmetic dental surgery due to damaging her teeth in a biking accident, she's never commented on rumors about other plastic surgery procedures. It's possible that her noticeable change in appearance stems from switching up her hairstyle and fashion sense, but the internet speculation machine is chugging along with every new side-by-side comparison photo that pops up.

Of all the controversies and painfully awkward moments that have haunted Kristi Noem throughout her career, one of the most scandalous is her rumored extramarital affair with Corey Lewandowski, a former campaign manager for Donald Trump, who allegedly had illicit romances with both Noem and Hope Hicks over the years. Lewandowski and Noem — who are both still married to other people — allegedly began their affair around 2019 or a few years before, and weren't exactly subtle with their flirting.

In the 2025 release "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power," author and reporter Alex Isenstadt wrote that, within Trump's large inner circle, Noem and Lewandowski's affair was a frequent topic of gossip, adding that some of Trump's aides saw Lewandowski playfully slap Noem's rear end, and that Trump knew about the entire thing.

An unnamed source told The New York Post that Noem and Lewandowski were "absurdly blatant and public" about their affair, and they'd seen the pair getting a little too cozy at a crowded hotel bar during the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando. "It isn't like we caught them at some dive bar miles away," the source said. "It's a lobby bar where everyone is staying and so there's a bajillion political operatives and journalists and electeds around." A rep for Noem has staunchly denied the rumors of an affair, while Lewandowski has yet to publicly comment at all.

It seems that there are very few things that Democrats and Republicans can agree on these days, except for one: boasting about executing dogs is weird and creepy. One of the strangest political scandals of the 2024 election came when Noem proudly wrote about shooting her family's dog in a gravel pit outside on their farm in South Dakota. Noem included the not-so-fun anecdote in her 2024 book "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward."

According to Noem, the young dog, a 14-month-old Wirehaired Pointer named Cricket, was overly aggressive and she found her difficult to tame, despite using an electric collar. "I hated that dog," Noem wrote (via The Guardian), before detailing how she killed it. Amazingly, that wasn't the only animal she killed that same day. Noem explained that there was also a goat on the farm who "loved to chase" her kids around and smelled disgusting, therefore it also got the death penalty.

"It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done," Noem wrote, adding, "I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn't tell the story here." Despite her attempts to sell the story as an example of her relatability and outsider-ness to the MAGA base, even other right-wingers began to call her out and distance themselves from the proud puppy executioner.

In March 2024, Kristi Nome took to X to share a nearly 5 minute video essentially advertising the services of a cosmetic dentistry clinic in Sugar Land, Texas. In the video, she said she went to the dentists at Smile Texas after she'd gotten some teeth knocked out due to a bike accident several years ago, and beamed as she said, "The team here was remarkable and finally gave me a smile that I can be proud of and confident in, and that really is a gift that I think is going to be incredibly special to have."

I love my new family at Smile Texas! The video says it all, and I am so grateful for their help fixing my smile for me. 😊🙌🏼😊 pic.twitter.com/z2kTmiY8td

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) March 12, 2024

After the video was posted, South Dakota state Senator Reynold Nesiba called for an investigation into whether Noem violated ethics rules, but admitted to Business Insider that since Republicans controlled both houses in the state, he wasn't expecting much.

In 2021, an ethics board investigation found evidence that Noem violated ethics rules and had committed malfeasance when her daughter applied for a real estate appraiser license and was at first denied. The Associated Press reported that the ethics board agreed that Noem had applied some pressure via her position as governor on a state agency regarding the application. The ethics board took "appropriate action," but refused to disclose what that actually entailed, or if Noem would face any actual consequences for anything.