Inside Kristi Noem’s extraordinary new life after divorce filing… as Corey Lewandowski grows ‘closer than ever’ and Bryon virtually vanishes

It was one of the most devastatingly awkward moments imaginable – a hometown birthday party in April in South Dakota for Kristi and Bryon Noem’s grandchild, just weeks after the Daily Mail exposed Bryon’s crossdressing fetish and explicit exchanges with online porn models.

As the adults put on smiling faces to celebrate, Kristi Noem’s 77-year-old mother took her aside to address the elephant in the room.

‘What’s the deal? Are you going to get together again?’ Corinne Arnold asked.

‘No. No. We’re going to get a divorce,’ the daughter replied, and told her that, yes, she’d hired a lawyer.

The paperwork was filed early that same month.

The Daily Mail broke the news of Kristi’s plans to divorce him in July, after speaking to her mother who shared her account and explained how Bryon, 56, had already moved out and was living 20 miles away.

It therefore came as no shock to locals in hometown Castlewood this week when the filing was finally posted in Hamlin County court, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the grounds for the split.

‘Everyone took what the mom said to you as truth,’ a local acquaintance of the now exes told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. 

‘She said they were splitting up and divorcing. So this is no surprise now.’ 

The 54-year-old former Homeland Security Secretary, who was ousted in March and is now working as a special envoy for the newly created Shield of the Americas and as a strategic adviser to Vancouver-based NovaRed Mining Inc, posted a slew of photos on social media over the weekend. 

She attended a home-state pheasant hunting event with fellow ousted Homeland Security official Greg Bovino, the former Border Patrol commander.

And she also got on the saddle at the Buffalo Roundup in Custer, South Dakota.

But according to the Castlewood businesswoman, Kristi, who previously served as governor, and her now estranged husband, who run an insurance company, haven’t ventured out much in public in their hometown for months.

‘Kristi is still out at her ranch but has kept a low profile,’ the source told the Daily Mail. ‘She put up a bunch of new fencing.’

‘I haven’t seen Bryon at all,’ she added.

The couple were wed in 1992, but their marriage came under intense scrutiny in 2023 when the Daily Mail reported her alleged affair with married Corey Lewandowski.

Her close relationship with Corey Lewandowski has been well documented ever since.

And observers wonder about the next step for the newly single former Secretary.

‘Corey is still married, but the last time they were pictured together they seemed very close,’ said one. 

Kristi and Lewandowski were pictured spending quality time in Minnesota amid her divorce in August, four months after she filed.

In images obtained by the Daily Mail, the two were seen cozying up to one another as they ate at an outdoor restaurant along the shores of Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata before enjoying a bike ride along the waterfront.

At one point during their outing, Noem was seen looking at something on her beau’s phone and laughing as they waited for food at The Grocer’s Table cafe.

‘Kristi and Corey are closer than ever,’ an insider told the Daily Mail after they were busted on the date-like outing.

It’s understood that Bryon, even after his own scandal broke, continued to message several of the women even after his lust for buxom fetish models was revealed to the world in March.

These included Shy Sotomayor, a Colorado-based dominatrix with massive 2500cc breast implants who was one of the several women to share their story with the Daily Mail.

Sotomayor was pictured and named in our April 10 article but she claims that Bryon got in touch with her five weeks later – as if nothing had happened.

‘May 17th, he texted me on iMessage. He’s like, “I’ve been a really bad boy.” I’m like, “Oh, I know. I know you’ve been a bad boy,”‘ Sotomayor told podcaster Spencer Macnaughton.

‘I sent him a very long message saying, you know, Bryon, I thought really hard on this. You obviously are very sick. You need help. If it’s not clear by now or after being America’s joke, I truly don’t know what is.’

Two more women have told the Daily Mail they, too, received messages from Bryon in the months after the bombshell expose.

One said the rancher and insurance mogul made small talk, refusing to be drawn on his future plans or say whether his marriage was over.

Another model said she didn’t respond because she was worried that Bryon was ‘fishing’ for information about the Daily Mail’s sources.

‘He’s still confused about who sent you the photos of him. I’m surprised he’s still reaching,’ she told us. 

Meanwhile, in their hometown, some residents were ready to turn the page on the scandal.

‘It’s more of a national story,’ one local told the Daily Mail. ‘The interest has kind of waned.

‘Honestly, I’m not sure people really care anymore what she’s doing now,’ the woman continued. 

‘She’s no longer in a position of real power. If she wasn’t such a striking person, I don’t think people around here would care at all.’

Greg Bovino, who joined Kristi last weekend, said she is herself ready to move on.

‘She’s a powerhouse, indefatigable in everything she does,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘Anything she puts her mind to, she will be a resounding success.’