Megyn Kelly has shared a theory on her podcast suggesting that Kristi Noem, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, may have been the one who leaked details about her husband Bryon’s “bimboification” fetish to the media. Kelly believes Noem did this to gain public sympathy after being fired from her DHS role, partly due to alleged ties to Corey Lewandowski. Kelly has long said that Noem must have known about her husband Bryon’s crossdressing and online activities. Now she is going further, suggesting Noem may have intentionally started the media storm herself. “I’ve also read and heard a suspected theory that it was Kristi Noem who leaked it,” Kelly said on Sirius XM’s Megyn Kelly Show, adding that it was “to engender sympathy for her because she took such a beating, getting fired, in part because of the Corey Lewandowski affair, allegedly, reportedly.” The scandal around Bryon Noem became public when photos and a report were published revealing his fetish for dressing in oversized breasts and tight tops, reports The Daily Beast. He was also found to have been speaking online with women who posed as “real-life Barbie dolls.” Kelly elaborated, saying, “She wanted people to know, ‘Hello, this is what I’m dealing with,’ and it did immediately shift the narrative on her.” Kelly believes the Noems may have had a longstanding arrangement that suited both of them Kelly also suggested the couple may have “struck a deal” early in their marriage, allowing Noem to pursue her political career and allegedly have affairs, while Bryon could engage in his online activities privately. She pointed to a text message between Bryon and one of the women he spoke with online, where he wrote something along the lines of “I can’t leave or something,” which Kelly interpreted as signs of a transactional marriage. “It seemed more to me like it was a marriage of like, OK, she’s in politics. She was in the house. She was governor of South Dakota. Now she’s DHS chief. She needs somebody on her arm,” Kelly explained. “The husband she married when they were just young people. So, he had kind of struck the deal, and she was going to be able to screw around with Corey or whomever, and he was going to be able to do this, and now she’s gotta act shocked.” “You never know what’s going on in someone’s marriage…” @megynkelly on shocking report about Kristi Noem’s husband’s secret cross-dresser double life with a bizarre fetish. Watch below, and subscribe: https://t.co/3VIR68CwgP pic.twitter.com/sesCzfhiCS— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) March 31, 2026 Noem publicly responded to the scandal by asking for “privacy and prayers” through a representative, who said she was “blindsided” by the revelations. Kelly’s theory directly contradicts this, suggesting Noem was far from caught off guard. Noem left her DHS role in March, less than a month before the images surfaced, and was replaced by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin Her removal came after what was described as a serious mishandling of ICE raids in Minneapolis. Kelly herself has not always been a stranger to controversy, having previously admitted to spreading Iraq War misinformation and vowing not to repeat it for Trump. Kelly also suspects that President Trump knew about Bryon Noem’s online activities. She referenced a report that described his behavior as an “open secret” within the White House. “They don’t name Trump as knowing, but there’s no way he didn’t know. If it was in the White House, he knew. Trump loves gossip,” Kelly said. Legal experts had also warned that Bryon Noem’s online comments, including praise for models in the “bimbofication” scene and remarks about his attraction to “huge huge ridiculous boobs,” could have exposed Noem to blackmail while she was still in office. Bryon Noem has not denied the conversations or that he engaged in crossdressing following the scandal going public. Kristi Noem's husband stops by the Update desk pic.twitter.com/JvJ9GgYCHO— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) April 5, 2026 Saturday Night Live also mocked the situation during their Weekend Update segment on April 4, with cast member Sarah Sherman appearing as Bryon in pink biker shorts and inflated balloon breasts, writes the Daily Express. Kelly has also been in the middle of other political disputes recently, including her heated exchange with Marjorie Taylor Greene over Mark Levin.