Find out all about the sordid story of Pete Hegseth’s first marriage

Allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse have cast doubt on the fate of Pete Hegseth’s position as defense secretary. Although United States President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for office says he still has the support of the president-elect, recent reports suggest his nomination may be in jeopardy. According to reliable sources and a BBC report, Trump is considering replacing Hegseth with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Pete Hegseth, whose political career is currently in question, has repeatedly been embroiled in controversy. Since Trump nominated the former Fox News host, questions have been raised about Hegseth’s qualifications — and a historic sexual assault allegation has emerged. However, Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and has never been arrested or charged.
Hegseth refrained from addressing him directly, Ron DeSantis reported Wednesday, saying instead that Trump had urged him to “keep going, keep fighting.” He spent much of the day meeting privately on Capitol Hill to address concerns and drum up support in the Senate. “I spoke to the president this morning. (Trump) fully supports me. We’re not going anywhere,” Hegseth told the BBC. Earlier in the morning, Hegseth addressed X and accused “the left” of trying to discredit him with “fake” stories.
Read on to find out more.

Who is Pete Hegseth?

Peter Brian Hegseth is an American television host, author and former Army National Guard officer who was announced as the impending nominee for United States Secretary of Defense in Donald Trump’s second cabinet.
He has been a political commentator for Fox News since 2014 and was the weekend co-host of Fox & Friends from 2017 to 2024. He previously served as executive director of Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.
Hegseth has been active in conservative and Republican politics since his student days at Princeton University. As a National Guardsman, he served in Guantánamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2016, he emerged as a supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy and served as an occasional adviser to Trump during his first term as president. In 2019, with Hegseth’s encouragement, Trump pardoned three soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes. Hegseth was considered head of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in the first Trump administration, and David Shulkin was appointed instead.

On November 12, 2024, President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate Hegseth as United States Secretary of Defense. However, the finality of the nomination is now in question.
Similar to his political career, his personal life also had its share of ups and downs. From infidelity issues to sexual misconduct allegations, the list isn’t short.

Marriage to Meredith Schwarz:

In 2004, Hegseth married his first wife, Meredith Schwarz, his high school sweetheart from Minnesota; They divorced in 2009 after he admitted to five affairs.
Pete and Meredith, students at Forest Lake Area High School in suburban Minneapolis, began their fairytale love story between the high school fences. Pete and Meredith seemed like the perfect high school sweethearts! He played varsity football and basketball, she was a member of the student council and a candidate for Homecoming Queen. Both were academic all-stars headed to elite schools. While Pete went to Princeton, Meredith was destined for Barnard. They were voted the couple “Most Likely to Get Married,” and the yearbook photo showed Hegseth wearing a football jersey with his arms wrapped around Schwarz’s waist — straight out of a romantic comedy movie!
When the classmates’ prediction came true, Hegseth married Schwarz in 2004 at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Minnesota.
However, the high school sweetheart’s marriage was short-lived.

In December 2008, according to four sources close to the couple, Schwarz filed for divorce after Hegseth admitted to cheating on her; As APM Reports previously revealed, infidelity was listed as a reason in the couple’s divorce proceedings. According to these sources, Hegseth’s infidelity left Schwarz emotionally and psychologically devastated. One of them told Vanity Fair: “She was heavily cheered on by him throughout their relationship. To everyone else, they were seen by many as an all-American power couple building great things for themselves.”

Marriage to Samantha Deering:

When Meredith Schwarz filed for divorce, Hegseth was dating Samantha Deering, whom he had met while working in Washington, D.C., with Vets for Freedom. In 2010, Hegseth Deering married. Pete has three children with Samantha.
In August 2017, while Hegseth was still married to Samantha, she had daughter Gwen with Fox executive producer Jennifer Rauchet. In September 2017, Deering filed for divorce, which took ten months to finalize.

Marriage to Jennifer Rauchet:

After Hegseth fathered a daughter with Rauchet, he married her in 2019 at Trump’s golf course in Colts Neck, New Jersey.

A series of failed marriages and a contemptuous mother:

In 2018, during Hegseth’s divorce proceedings from his second wife Samantha, his mother Penelope Hegseth sent him an email criticizing his treatment of women. The email said: “You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for a man who belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and exploits women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and I’m embarrassed to say this, but it’s the sad, sad truth… It’s time for someone (I wish it was a strong man) who will stand up to you and call out abusive behavior, especially against women.”
The New York Times published this email in November 2024, after Trump announced his intention to nominate Hegseth as defense secretary. When asked about the email, Penelope Hegseth told the Times she wrote it “in anger and with emotion” and “immediately apologized in a separate email,” adding that her previous characterization “was never true had been”.