Doug Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, on Saturday (local time) admitted to cheating on his first wife. His admission comes after a British tabloid reported that Emhoff had an extra-marital affair with his then-young daughter’s teachers, which resulted in the end of his first marriage.
“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side,” Emhoff said in a statement to CNN.
The affair reportedly took place more than 15 years ago, while Emhoff was still married to his then-wife, Kerstin. That relationship ended years before Emhoff began dating Harris, and he had told her about the affair well before they got married, the CNN report said.
The clarification came after a British tabloid’s report claimed Emhoff once got the family’s blonde nanny, Najen Naylor, pregnant. Naylor taught at the private school attended by his two children, The Daily Mail reported.
Citing a close friend, The Daily Mail report said the nanny “did not keep the child.”
Meanwhile, Emhoff’s first wife, Kerstin, also defended him in a statement on Saturday. “Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago. He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me, and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together,” she said according to the CNN report.
Emhoff’s two children with his first wife are now adults, and the family dynamic has reportedly developed into a friendly one. Kerstin Emhoff, on several occasions in the past, spoke warmly about Harris as a stepmother. After a video resurfaced of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance criticizing Harris for not having children of her own, Kerstin defended the Democrat leader by calling her a “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective,” stepmother who was “always present”. She said she was grateful Harris was a part of their blended family.
“These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” Kerstin Emhoff said in a statement to CNN in July.
Emhoff’s first marriage ended in 2009, long before he married Harris in 2014 when he was working as an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles and she was California attorney general.
Emhoff’s affair and the circumstances around it were reportedly known four years ago to Joe Biden’s vetting committee as Harris was herself going through the running mate process before being picked for the ticket. Quoting a separate source familiar with the second gentleman, CNN reported that Doug Emhoff has long regretted the circumstances and was aware that they could become public.