Additional Coverage:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has openly admitted to engaging in multiple extramarital affairs during his first marriage, according to a December 2024 report. In the report, Hegseth described himself candidly as “a f–ked up individual” and confessed to cheating on his first wife on five separate occasions.
Prior to this admission becoming public, Hegseth’s mother, Penelope, was drawn into the controversy after an email she wrote surfaced, accusing her son of mistreating women. In an interview with The New York Times in November 2024, she retracted those statements, explaining that the email was sent “in anger, with emotion” amid Pete Hegseth’s second divorce from Samantha Hegseth.
Hegseth’s first marriage was to Meredith Schwarz, a relationship that began during their high school years in Minnesota. Their graduating class in 1999 reportedly voted them “most likely to marry.” Despite attending different universities-Hegseth at Princeton and Schwarz at Barnard-they maintained their relationship and eventually married after college.
In 2005, Hegseth volunteered for deployment to Iraq. Upon returning, he led the political advocacy group Vets for Freedom in Washington, D.C., while Schwarz pursued a career in investment banking at JPMorgan in New York City. Though geographically separated, they stayed together for several years.
In 2008, Hegseth told Schwarz he planned to move back to Minnesota and enroll in graduate school at the University of Minnesota. Schwarz sold her New York apartment and relocated to Minneapolis, but Hegseth never followed through on his promise. According to sources cited by Vanity Fair, his explanations were inconsistent, leaving Schwarz confused and heartbroken.
In November 2018, Hegseth traveled to Minnesota in his army uniform and confessed to Schwarz that he had been unfaithful. The revelation devastated her, and Hegseth expressed deep remorse. An insider revealed that during a phone call with Schwarz’s younger brother, Hegseth admitted he no longer believed in God or family values and openly acknowledged, “I’m a f–ked up individual.”
Despite Schwarz’s efforts to salvage their marriage, including confronting Hegseth over suspicious hotel charges, he was unable to provide satisfactory explanations. It later emerged that he had been staying at hotels with Samantha Deering, a colleague from Vets for Freedom.
Hegseth eventually married Deering but simultaneously maintained an affair with Fox News producer Jennifer Rauchet, with whom he had a child in 2017. Just two months after the child’s birth, Hegseth faced sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.
He married Rauchet in 2019.
Hegseth reportedly confessed to Schwarz about the five extramarital affairs during their marriage, prompting her to sever all communication and initiate divorce proceedings.