Kristi Noem’s Husband Bryon Allegedly Revealed He Wants ‘to Be a Woman So Bad’ in New Text and Audio

After reports emerged that Kristi Noem’s husband, Bryon Noem, allegedly engaged in kink behavior with online fetish models, new details are coming to light.

In a Friday, April 10, report from the Daily Mail — who published the bombshell photos that appear to show the insurance agent, 56, in a crop top with what looks like large balloons underneath to replicate oversized breasts — alleged audio and text messages reveal the extent of Bryon’s so-called conversations.

The publication reports that Bryon had a secret online relationship with a left-wing dominatrix named Shy Sotomayor (also known as Raelynn Riley) that began in 2016 when she was 21.

Throughout their years of conversations — which the Daily Mail said they confirmed was with Bryon’s telephone number — he allegedly said he wanted to be referred to by the name Crystal.

The Mail reported that Bryon continued to communicate with the online model after she discovered late last year that he is the husband of the former U.S. secretary of homeland security, 54.

In one alleged text said to be from November, Sotomayor said, “F**k your family,” to which Bryon allegedly replied: “Love that.”

“Besides the fact of who your wife is, no one is prettier than me. No one is as powerful,” Sotomayor said, to which he allegedly responded: “F**king true. Do you want me to be a woman?” He later allegedly added, “I think I do.”

In one alleged phone conversation that was recorded and heard by the Mail, Bryon allegedly told Sotomayor that he loved her, adding, “I can see us leaving our spouses for each other.”

The Mail also claimed that, at one point, Bryon wanted to go on a trip with her to New York City and didn’t care if they were seen together. (The publication said that he did not pay her the $20,000 required to meet him there.)

Bryon also allegedly communicated how he hoped to get a Brazilian butt lift, breast implants, a hair transplant, hormone therapy and plastic surgery, according to the Mail. In an alleged text on January 11, he reportedly wrote, “I want to be a Crystal so bad. I want to be a woman so bad.”

Bryon allegedly stopped communicating with Sotomayor around 2020, when his wife was the governor of South Dakota. She claimed he came back into her life in October 2025.

Sotomayor told the Mail that Bryon would spend thousands of dollars to speak with her, allegedly paying her in gift cards, designer handbags, fetish heels and a new phone so she could take better selfies to send him.

Sotomayor said that, eventually, her husband encouraged her to run Bryon’s phone number, which is how she learned of his real identity.

“Did you think that I wouldn’t find out who you were?” Sotomayor allegedly asked Bryon on January 10, three days after the fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good. “Do you care that I know?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bryon allegedly replied. “I don’t love the fact that you know who I am, but it is what it is.”

Sotomayor said they last spoke on March 22, when he texted asking for a phone call and she refused. “I needed to set some boundaries and just take care of myself,” she told the Mail. “I’ve had moments when I’m wondering how did this become my life. I just never thought I would be the mistress to ICE.”

In an initial statement to the New York Post following the reports of Bryon’s alleged kink behavior, Kristi’s representatives said, “Ms. Noem is devastated. The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time.”