Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, admitted on Saturday that he had an affair with his children’s nanny during his first marriage nearly two decades ago, leading to a divorce once the other woman became pregnant.
First reported by the Daily Mail, Emhoff, a successful California entertainment attorney, stepped out on then-wife Kerstin Emhoff with nanny Najen Naylor in 2009. Naylor also worked as a teacher at the private Culver City, California elementary school the Emhoff children, Ella and Cole, attended at the time.
When approached by the Daily Mail to confirm the story, Naylor, now 47, did not deny the story, but said she was “kind of freaked out right now.” Another source suggested to the tabloid that Naylor had not kept the child she conceived with Emhoff, though it is unclear whether the pregnancy was aborted or if the child was put up for adoption.
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Following the affair, the Emhoffs ended their 16-year marriage, divorcing when their children were 10 and 15. The split was finalized in 2010. In 2013, Emhoff went on a blind date with Kamala Harris, who was Attorney General of California at the time, and they married the following year.
“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” Doug Emhoff said in a statement to CNN hours after the report was published. “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”
“Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago,” Kerstin Emhoff said in a separate statement. “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.”
Though the Mail suggests that Emhoff’s confession is “said to be causing panic” in his new wife’s nascent presidential campaign, the Washington Post reports that the facts of the affair were widely known to both Harris and the Biden administration long before Harris was named vice president.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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