Dough Emhoff, husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, has admitted to having an extra-marital affair during 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 provided exclusively to CNN.
His acknowledgement comes after a British tabloid reported that Emhoff had an affair with a teacher who worked at a school his children attended and that resulted in end of his first marriage.
The Daily Mail reported that the woman became pregnant and that, according to a close friend, she “did not keep the child.”
At that time, Dough Emhoff was married to Kerstin Emhoff and has two children – Cole and Ella – with her.
Kamala Harris and Douglas Emhoff married in 2014 – she for the first time, he for the second. When the two met on a blind date arranged by friends, it was “love at first sight,” he later said.
Harris was aware of the affair before her marriage to Emhoff. Those in the Biden campaign who conducted the Vice President’s vetting process in 2020 also knew about it, CBS News reported.
Seeking to become the first female president in US history, Harris is tasked with rapidly assembling a campaign against an opponent who has been in near permanent reelection mode since he became president in 2016.
She’s garnered support from Democratic heavyweights, including Joe Biden himself and most recently Barack and Michelle Obama.
