Second gentleman Doug Emhoff acknowledges affair contributed to breakup for first marriage

WILMINGTON, Delaware — Second lord Doug Emhoff admitted on Saturday that he had an extramarital affair years ago that contributed to the breakup of his first marriage.

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through difficult times because of my actions,” Emhoff said in a statement, first reported by CNN. “I took responsibility and in the years since, we have worked through things as a family and have come out stronger.”

He issued the statement after the Daily Mail reported on the matter.

The affair was known to the team that monitored the vice president Kamala Harris before President Joe Biden picked her to his running mate in 2020Harris knew about the affair before she married Emhoff, the person said, according to a person familiar with the events who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation.

Emhoff and Harris met on a blind date in 2013 and married the following year. It was her first marriage and his second. Harris’ stepchildren, Ella and Cole Emhoff, were teenagers when their father remarried.

Kerstin Emhoff has spoken positively about Harris as a “co-parent” to her daughters and as “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective and always there.” She released a statement supporting her ex-husband after he admitted to the affair.

“Doug and I decided to end our marriage for different reasons many years ago,” she said. “He is a wonderful father to our children, continues to be a great friend to me, and I am truly proud of the warm and supportive blended family that Doug, Kamala and I have built together.”

___

Associated Press editor Zeke Miller contributed to this report.