Doug Emhoff admits to past affair as wife's presidential bid heats up

Though she has barely had time to settle into the role of Democratic Party presidential nominee, Kamala Harris and her campaign have already been entangled in a rather embarrassing family scandal.

As Fox News reports, Harris' husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, has been forced to acknowledge an affair he had years ago, one about which rumors have suggested resulted in a pregnancy.

Rumors lead to admission

The trouble for Harris and her husband came in the wake of a Daily Mail report suggesting that during his first marriage, Emhoff became embroiled in a liaison with his children's nanny.

According to the outlet, the entanglement resulted in the woman becoming pregnant, though it was reported that the child was not kept.

As the scuttlebutt continued to spread, Emhoff decided to confront the situation head on, issuing a statement to CNN.

“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” he said.

Emhoff continued, “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”

Marriage-ending affair

The Mail further indicated that the affair between Doug Emhoff and the young woman, who also worked as a teacher at the school attended by his and Kerstin's children, was the driving force in the couple's eventual divorce.

Sources who spoke to the Mail indicated that the young woman had to leave her employment at The Willows school in Culver City, where the Emhoff children were students.

Doug and Kerstin Emhoff split in 2009, and he met Harris in 2013 before tying the knot in 2014.

CNN noted that Harris was aware of the prior affair prior to her marriage to Emhoff, adding that the information was also revealed during the vetting process the vice president underwent during the 2020 Biden campaign.

In what appears to be a magnanimous gesture of letting bygones be bygones, Kerstin Emhoff told the Washington Post in the wake of her ex-husband's disclosure, “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.