The U.S. Secretary of Defense has received criticism for allegedly including his wife in a Signal group chat that discussed sensitive information

Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet arrive for a meeting on January 8, 2025 in Washington, DC.Credit : Kevin Dietsch/Getty

Pete Hegseth has been married three times, most recently to his former Fox News colleague Jennifer Rauchet.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense and Rauchet first connected while they were both employed by the news station. At the time, Hegseth was married to his second wife, Samantha Deering, with whom he shares three sons, while Rauchet, who was also a mother of three at the time, was married to her former husband.

In August 2017, Rauchet gave birth to her and Hegseth’s first child together, and a month later, Deering filed for divorce from Hegseth. In 2019, he and Rauchet married.

Hegseth came under fire in March 2025 when he inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to a private Signal chat in which the U.S. Secretary of Defense as well as several high profile government officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, discussed exact information about weapons, targets and timing of an attack in Yemen.

Now, he is facing criticism again as he allegedly shared more details of a U.S. military strike in Yemen in another alleged Signal chat that included his wife, brother Phil, and personal attorney Tim Parlatore, per The New York Times.

So who is Pete Hegseth’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Jennifer Rauchet and her relationship with the politician.

She is a former producer at Fox News

Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth attends a swearing in ceremony for her husband Pete Hegseth on January 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.Ron Sachs/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty

Rauchet was a producer at Fox News where she primarily worked on Fox and Friends, which Hegseth began co-hosting in 2017.

He worked on the show through 2024, though Rauchet moved to producing Watters’ World when news of their relationship was made public.

They first met while they were both married

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth leaves a meeting with lawmakers with his wife Jennifer Rauchet on December 5, 2024 in Washington, DC.Samuel Corum/Getty

Hegseth was married twice before he met Rauchet. He first wed Meredith Schwarz, his high school girlfriend from Minnesota, in 2004 before the two filed for divorce in 2008 after he allegedly admitted to having multiple affairs, per The New Yorker.

The former news anchor went on to marry his second wife, Deering, in 2010 after the two met while working on Vets for Freedom. However, their relationship came to an end when Hegseth quietly welcomed a daughter with Rauchet in August 2017. Shortly after, Deering filed for divorce, according to Vanity Fair.

Rauchet was also married at the time and had three children from previous relationships, Mediaite reported at the time.

They have a blended family of seven children

Pete Hegseth and Jennifer Rauchet pose for a photo with their 7 children in July 2021.Pete Hegseth/ Instagram

Hegseth and Rauchet welcomed their daughter, Gwendolyn, in August 2017 and have been raising their children in a blended family of seven since. Hegseth frequently posts photos of their kids on Instagram, including celebrating holidays together and attending sporting events.

All seven children were in attendance when Hegseth was sworn in as the U.S. Secretary of Defense in January 2025. Rauchet posted photos from the day, including shots of their children roaming around the White House and standing beside Hegseth as he took his oath.

They got married at Trump’s golf club in August 2019

Pete Hegseth smiles with wife Jennifer Rauchet in August 2024.Pete Hegseth/ Instagram

In August 2019, Hegseth and Rauchet got married at the Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck, N.J.

President Donald Trump attended the nuptials, as did Hegseth’s Fox colleague Sean Hannity, who arrived with his now-fiancée Ainsley Earhardt by helicopter, marking one of their first known outings together.

She supported him when he was accused of sexual assault

Jennifer Rauchet and Secretary of Defense of Pete Hegseth during their meeting with Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Paulina Kosiniak in Warsaw, Poland on February 14, 2025.Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty

In November 2024, a California police report revealed that Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in an October 2017 incident.

A woman claimed that the then-Fox anchor may have drugged her and sexually assaulted her at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Monterey, Calif., where they were both attending the 2017 California Federation of Republican Women biennial conference. The woman was one of the organizers.

Hegseth was never charged in connection to the alleged assault and claimed that the woman was “comfortable with what was going on between the two of them,” and that there was “‘always’ conversation and ‘always’ consensual contact,” per the report.

According to the Associated Press, Hegseth ultimately paid the woman $50,000 in a confidential settlement that took place in December 2020.

“They won’t stop with Pete. It’s not him they’re after. It’s your values. We won’t back down,” Rauchet wrote on Instagram in December 2024 amid headlines surrounding the allegations.

She has received criticism for being involved in sensitive Pentagon conversations

Pete Hegseth and Jennifer Rauchet pose for a photo with President Donald Trump in June 2024.Pete Hegseth/ Instagram

Though Rauchet does not hold any official government role, she has accompanied Hegseth to a number of meetings, including ones with foreign military officials where sensitive information was allegedly discussed, the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2025.

After Hegseth received criticism for accidentally including The Atlantic editor-in-chief in a Signal group chat that discussed details of a foreign security plan, The New York Times reported that he included his wife in a second Signal group chat in which he discussed sensitive information.

Four people with knowledge of the chat told the outlet that Hegseth included information such as the flight schedules of the missiles targeting the Houthis, a rebel group identified as terrorists by the U.S., in Yemen.