Kristi Noem: US Secretary of Homeland Security asks for "privacy and prayers" after husband's shocking fetish photos emerge

Controversial former US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has asked for "privacy and prayers" after shocking photographs of her husband posing as a woman were published.

The pictures - showing Bryon Noem in tight clothing, complete with fake breasts, nipples and tight pink cycling shorts - were published by the Daily Mail after reportedly being leaked from an online fetish community.

The Mail said it obtained “hundreds” of messages purportedly sent between Bryon and three women involved in the so-called “bimbofication” scene, which sees people pursuing a Barbie-like appearance.

In the pictures, father-of-three Bryon - an insurance executive worth millions - is shown clad in pink hotpants and a flesh-coloured crop-top stuffed with enormous balloons. His face is visible in a number of pictures, including adopting pouty poses.

According to the Mail, security experts said the pictures were a potential source of blackmail for the former secretary Noem, of South Dakota.

"Damaging information like this can be a tantalizing lead for a hostile intelligence service,” former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos told the website. "They approach the person and say, if you work with us we won’t expose this, and if you don’t, we will. That’s espionage 101."

Kristi Noem has long been rumoured to be having an affair with her aide Corey Lewandowski, was shifted from her role at DHS on March 5.

It came after congressional hearings - where her husband was pictured behind her in support - where she was quizzed over the killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as on the alleged affair, which she denied.

In a statement after the pictures were published, Noem said she was "devastated", and added: “The family was blindsided by this, and they ask for privacy and prayers at the time.”