Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst was roughed up by her husband after she confronted him about his alleged fling with their daughter’s babysitter, according to court filings in her divorce case, which was finalized this month.
The GOP lawmaker said that during her 26-year marriage with Gail Ernst, she was the victim of repeated verbal and mental abuse and an assault that a victims advocate believed required a trip to the hospital, the Des Moines Register reported Tuesday.
“Gail has been very cruel. This has been an extremely painful journey,” she wrote, according to the papers.
Ernst announced in August that she and her allegedly abusive hubby were splitting up.
In an October affidavit, Ernst described years of emotional abuse that included her husband belittling her and raging when she achieved her goals.
Ernst, 48, who retired from the Iowa National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, was the first woman in Iowa elected to either chamber of Congress, defeating Democrat Bruce Braley in 2014 to win a term in the Senate after winning a five-way Republican primary for the nomination, the paper reported.
Under Iowa law, divorce records are automatically made public when the divorce is finalized, but the two parties can ask to keep some records private.