Top senator accused of drug affair with married bodyguard

Kirsten Sinema divided Democrats during her tenure in the US Senate. Now he is also accused of dividing the husband and wife.

The former Arizona senator is accused of having an extramarital affair with his bodyguard while in office — an alleged affair that ultimately led to the collapse of a 14-year marriage, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the bodyguard’s ex-wife.

In the lawsuit filed in North Carolina, Sinema, 49, is accused of engaging in long, somber text exchanges with her former bodyguard Matthew Amell, including sending pictures of her wrapped in towels and suggesting she bring MDMA on a work trip so he could “guide her through a psychedelic experience.”

Heather Amell, Matthew’s ex-wife, is suing Sinema for alienation of affections, a controversial North Carolina law that allows one person to be held liable for malicious interference with a marriage.

Almost a year after Mathew joined Sinema’s security detail, the head of his security team went and warned him that Sinema was “having sex with other security members”.

Heather alleged that Matthews suffered from mental health challenges stemming from his service in the US Army, and that Sinema exploited his vulnerability to get close to him – at one point promising to “help” him work through his struggles. Heather says she later discovered several sexually charged messages between Matthew and the prominent centrist Democrat on the encrypted messaging app Signal. Sinema announced in March 2024 that she would not seek re-election.

Sinema claims he paid for Matthew’s psychedelic treatments, brought him to a wedding and showered him with gifts: taking him on international vacations, taking him to a Taylor Swift concert, and allegedly bought him a Theragoon so he could “work on his back.”

In June 2024, Sinema offered Matthew a paid staff position as a defense and national security fellow in his Senate office, where he served as her subordinate.

At the same time, Heather confronted the cinema after seeing a message on Matthew’s phone which read: “I miss you. Hand over your heart. I’ll see you soon.”

Heather responded directly, writing: “Are you having an affair with my husband? You took a married man away from his family.”

“First [Sinema’s] Deliberate interference in marriage, between true love and affection [the couple]”, the lawsuit said.

The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives of the cinema for comment. Matthew Amell could not be reached for comment.

Matthew filed for divorce earlier this month, The AssemblyNC reported.

During his Senate tenure, Sinema was known as a centrist Democrat whose closest ties in Congress were often with Republicans rather than members of his own party. He has repeatedly drawn criticism from the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who told Stephen Colbert, “I don’t miss Senator Cinema,” after he announced he would not seek re-election.

Sinema, now a political consultant at the DC law firm Hogan Lovells, cited frustration with the state of American politics as one of the reasons for her decision, saying: “Despite modernizing our infrastructure, ensuring clean water, providing better jobs and safer communities, Americans still choose to retreat into their partisan corners.” She added that the deal had become a “dirty word”.