A federal judge ruled last Friday that the ex-wife of bisexual former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ)’s former male bodyguard can sue Sinema for “willfully and intentionally” breaking up her marriage of 14 years under North Carolina’s homewrecker law.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that Sinema admitted in a March 7 court document that she had engaged in a romantic relationship with her bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, while he was still married to his then-wife, Heather Ammel. However, Sinema sought to have the now-ex-wife’s lawsuit against her dismissed on the grounds that her “conduct related to her romantic relationship with Mr. Ammel does not connect her to North Carolina in a meaningful way.”
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However, last Friday U.S. District Judge David A. Bragdon rejected Sinema’s argument, saying that the nine text messages she sent him while he was in North Carolina give the state judicial system jurisdiction over her actions. Bragdon added that he found it implausible that Sinema was unaware of Ammel’s whereabouts when she texted him, the Associated Press reported.
Heather Ammel is suing Sinema for $75,000 in an “alienation of affection” lawsuit that blames the former congresswoman for “willfully and intentionally” breaking up her marriage of 14 years. North Carolina is one of six states that allows such lawsuits.
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Sinema hired Matthew Ammel after he retired from the army in 2022 and accompanied the congresswoman on trips to Napa Valley, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Saudi Arabia, The Guardian reported.
Heather Ammel said she had “a good and loving marriage” with “genuine love and affection,” her lawsuit states, and said she was introduced to Sinema as Matthew Ammel’s wife at a December 2023 concert for the rock band U2. But, in January 2024, she allegedly discovered “romantic and lascivious” text messages between her then-husband and Sinema on the Signal messaging app.
Sinema reportedly sent Matthew Ammel a picture of herself only wearing a towel, asked him to procure the drug MDMA (also known as molly or ecstasy) “so that she could guide him through a psychedelic experience.” The drug is sometimes used in therapeutic settings, and Matthew Ammel suffered from substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injury following his deployments to Afghanistan and the Middle East, the lawsuit states.
Sinema also allegedly offered to “work on [Matthew Ammel’s] back” at her apartment using a handheld massage tool, and messaged him about sexual positions in certain scenarios, The Hill reported. Specifically, when Matthew Ammel messaged Sinema about having sex in the missionary position with the lights on, the senator allegedly replied, “Boring!”
By June 2024, Matthew Ammel stopped wearing his wedding ring so that it wouldn’t look as if Sinema was placing her hands on a married man, Heather Ammel alleged.
Heather Ammel said that her husband admitted that Sinema would sometimes get “handsy” with him, but said that “he didn’t know how to get out of the situation without offending” her, the lawsuit alleged.
Healther Ammel says she sent Sinema a text message in October 2024 that said, “Are you having an affair with my husband? You took a married man away from his family.” Heather and Matthew Ammel separated the following month.
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