Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth had a baby with his Fox News producer lover just weeks before claim of drunken sex assault

His marriage had fallen apart when his wife discovered his mistress had given birth to his daughter and his divorce was about to cost him millions.

His life was teetering on the brink as he turned a little too much to alcohol as a crutch. 

And that wasn’t the worst of it for Pete Hegseth – Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary – as his life threatened to spiral out of control in 2017.

Just weeks later Hegseth, now 44, was accused of groping multiple women and sexually assaulting one as alcohol once again allegedly clouded his judgment.

The allegations of assault could not have come at a more delicate time for Hegseth personally. His accuser made her claims as his divorce proceedings were pending with an initial case conference set to take place less than three weeks later on October 27.

And fearing for his job as a weekend anchor on Fox News, Hegseth decided he should pay the woman off rather than fight the allegations in court. 

It is that alleged October 8 assault – which never resulted in charges – that threatens Hegseth’s nomination for a seat in Trump's cabinet. But a DailyMail.com investigation reveals that that was just the tip of the iceberg of the messy life that Hegseth was living.

A police report released this week by the City of Monterey, California, shows that a then-30-year-old woman was having champagne with co-workers while on a business trip when things got 'fuzzy' and she suddenly ended up in a room with Hegseth.

Timothy Parlatore, a lawyer representing Hegseth, has admitted his client paid the woman for her silence because he did not want to lose his job, while at the same time dismissing the allegations as 'baseless' and tantamount to a 'successful extortion'. 

Before this week's revelation, it seemed the chisel-jawed decorated Army veteran, staunch Christian, and self-declared defender of traditional family values might have felt confident that his place in the Pentagon was assured after President-elect Donald Trump announced his nominee for Defense Secretary on November 13. 

But now he has been forced to admit the ‘battle is just beginning,’ as fears grow that his nomination could go the way of putative attorney general Matt Gaetz as the US Senators who must confirm him start looking more deeply into his past.

And DailyMail.com can reveal that the incident was just one of a string of chaotic events in which Hegseth was caught up that year.

Typical of his life at the time was an appearance he and Rauchet made at a friend's wedding.

'They 'couldn't keep their hands off each other,' another guest told DailyMail.com. 'They were, frankly an embarrassment.'

Today, the self-styled champion of Christian values wears his heart almost literally on his sleeve with 'Deus Vult,' – God Wills It – tattooed on his arm and the Jerusalem cross etched over his heart. 

But this 'Faith Family and Freedom' version of Hegseth is a very different look from the man who spent the latter half of 2017 mired in scandals of his own making.

Hegseth was already on his second marriage when, in August of that year Rauchet gave birth to their lovechild, exposing their lengthy affair. 

The birth of daughter Gwen prompted Hegseth's wife, Samantha Deering Hegseth, 43, to file for divorce. 

Those proceedings ended in a $2million settlement  in which he agreed to pay the mother of his three young sons, Boone, Gunner and Rex, up to $20,000 a month in spousal support plus child maintenance and school fees.

The following month, on October 8, 2017, came the alleged assault at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa. 

He was interviewed by police and a report was filed by the City of Monterey Police Department.

According to lawyer Parlatore his client paid the woman not because he was guilty but because he did not want to lose his job at Fox.

But while another man might have been cowed by so much upheaval and the specter of such serious allegations, less than three weeks later Hegseth and Rauchet were sitting proud, hosted by President Trump at a private dinner at the White House along with fellow Fox contributor Rob O'Neill – the man who killed Osama bin Laden – and his wife.

By December and that winter wedding in New Jersey, newly divorced and with a newborn child, Hegseth appeared entirely unfazed by his chaotic few months.

Speaking to DailyMail.com a guest recalled: 'He and Jen were sloppy drunk. His jacket came off, next the tie was off then he was unbuttoning his shirt. And they were just all over each other.'

Hegseth married Rauchet in 2019, making her his third wife and him the father of seven in a blended family that includes his three sons from his second marriage, their daughter together and Rauchet's three children from a previous marriage.

Their relationship bloomed when Hegseth began presenting segments for Fox & Friends in 2014. 

Rauchet was an executive producer on the show and, according to one source, Before Pete became a regular co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend, he presented segments for the show which were filmed out and about.

'Jen would always insist on being there. She had her eyes on him all the time and watched him like a hawk,' one insider said. 

'People very much started to notice she had more than a professional interest in his performance.

'As for Pete, he always had a bit of a reputation as being a skirt chaser.' 

Rauchet who had been a mainstay and familiar face on Fox News since 2006 took a sideways move to Watters World when network executives became aware of her relationship with Hegseth in 2017.

The affair was the second time Hegseth's infidelity resulted in divorce. 

Nine years earlier, as a precursor of what would happen to Samantha herself, first wife, Meredith Schwarz, 43, filed for divorce after Hegseth admitted to having been unfaithful with a work colleague.

At the time he was working for Vets for Freedom, an organization which lobbied for more troops in Iraq. 

Hegseth was the group's executive director from 2007 to 2012. Samantha served as its spokesperson in 2008. The pair married in 2010. 

Two years ago, Hegseth moved with Rauchet and their children from New Jersey to a small town outside Nashville, Tennessee, attracted, he has said, by the red state's conservative Christian conservative values which are better aligned with those he now holds.

Earlier this week he credited the, 'outpouring of support' that he and his family have received in recent days as the reason he can 'endure the attacks and the onslaughts'.

Rauchet was at her husband's side when Hegseth made his comments on Tuesday, in a prayer call organized by the Republican National Committee.

Hegseth puts his 'come to Jesus' moment in 2018 and perhaps it is no coincidence that it followed hot on the heels on a year of tumult that included his second divorce, his love-child's birth and those allegations of sexual assault.

According to Hegseth in 2018 he and Rauchet started attending the Colts Neck Community Church in New Jersey, a Baptist community of which, he has said, Rauchet was initially wary.

Speaking in an interview with Nashville Christian Family, Hegseth recalled: 'Within 20 – I'm broken, you're broken, we're all broken and careening around not living our faith and not being deeply rooted. 

'I thought I had to be perfect. Let's be candid about it: Seek Christ, fully submit to Him, and allow Him Kingship in life.'

He added: 'Godlessness ends great nations. The one thing we can all do is get on our knees and pray.'

Perhaps right now he is simply praying that no more secrets emerge from his recent racy past.