12 high-profile workplace sex scandals, from John F. Kennedy to John Diehl

Sen. Paul LeVota resigned from the Missouri legislature Friday amid allegations that he had sexually harassed legislative interns, the second legislator in Columbia in recent months caught up in scandal involving young women. But they are hardly the first to make those headlines in the worlds of politics, entertainment and sports.

Here’s a look at 12 high-profile workplace scandals.

1. President John F. Kennedy, 1962: Before Monica Lewinsky there was, apparently, White House press office intern Mimi Alford, who shared explicit details about an alleged 18-month affair with Kennedy in her 2013 book, “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath.” “It wasn’t a romantic affair. I don’t really remember the president ever kissing me, and it, that makes me sad,” Alford told NBC’s Meredith Vieira.

2. President Bill Clinton, 1995: Need we really explain this one again? Monica Lewinsky. White House intern. Sexual affair with the president. Infamous blue dress. Remember?

3. Rep. Gary Condit, 2001. The California Democrat’s affair with 24-year-old intern Chandra Levy was exposed when she disappeared in 2001. Her body was found a year later in a Washington, D.C., park. Though speculation dogged Condit that he was somehow involved in her death, an illegal immigrant was convicted of her murder in 2010. Condit was not re-elected in the aftermath of the scandal.

4. Gov. James McGreevey, 2004: The married New Jersey Democrat stepped down as governor and came out as gay on the same day. At a press conference with his wife standing by his side, the father of two talked about how he’d struggled with his sexuality from an early age. “My truth is that I am a gay American,” he said. He also revealed an adulterous affair with a man later identified as Golan Cipel, a former security aide.

5. New York Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury, 2005. Marbury had sex with Kathleen Decker, an intern for the team, in an SUV after an intern group outing to a strip club. Decker landed a full-time job with the Knicks soon after. The hook-up became public when Decker was called to testify during a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against a fired team executive. “I wasn’t forced to do anything. I wasn’t drunk. I was in control,” she testified.

6. U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, 2006: A few weeks before the 2006 midterm elections, ABC News broke the story that the Florida Republican sent lurid, sexually explicit emails to male teenage Capitol Hill pages, one of whom he called “my favorite young stud.” Foley, who insisted he did nothing illegal and never had sexual contact with the boys, was never charged. He resigned from office.

7. Sen. John Edwards, 2008: The North Carolina Democrat withdrew from the presidential race after it became public that he cheated on his wife, Elizabeth, with filmmaker Rielle Hunter. He hired her to make a behind-the-scenes film of his campaign as a cover for their secret affair. Edwards tried at first to deny National Enquirer reports that he was the father of Hunter’s daughter, but the truth eventually came out.

8. ESPN analyst Steve Phillips, 2009: Phillips, a married man, had an affair with 23-year-old Brooke Hundley, an ESPN production assistant. Things got all “Fatal Attraction” after he allegedly dumped her and, according to tabloid reports, she sent his wife of 19 years a letter bragging about her physical relationship with Phillips. Both lost their jobs.

9. Sen. Paul Stanley, 2009. The married conservative Republican Tennessee state legislator ran for office on family values – then had an affair with congressional intern McKensie Morrison. He would say later that he wanted to sleep with her the moment he laid eyes on her. But when Morrison’s boyfriend found out about the six-week affair he threatened to release photos of her naked in Stanley’s apartment unless the senator paid $10,000. The boyfriend was arrested, and Stanley confessed to his wife and resigned from office. Later he wrote a book explaining that he wasn’t “a person who just went after interns.”

10. David Letterman, 2009. In October, 2009, the late-night talk show host famously admitted on air that he had had affairs with female staffers, apparently while in a relationship with Regina Lasko, now his wife. He did not name the women, but one outed herself. Holly Hester was an intern on the show in the ’90s while she was a student at New York University. She said she and Letterman had a yearlong affair. “I was madly in love with him at the time,” she said. “I would have married him. He was hilarious.”

11. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2011: It becomes public that The Terminator had a love child with the family’s Guatemalan housekeeper. The revelation was the death knell for his 25-year marriage to Maria Shriver.

12. Missouri House Speaker John Diehl, 2015. Diehl sent racy, steamy text messages to a college freshman who had interned at the state Capitol. He resigned in May when the text messages were made public. “I have acknowledged making a serious error in judgment by sending the text messages. It was wrong and I am truly sorry,” he said.

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 12:01 PM with the headline "12 high-profile workplace sex scandals, from John F. Kennedy to John Diehl."