GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens privately admitted taking the 'revenge porn' photo that got him indicted, ex-wife says

• Eric Greitens' ex-wife filed an affidavit accusing the GOP Senate candidate of violent and abusive behavior.
• She also said he admitted taking a nude photo of a woman with whom he had an extra-marital affair.

Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens privately admitted to taking the "revenge porn" photo that led to his indictment on invasion of privacy charges and his resignation as Missouri's governor in 2018, his ex-wife said in a new court filing.

In a signed affidavit made public on Monday, Sheena Greitens accused her ex-husband of violent and abusive behavior amid an ongoing child custody dispute between the former couple. Eric issued a blanket denial of Sheena's allegations in a statement on Monday and his campaign called Sheena "deranged."

The affadavit, which contains graphic descriptions of Eric's alleged behavior, also contains another notable allegation: despite repeatedly denying that he took a compromising nude photo of a hairdresser with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015 and threatened to blackmail her, Eric privately owned up to taking the photo early last year. Sheena said Eric warned her not to reveal his admission to anyone.

"After Eric admitted to me in late January 2021 that he had taken the photo that resulted in the invasion of privacy charge, he threatened that I would be exposed to legal jeopardy if I ever disclosed that fact to anyone, even family members or a therapist," she wrote.

The Greitens campaign didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment concerning whether he took the photograph.

She went on, "Because of the reach of his influence in Missouri, I believed him, which had the consequence of isolating me from many sources of outside support as his threats escalated and my concerns for my safety and that of my children grew."

The couple divorced in 2020, and Sheena is now an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Eric Greitens, previously a rising star in the Republican Party, was elected governor of Missouri in 2016. But in early 2018, a local Missouri TV station aired a recording of an anonymous woman disclosing to her husband that Eric had taken nude photos of her without her consent while she was blindfolded and her hands were taped to exercise rings during an otherwise consensual encounter in 2015.

After a grand jury indicted the then-governor on felony invasion of privacy charges the following month, his political support eroded, and he resigned in July 2018. But he's since sought to re-launch his political career, running for the open Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt and causing consternation among top Republicans as polling shows him near the top of the Republican primary.

Eric now faces growing calls from fellow Missouri political figures to drop out, including Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Republican primary opponents Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.