U.S. Representative Byron Donalds and his wife Erika attend the wedding of Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, and Erin Elmore, the director of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 1, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The former wife of a MAGA Republican claims that his Jamaican accent has mysteriously vanished, according to a report.
Bissa Hall, who was married to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) from 1999 to 2002, told The Daily Mail that Donalds once sported a Jamaican patois accent when they first met on campus at Florida A&M in 2018. She also said that their marriage was arranged for "financial reasons," and that they split after Donalds got his then-lover and current wife Erika pregnant, according to the report. Hall added that the two have not spoken in decades.
"He absolutely did have a Jamaican accent when we first met; it was gone within a few days," Hall said. "He said that he used the fake accent because he wanted to stand out; there were a lot of guys at our university from New York, but very few from Jamaica."
Donalds did not deny any of Hall's allegations in a statement to The Daily Mail. Instead, the congressman said he wished he hand "handled that chapter differently."
Donalds has been one of President Donald Trump's fervent supporters since he was elected to the House of Representatives in 2021. He is running for Florida Governor in 2026, and recently picked up an endorsement from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, another MAGA Republican.