Listen: Recording of Lauren Boebert's son's 911 plea for help released

On May 16, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) announced that she had filed for divorce from her husband, Jayson Boebert, citing "irreconcilable differences." The Boeberts, according to numerous reports, had a deeply troubled and unstable marriage; that dysfunction is underscored by a 911 call of December 11, 2022 in which one of their sons alleged that he was being physically abused by Jayson Boebert. And Rep. Boebert herself later told a dispatcher that her son didn't "need help."

KRDO-TV (an ABC affiliate in Colorado Springs) published a recording of the call in which the son is heard weeping as he asks for help. A woman the station says sounds like his mother then comes on the line.

In the recording, the son is obviously distraught and is heard telling a Garfield County dispatcher, "He's just like throwing me around the house. I don't know why he got mad. He just started yelling at me, and he started throwing me…. He threw me out of the house, and he's yelling at me to get away."

But the son was calmer in a subsequent 911 call, telling a dispatcher, "All I wanted to say is me and my dad were starting to yell at each other. He didn't really get physical with me; I was just overwhelmed."

Rep. Boebert spoke to the dispatcher as well during that call and said, "Hi, I'm the mom. OK, so there was an argument over dinner. I understand you guys got to come and talk to them. I'm down at our second location."

Salon's Amanda Marcotte, in an article published on May 18, didn't mince words when discussing the Boeberts' marital problems — and the larger issues that they raise.

Marcotte wrote, "This story is tasty gossip. But it's also a window into an aspect of red state life that hasn't been much discussed, one which is likely fueling the ugly surge in misogynist rhetoric and policy being pushed by Republicans, especially the men. The dark little secret of red state life is there's a lot of Lauren Boeberts out there: conservative women who disavow feminism, but, when given a shot at more independence for themselves, gladly use hard-won rights like divorce and abortion."

Marcotte added, "Republican men are getting increasingly angry about even this minor loss of control over women."