Photo: AP

Today on GQ.com is a feature article on the broken marriage and political career of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who is embroiled in an impeachment due to an affair he carried out with his one-time closest advisor Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

Written by Jason Zengerle, the story recounts the tale of Bentley and Mason’s affair, culminating in Bentley’s wife, Dianne, attempting to catch Bentley redhanded by pressing record on her iPhone’s voice memo app before she left their vacation home to go on a walk. It was that act that would eventually unravel Bentley’s political career—first when its existence was confirmed to the press by an ex-aide, then when the recording finally leaked. But his personal life initially imploded because Bentley couldn’t stop sending emoji (not the eggplant, thank god) meant for his mistress to his wife.

Reports Zengerle:

Occasionally, Dianne’s phone would buzz with text messages from her husband containing a red-rose emoji—messages so unexpected and out of character for the governor that she wondered if they were intended for someone else.

Zengerle further writes that Dianne was willing to forgive her husband even after overhearing him telling Mason that he loved her until Bentley sent another red rose emoji, this time with Mason’s name attached to it—a text that was cited by the aide who first publicly spoke about the affair:

After Dianne Bentley listened to the recording, people close to the First Lady say, she confronted the governor, who denied any sort of romantic relationship. Amazingly, Dianne seemed to drop the matter. But then, a few weeks later, Dianne’s friends say, Bentley accidentally texted her another red-rose emoji, only this time the message included the word “Rebekah.”

Habitually fucking up the simple action of texting your mistress instead of your wife is a very appropriate way for a down-home 73-year-old governor to ruin his life.

Zengerle’s piece has some other interesting revelations, including previously unreported context regarding how the affair affected the couple’s children. If you’ve been following the Bentley saga, it’s a good read.