Jill Kelley leaves her home in Tampa, Fla. (AP)
Jill Kelley has finally broken her silence nearly three months after a series of bombshell emails exposed Gen. David Petraeus’ affair with biographer Paula Broadwell.
It was Kelley’s husband, Scott, that first found Broadwell’s email, which was sent to a Yahoo account they shared, according to The Daily Beast.
The Florida socialite said she was “terrified” after being sent the email and that “there was blackmail, extortion, threats” in that note and the emails that followed.
Kelley denied that the emails warned her to stay away from the philandering commander but said the tone becoming more threatening, according to the online report.
Kelley also denied ever having met Broadwell and said she was unaware Petraeus’ mistress was also his biographer.
The socially-connected mom debunked claims about the number of emails she exchange with Petraeus — claiming the number in the hundreds, not thousands.
Kelley calls the time after the story broke “devastating.”
“To have your privacy invaded is truly — there are no words to describe it. Instead of enjoying a family birthday party, I had paparazzi storming my front lawn, pushing down the door. There are no words to describe the panic and fear at that moment.”
Kelley said she went to the FBI because “I did what anybody else would have done when they were feeling threatened, to go seek protection from somebody I could trust.”
Kelley described her relationship with both Petraeus’ as friendly.
“We’re friends, good friends. His wife and me are good friends. Our children are friends.”
So friendly in fact that Petraeus’ wife was often copied on emails Kelley sent to him.
“It was pretty straightforward,” Kelley says.
Last month, Broadwell was let off the hook during the federal cyberstalking probe that ended the four-star general’s miliary and intelligence career.
The US Attorney’s Office in Tampa, Fla., said it could find no crime in the e-mails, in which Broadwell anonymously warned Kelley to “back off” and “stay away from my guy.”
But Broadwell is reportedly still being investigated by the Pentagon for allegedly mishandling classified information she got from Petraeus. Broadwell, an Army reserve officer, had a “substantial amount” of material marked classified at her home, FBI probers found.
Broadwell and Petraeus say their relationship began after he left the military and started work at the CIA in September 2011 and ended last summer.