A freshman California congresswoman reportedly carried on a long-term “throuple” with her husband and a younger female staffer — which has come to light amid her now contentious divorce.
Democratic Rep. Katie Hill, 32, became involved in the unconventional long-term relationship in late 2017 with her now-estranged husband, Kenny Heslep, and a female campaign worker, according to RedState.
The conservative outlet backed up its claim with photos of Hill and the staffer — who was not identified by name — embracing and locked in a kiss.
Another photo posted by the site shows a nude Hill brushing the staffer’s hair.
A source close to the staffer told RedState that the trio, who often vacationed together, agreed to continue their relationship when Hill moved to Washington D.C. in January 2019, but that Hill ultimately broke it off in a series of text messages.
“No. I mean I guess partially,” Hill wrote in one published message, in response to the staffer’s questioning whether the “political risk” was to blame for the relationship’s demise.
“I don’t want to be accountable to anyone else,” Hill wrote in another message, according to RedState. “I want to be entirely focused on this work that I think is so important.”
But another set of published text messages between Heslep and an unidentified friend purport that Hill was carrying on a solo affair with her legislative director Graham Kelly.
On his since-deleted Facebook account, Heslep wrote that he and Hill are in the process of divorcing over that alleged affair, reported RedState.
“Being with husband (me) for almost 15 years and then leaving me for another MAN, not woman, whom she is still seeing, is not her being a lesbian,” the post said of Hill, who has publicly identified as bisexual.
“I didn’t file for divorce [because] she was bi!,” another Facebook post read. “I just didn’t know she opened our relationship. Lol.”
In a statement to Politico on Tuesday, Hill said that she was being smeared amid the divorce, and alleged that Heslep was “abusive.”
“The fact is I am going through a divorce from an abusive husband who seems determined to try to humiliate me,” she told the Beltway outlet.
“I am disgusted that my opponents would seek to exploit such a private matter for political gain. This coordinated effort to try to destroy me and people close to me is despicable and will not succeed,” she added.
“Intimate photos of me and another individual were published by Republican operatives on the internet without my consent,” continued Hill’s statement. “I have notified Capitol Hill police who are investigating the situation and potential legal violations of those who posted and distributed the photos, and therefore will have no further comment on the digital materials.”
Hill additionally denied that she was involved with Kelly.
Democratic sources told Politico that Hill reached out to House Speaker and fellow California Rep. Nancy Pelosi — as well as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, of Maryland, to deny the allegations that she had an improper relationship.
Neither Heslep nor Kelly responded to requests for comment by Politico.
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