Alleged lover of ex-Rep. Katie Hill, the congresswoman involved in a ‘throuple,’ says he’s suicidal since scandal broke
A FORMER aide to Rep. Katie Hill, who resigned last year amid a sex scandal, claims he’s an “innocent” victim in the affair — and says he’s been suicidal over it.
Graham Kelly, 31, had a promising when he worked as a legislative director for Hill, a Democratic from , but was rumored to be the woman’s lover.
Hill, a 32-year-old rising star in the , ended up resigning last October and her purported text messages to a campaign staffer leaked.
Kelly of the stunning downfall: “My promising career went up in smoke over something that was out of my control.”
“I think since I’m like this 30-year-old bro guy, nobody gave a f*** about me and it was easier to cast me aside.”
He said since the scandal broke last year, .
“There were countless times I was standing on the metro station where I was like, ‘Hey, what if I jumped in front of the train right now,” Kelly told the Post.
“My apartment is on the third floor and I walk on the balcony and I just like stare out off the deck [and think] maybe I should jump. I have those thoughts all the damn time.”
According to the news outlet, Kelly joined Hill’s as finance director.
When she won her race in 2018, Kelly joined Hill as her legislative director.
“Katie and I were attached at the hip,” Kelly said of their relationship.
But in 2019, the compromising photos of Hill — showing she had been involved in a three-way relationship with 24-year-old campaign staffer Morgan Desjardins, and her estranged husband — leaked online.
Heslep had also accused Hill of having an affair “with her (male) finance director for the past year at least” — an alleged move that would have put her in violation of House rules that forbid lawmakers from having sexual relationships with staff members.
Hill said Kenneth Heslep, her husband who she described as abusive, as part of a smear campaign.
The former rep had acknowledged “errors in judgment” but admitted to having the inappropriate relationship, and apologized and resigned.
Kelly, for his part, has denied any connection to Hill as a romantic lover.
“There was never a romantic relationship between us,” he told The Post.
He said he thinks Heslep confused him with Alex Thomas, a reporter for Playboy, who is reportedly dating Hill.
After the photos leaked, the House ethics committee had launched an investigation into whether Hill had an inappropriate relationship with an aide in her congressional office.
“It is with a broken heart that today I announce my resignation from Congress,” she said at the time.
“Having private photos of personal moments weaponized against me has been an appalling invasion of my privacy. It’s also illegal, and we are currently pursuing all of our available legal options.”
“I am leaving now because of a double standard. I am leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip,” she said on the House floor.
“I am leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse.”
Kelly told the Post: “Even if it was true. I am the victim. And she is the supervisor. If the genders were reversed it would be insane,” Kelly said.
He said that after Hill’s resignation, no one from her office helped him.
“She got totally sequestered by her legal team and our comms consultant and I still had to show up to work every day and act like everything was normal,” he said.
Kelly said he received no legal counsel until after the rep’s resignation, and “no advice on what to say or do even though my name was in all the articles too.”
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“They left me blowing in the wind for two weeks and nobody ever even asked me what I wanted to see happen.”
He told the Post that around six weeks ago, he quit and drove to .
“I thought I didn’t care,” said Kelly, recalling the ordeal. “But looking back on it, it definitely affected my mental health because here I am six months later talking to you.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.