Jill Kelley

Jill Kelley (born June 3, 1975) is a Lebanese-American philanthropist, activist, and diplomatic advisor. She is also a former South Korean Honorary Consul, and a former honorary ambassador to U.S. Central Command under General James N. Mattis.

Biography
Jill Kelley was born Gilberte Khawam on June 3, 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon to Syrian parents. Her identical twin sister is Natalie Khawam, a Washington, D.C. lawyer. She grew up near Philadelphia, and was known as Gigi. She has an older sister and a younger brother.

Her parents immigrated to the United States in 1976 and opened a Middle Eastern restaurant in Voorhees, New Jersey in 1988. Jill graduated from Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania in 1993. She then worked with a physician as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. She met Scott Kelley, a cancer surgeon, and the two married in 1998. The couple has three children.

Since the early 2000s, Jill and Scott have been known for their lavish parties, with guest lists including military leaders and other dignitaries. Their parties in the Tampa area include bashes for the Gasparilla Pirate Festival. These include parties at their house in Tampa, and various events in Washington, D.C.  In November 2017, Jill hosted a party at the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Donald Trump winning the 2016 United States presidential election.

She speaks Arabic.

Career
In 2007, she founded the Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation along with her husband and sister. The foundation's mission was "to conduct cancer research and to grant wishes to terminally ill adult cancer patients." The charity went bankrupt by the end of the year.

Jill and Scott Kelley started Kelley Land Holdings, a property company. The company was the subject of a foreclosure suit in Tampa 2010. In 2012, she held the informal title Honorary Consul to South Korea. She also served as Honorary Ambassador to U.S. Central Command in Tampa. Kelley runs an advisory firm called Military Diplomacy Strategies LLC, and is a founder of SafeGuard Surgical, a medical technology company, and EdentifID, a blockchain technology company.

Recognition
Kelley was honored by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for work on behalf of United States Central Command and its international coalition.

Petraeus scandal
Jill and Scott Kelley met General David Petraeus when he was transferred to MacDill Air Force Base in November 2008. They quickly became friends, and had frequent dinner parties together. Through the Petraeuses, the Kelleys became close to other senior military personnel, including John R. Allen and Robert Harward. In 2012, Kelley filed a complaint to the FBI that she was being harassed over email. The ensuing investigation uncovered that General Petraeus was having an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and that Broadwell had authored the emails to Kelley. The investigation also uncovered 20,000-30,000 pages of possibly "inappropriate communication" between Kelley and General John R. Allen. In 2016, Kelley published a memoir about her role in the Petraeus scandal.

Financial problems
Jill and Scott have experienced various financial problems, including foreclosures and millions of dollars in credit card and other debt.