An academic study casting Holly Petraeus as less attractive than her husband’s younger mistress is a form of bullying, family friend Jill Kelley said.
The new study used the 2012 David Petraeus sex scandal to examine attitudes toward infidelity. The research project found that men were more likely to understand Petraeus’s infidelity when they saw photos contrasting wife Holly with the “more attractive mistress,” Paula Broadwell.
It was Kelley’s actions in reporting to the FBI she was being stalked by Broadwell that led to the affair being revealed. She expressed outrage at the study, which was first reported by the Washington Examiner.
“I am shocked that a scientist and an institution of higher learning would insult my friend Holly Petraeus in this callous manner with the ability to hide behind the word science,” Kelley told the Washington Examiner. “In this #MeToo and #BeBest era where we expect more from such people, we continue to callously drag an innocent woman and essentially comment on her ‘less attractiveness.’”
The study by five Midwestern academics asked a sample primarily consisting of undergraduates to give their reactions to the Petraeus affair. The research was conducted by Guilherme Lopes, Andrew Holub, and Todd Shackelford of Oakland University, Michigan; Jukka Savolainen of the University of Michigan; and Joseph Schwartz of the University of Nebraska.
“These results suggest sex differences in appraisals of infidelity, which are particularly salient when participants are presented with visual stimuli contrasting the wife and the more attractive mistress of the unfaithful man,” the authors wrote in the study’s abstract.
The authors were “institutionalizing bullying,” said Kelley, president of Military Diplomacy Strategies. “There is no defense for cheating — and there definitely is no defense for insulting the victim.”
Kelley, 44, befriended the Petraeus family in 2008 through her work with the military in Tampa while David Petraeus was based there as the head of U.S. Central Command. Kelley remained friends with the couple when David left CENTCOM for Afghanistan, where he commanded the International Security Assistance Force. Petraeus meanwhile met Broadwell, who became his biographer — and his secret mistress.
In 2012, Kelley reported to the FBI that she was receiving threatening emails from an anonymous sender. Investigators found that Broadwell was the source of the emails, and in the process, uncovered that Broadwell and Petraeus were having an affair. The FBI identified Kelley to the media as the victim in the case, sparking headlines and speculation.
Talk about shit “science,” the folks behind this miscarriage of research should be ashamed.https://t.co/wsHNmAaapC
(Spent far too many hours of my life in the middle of that mishegoss).
— Howard Altman (@haltman) December 19, 2019
Investigators later found Petraeus shared classified information with Broadwell, leading to his resignation as CIA director in November 2012. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for mishandling classified information in 2015 and received two years probation and a $100,000 fine.
Kelley remains friends with the Petraeus family, she said, and is horrified on Holly Petraeus’s behalf about the infidelity study.
Several experts questioned the methodology and value of the study. Dr. Daniel Sumasy, a Georgetown University bioethicist, told the Washington Examiner that choosing such a high-profile case for the study “may not be the most morally upright choice.”
Neither Petraeus nor Broadwell responded to requests for comment.
