California Democratic Rep. Katie Hill, who faces a House Ethics Committee investigation following allegations of an intimate relationship with her legislative director, is also accused by her estranged husband Kenny Heslep of stranding him before she left for Washington, D.C.
Heslep and Hill, who were married for 9 years, have been embroiled in divorce proceedings since last June. Hill claimed Heslep was “abusive” toward her and blamed him for the naked photograph showing her brushing the hair of a campaign staffer that was released to RedState last week.
However, according to Heslep’s divorce complaint, obtained by CNBC, Hill seemed to have more control over the finances and direction of the relationship. Before they wed, Hill and Heslep “talked about what expectations each of us had about marriage.”
Hill “told me that she wanted me to stay at home and care for our household. [Hill] told me that she did not like to do household chores and duties and wanted me to stay at home and do those things while she worked,” the complaint states.
The complaint goes on to say that before the marriage, Hill was attending college and “she was very ambitious and had career goals where she saw herself being financially successful and busy in the work force,” Heslep wrote.
According to Heslep, he and Hill were servers at a restaurant before they married, but the future congresswoman sped ahead of Heslep careerwise, and by 2009 she was hired by a homeless nonprofit organization as a grant writer and was quickly promoted.
“We had further talks about what I would do,” Heslep said in the complaint. Hill “advised me that she wanted me to be a house husband.”
“Our agreement was that I would stay at home and take care of all of the domestic duties and responsibilities while Hill worked,” he wrote.
In 2011, Heslep says that Hill used her connections at her organization to help him find a job in the company, but that job, which paid $32,000 a year, lasted only one year. According to Heslep’s complaint, Hill helped find two more positions within two years, but both quickly ended.
Heslep, who claimed in his filing he was limited in his opportunities because he only had a high school diploma, said he was not pleased with his third job, so he and Hill “agreed that I should quit this job and return to staying home and caring for domestic duties.”
By 2013, Hill helped Heslep get another position at the homeless nonprofit group when he was hired as a regional manager.
“I was able to get this job primarily because of [Hill’s] influence,” Heslep wrote, again noting that he only had a high school diploma.
Heslep lost his job in 2014, “and I have not been employed since that time,” he wrote in his court filing.
At that point, he went back to taking care of the couple’s residence and pets. After she won the election to represent the congressional district in 2018. However, Hill had no plans to include Heslep in her political future in Washington. On June 7, she notified him the relationship was over, Heslep wrote.
She also took their “only operable vehicle and left me stranded at our residence,” Heslep said in the complaint. Additionally, Heslep claimed that she opened a bank account in her name only and ceased depositing money into their joint bank account.
“I have had no funds from [Hill] to pay for my living expense for a period of approximately four weeks after she left me, until July 3, 2019,” Heslep wrote, noting that she eventually deposited $500 into their shared account when he told her he “needed money to buy food for our animals and myself.”
In July, Heslep requested the court order Hill to pay him spousal support and attorney fees. The last court proceedings related to their divorce happened on Oct. 9.
