Friend: Broadwell devastated by fallout from affair with Petraeus
WASHINGTON (AP) - Paula Broadwell is telling friends she is devastated by the fallout from her extramarital affair with retired Gen. David Petraeus, which led to his resignation as head of the CIA.
A person close to Broadwell said Sunday she deeply regrets the damage that's been done to her family and everyone else's, and she is trying to repair that and move forward. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
A group of friends and neighbors welcomed Broadwell, her husband, Scott, and their young sons back to their home in Charlotte, N.C., after Broadwell spent more than a week being hounded by media while staying at her brother's home in Washington. The family associate said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from her neighbors.
While Petraeus has given one interview, and communicated his regret over the affair through friends and associates, this is one of the first messages to the public from Broadwell.
Broadwell is still being investigated by the FBI over classified documents found on her laptop and in her home, which investigators believe the author gathered while researching her biography of Petraeus in Afghanistan. Investigators say many of the documents are old and may no longer be classified despite their labels, and say Broadwell told them she did not get them from Petraeus.
The FBI stumbled onto their relationship after tracking anonymous emails Broadwell allegedly sent to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, warning Kelley to stay away from Petraeus and Afghanistan war commander Gen. John Allen.
Kelley served as sort of an unpaid social liaison for Central Command, hosting parties at her and her husband's home, where senior officers would mingle with Tampa's elite. Officials say Kelley kept in near constant contact with Allen, and Petraeus before him, apparently trading on her friendship with the four-star commanders to advance her social status in the military-conscious community of Tampa.
The scandal widened when the Pentagon announced it was looking into that copious correspondence between Kelley and Allen, searching for possible evidence of an inappropriate relationship between the two married people. Allen's nomination to lead the U.S. European Command has been put on hold, pending results of the investigation, though officials now concede only a handful of the emails between Kelley and Allen are of a flirtatious or questionable nature.
The FBI found no reason to further investigate Petraeus, but the CIA is now investigating whether the former director behaved inappropriately, such as possibly using agency resources to further the affair.
A person close to Broadwell said Sunday she deeply regrets the damage that's been done to her family and everyone else's, and she is trying to repair that and move forward. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
A group of friends and neighbors welcomed Broadwell, her husband, Scott, and their young sons back to their home in Charlotte, N.C., after Broadwell spent more than a week being hounded by media while staying at her brother's home in Washington. The family associate said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from her neighbors.
While Petraeus has given one interview, and communicated his regret over the affair through friends and associates, this is one of the first messages to the public from Broadwell.
Broadwell is still being investigated by the FBI over classified documents found on her laptop and in her home, which investigators believe the author gathered while researching her biography of Petraeus in Afghanistan. Investigators say many of the documents are old and may no longer be classified despite their labels, and say Broadwell told them she did not get them from Petraeus.
The FBI stumbled onto their relationship after tracking anonymous emails Broadwell allegedly sent to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, warning Kelley to stay away from Petraeus and Afghanistan war commander Gen. John Allen.
Kelley served as sort of an unpaid social liaison for Central Command, hosting parties at her and her husband's home, where senior officers would mingle with Tampa's elite. Officials say Kelley kept in near constant contact with Allen, and Petraeus before him, apparently trading on her friendship with the four-star commanders to advance her social status in the military-conscious community of Tampa.
The scandal widened when the Pentagon announced it was looking into that copious correspondence between Kelley and Allen, searching for possible evidence of an inappropriate relationship between the two married people. Allen's nomination to lead the U.S. European Command has been put on hold, pending results of the investigation, though officials now concede only a handful of the emails between Kelley and Allen are of a flirtatious or questionable nature.
The FBI found no reason to further investigate Petraeus, but the CIA is now investigating whether the former director behaved inappropriately, such as possibly using agency resources to further the affair.
She's hired a DC public relations firm to represent her. You don't need to know a hell of a lot more to draw your own conclusions.
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And if she can't be packaged and sold to mainstream media or, at least, reality TV, she can always fall back on Plan "D," which is a can't miss because that rack will take her far. Oh yes it will.
Stories like this always make me so glad that my partner and I will never have to deal with emotional distress over having "affairs".Â
She doesn't regret anything but getting caught. She calls this damage, that's an understatement if I ever heard one. I really feel sorry for the spouses and their children.
She's devastated because she flipped out and ruined the petulant little drama that defined her life. She was in control of her salacious life and relished the control she exercised over stupid men and the influence and stature that that brought to her. In a fit of pique, she took her hands off the wheel and now she no longer controls these events - they control her.
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This is not a decent person recognizing the error of her ways - it's a narcissist lamenting the dark specter of being held accountable for her actions.
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I guess she should have kept her married naughty bits between her and her husband then. Petraeus isn't any better. These two need to slink off into obscurity.
I bet her kids are so proud! What a great way to teach morals to your kids.
Oh boo hoo - are we supposed to feel sorry for this tramp? Â Whatever.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired of hearing about this affair. There wasn't a security breach and Petraeus resigned. Just move on already. Our country has bigger fish to fry.
Yeah, right. It was all a cynical ploy by her to create subject matter for her next book. Nice funbags btw, I can see how the general was easily smitten.
So what!?! You got caught and now you're upset. Whaaa whaaa
Either a married woman accepted the sexual advances of a married man, or a married woman initiated sexual advances on a married man. How the hell did she think this would end? This isn't a naughty midnight movie on Cinemax
I agree with @snoopy84Â below about giving up her movie rights and her books should be pulled from the bookshelves but I am sure there has been a huge spike in sales thanks to this mess.Â
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But, unfortunately this is the age of reality TV and this will just be another episode that the stupid TV public of this country will clamor for. I can see it now with the Kardashian sisters playing both Broadwell and Kelley (select either of them), George Clooney as General Petraues,  Clint Eastwood as General Allen, Barbara Bush as Mrs. Petraues, and Mr. T as Obama. There are a lot of unemployed Enron people that can play the FBI actors and Clinton and Holder can play themselves since they will be unemployed soon also.Â
@Beam_Me_Up @snoopy84 That's pretty good!
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She wasn't concerned about the affair until the consequences arose. That, in a nutshell, is generally everyone who starts and carries on affairs. Consequences are for others, instant gratification with no repercussions is for them and them alone.
 @dgruntled It's human nature to appreciate short-term gains and fun more than long-term consequences, which is why people get in trouble when the bill comes due. Happens with affairs, credit cards, social safety-net programs, retirement schemes, etc. Few people will focus as much on the long-term cost as the short-term benefit, and that's what gotten us into many of the messes we are facing right now.
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Utterly predictable, even more than a cheap Hollywood script where there is at least a CHANCE at a twist, and we are still trying to figure out if it's a comedy, drama, or tragedy.
@dgruntled hmmmâ¦â¦ âin a nutshellâ pretty much sums up this entire mess.
"A group of friends and neighbors welcomed Broadwell, her husband, Scott, and their young sons back to their home in Charlotte, N.C." This is why I hate to hear women whining about men. Hell this sounds more like a celebration of General Patraeus throwing away his career.
Should have kept those legs closed then lady... you only have yourself to blame!
She deserves that " devastation".This teach some young girls this way isn't gonna work.
She needs to lose any security clearance she has and be cut off completely from the US military and government. She is a huge hazard in that she managed to bring down the head of our most sensitive intelligence organization. No pun intended!
Allegedly for 10 months. Devastated? Puuuhhhleeeze. No one can run around with cranial rectal inversion for almost a year and not think for one moment about the consequences. I believe devastated applies to the innocent spouses. Incredibly selfish to apply 'devastated' to yourself. Your 15 minutes are over... move on loser(s)!
She wasn't devastated about having the affair, only the damage suffered now and forever. After all, in August (two months after Petraeus dumped her) she wrangled Lance Armstrong to do a workout with her "mentor" as a present for the General's Nov 7 birthday. She clearly was trying to renew some rolls in the hay with him.
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Though neighbors showed up for a welcoming "do-tell" party, you can bet each woman there kept a keen eye on the Scarlet Letter lest she got too chummy with her own man. Can the claws and cat fights be far behind?
She can take comfort in the fact that the Kelley woman who went running for the FBI is coming off even crazier. What a cluster.Â
@justsaying Sending crazy, threatening, harassing e-mails from one crazy a** chick to another crazy a** chick is pretty crazy in itself. However anymore that does seem to be almost pretty much normal for these crazy a** chicks. Or maybe that is not relegated to just crazy a** chicks. But it has all definitely turned into a cluster and beyond. As the Generals Turn.
I have no real sympathy for her at all. If she doesn't like being in the position she's now in, she shouldn't have started this affair. Same goes for GEN Petreaus.
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What may really hurt her is is the finding of classified data on her computer.  That stuff has to be de-classified through a set of procedures; if they are even still just classified as "Confidential" she is going to be in a world of hurt. And she deserves whatever happens to her.
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General Petreaus has already been hurt by all of this,  Losing his job as the Chief of the CIA will cost lots of money. If further investigation turns up he may have given Broadwell classified documents, he could very well lose his military retirement benefits (that's a huge amount for a General officer in pay grade O-10) not to mention the possibility of legal action against him.
 @Veteran I totally agree. I hate these public moments of  devastation. What about the country?
Paula Broadwell,  please drop out of society and show you are truly devastated by turning down any movie rights to your story. Â
Someone should send her one of those "S.L.U.T."Â t-shirts.
Patreus and Broadwell have zero personal integrity. I have no sympathy for either of them. I can certainly empathize with the innocent family members of both however. A four star general is well aware of the meaning of "conduct unbecoming of an officer"
Who F'ING cares. Â Chick was sleeping with a married man.
@jb_22 And she is married as well.
Perhaps Ms.Broadwell should have considered the probable consequences of her behavior, prior to doing the things she did. Had she done so, none of this would have happened.
Ya, thats one of the downfalls of playing out of ones backyard and getting caught, must say SNL take on Paula Broadwell on booknotes was great..
She should have thought about that before she chose to have an affair with him and betray her own family. The real victims are his wife and kids and her husband and kids.  I have zero sympathy for Petraeus or her. They have no integrity in my opinion.
Bet she wasn't thinking about her family when she was in the sack with the General!
We certainly do not have bigger problems in this Country. Let's all focus our energy and the media news on this.
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By the way, I think my plumber is having an affair with my neighbor. We can get their names in the news too and pry into that. there are others. As long as the media keeps it salacious, we won't wonder what Congress and the President are doing - right?
@sentryone  Exactly. This is a huge distraction which is very convenient.Â
 @sentryone I almost agree with your sentiment, however stuff worthy of the Enquirer aside, I have a big problem with the head of the CIA putting himself into a position to be blackmailed. In some sense, I suppose we are lucky it came out the way it did.
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@deadcandance And then she messed it up multiple times.