Twin sister of Jill Kelley hires celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred

High-profile celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is the latest character to appear in the David Petraeus affair.

The lawyer, who The Atlantic Wire once described as “the ambulance chaser of ‘feminism’,” stood beside Natalie Khawam Tuesday as the new counsel for the twin sister of Florida socialite Jill Kelley — for those who haven’t been following along closely, that’s the woman whose emails eventually showed that former CIA director David Petraeus had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, which forced him to resign.

At the press conference in Washington Tuesday, Allred told reporters that she was going to “correct some misconceptions” about her client.

Khawam then read a statement meant to defend the reputation of her sister, who she lived with while she was going through a divorce with her now ex-husband Grayson Wolfe. “My sister Jill and I aren’t just twins, we’re best friends. We’re literally inseparable,” Khawam said, her voice breaking. “During my darkest times, Jill held the light for me. She and my brother-in-law, Dr. Kelley, took me in with my son when we needed refuge and protection.”

Neither of the women, however, addressed the real question of why both Petraeus and his wife, Holly Petraeus, wrote letters of support for Khawam while she was going through a custody battle for her son. She eventually lost that case and custody was awarded to her ex-husband.

Here’s the statement from Khawam:

Allred, for her part, is an interesting choice, had Khawam wanted to stay out of the public eye.

Allred gained notoriety after a series of high-profile cases, including representing Amber Frey, who testified against her former lover Scott Peterson in the trial where he was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn child. She has also represented a girl who was not allowed to join the Boy Scouts, Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the O.J. Simpson murder trial and former soap star Hunter Tylo, who was fired after becoming pregnant.

More recently, she represented Canadian Miss Universe hopeful Jenna Talackova, who was nearly excluded from the competition after it was revealed that she was born male and had undergone sexual reassignment surgery.