Ex-classmate at Lower Moreland: Jill and twin were destined for notoriety

Jill Kelley , whose FBI complaint started Petraeus' unraveling, is pictured here in her Lower Moreland High School yearbook, when she was still Jill Khawam. She and her twin graduated from the school in 1993.
Jill Kelley , whose FBI complaint started Petraeus' unraveling, is pictured here in her Lower Moreland High School yearbook, when she was still Jill Khawam. She and her twin graduated from the school in 1993.
BY REGINA MEDINA, Daily News Staff Writer medinar@phillynews.com, 215-854-5985
Posted: November 15, 2012

THEY WERE TWO peas in a pod, those Khawam sisters, known simply as "the twins" at Lower Moreland High School back in the early '90s.

Jill and Natalie Khawam, who moved to the school in their junior year and graduated in 1993, fancied tight jeans and flirting, recalled a former classmate, who spoke on condition that his name not be used. Still, even the babes had detractors (this was high school, don't forget) who made fun of their noses, according to the British Daily Mail website.

"We are going to get a nose job and when we do you'll all be in awe of us," Jill said, according to an unnamed former classmate quoted by the website.

Not quite how U.S. military intelligence or alpha-jogger-biographer Paula Broadwell regard Jill today.

Although friends quoted in news reports and former classmates expressed shock at what has transpired with Kelley and two generals, one former classmate told the Daily News he's unfazed by the events.

"They were destined to become involved in the mess they are now in," said the man, who also wanted his name withheld. In high school the twins were involved in "brand names, politicians, power and social circuits," he told the People Paper.

After Lower Moreland, the Khawams traveled in high-end Philadelphia cliques, the man said.

"They were always at the Palm, they knew the maitre d's' names at the Palm," he said. "They were always with high-powered attorneys, decked out in Versace, name-dropping.

"It's not a surprise."

In the 1993 Lower Moreland High School yearbook, the twins don't appear to be too involved in school activities. Their only images are their senior pictures, which mirror one another. Both wear simple white pearls and V-neck dresses, like all their female classmates. Their dark tresses dangle over one side of their bare shoulders: Jill's left side, Natalie's right side.

" @ReginaMedina

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