Snowden totally abandoned his girlfriend when he fled amid NSA revelations, her dad says

• Jonathan Mills, father of Edward Snowden girlfriend Lindsay Mills, said the NSA leaker left his daughter 'to fend for herself'
  
• Lindsay Mills dated Mr Snowden for five years and shared an apartment with him in Hawaii
• Mr Snowden is living under asylum in Russia
  

By DANIEL BATES IN LAUREL, MARYLAND and RYAN GORMAN

Published: 22:26 EST, 17 January 2014 | Updated: 10:46 EST, 18 January 2014

The dancer girlfriend of NSA leaker Edward Snowden was left on her own - without even any money to support herself - her father says.

Jonathan Mills said daughter Lindsay Mills was devastated by Mr Snowden's abandonment and is still trying to piece her life back together.

The concerned father recently told the Guardian his daughter, 28, was 'left to fend for herself' by Mr Snowden and 'trying to make sense of everything and come up with a plan for herself.'

Forgiven: Jonathan Mills, the father of the NSA leaker's girlfriend Lindsay Mills, says his daughter was left penniless and to 'fend for herself'

heartbroken: Mr Mills said his daughter is still trying to make sense of all that has happened

Stunning: Lindsay Mills, 28, took to her blog on Monday to detail her heartbreak over being suddenly left by Mr Snowden

Jonathan Mills said Lindsay had not spoken to the wanted man since he left and that neither he nor his daughter had anything to do with his series of NSA spy program leaks.

'He said I'm just going on a trip for business for a couple of weeks and I'll be coming back. She heard what had happened on the news,' the father recalled. 'She was basically left to fend for herself.'

The polar opposites had dated for five years after meeting through an online dating site, he added. They were planning a future together.

'Up until she heard that he was in Hong Kong she was in the back of her mind planning marriage and a life together,' said Jonathan Mills.

He further described the differences between the two. Lindsay is 'very artistic, free spirit and open - the opposite of me and Mr Snowden.'

Jonathan Mills said in a previous interview that he has already forgiven Mr Snowden for putting his family through hell - even though his daughter faced arrest and a possible prison sentence in the plot's early days.

She had previously written on her blog about how she was ‘adrift’ at losing Mr Snowden, who she described as her ‘mystery man’.

He is currently living in Russia after being granted asylum by president Vladimir Putin.

Family members have said in the past that Lindsay was with friends on the West Coast, though she could still be in Hawaii.

Tiny dancer: Lindsay Mills has posted numerous photos and videos on her personal blog of herself pole dancing

Devastated: 'My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass,' Lindsay Mills writes about being suddenly left by her 'mystery man'

Jonathan said in the previous interview: 'I've met Ed. He's very nice, shy reserved. They've been dating four or five years.’

Asked if he was surprised at what Snowden did, he added 'it wasn't out of character. He's always had strong convictions of right and wrong so it kind of makes sense, but it was a shock.'

He was not even angry that he was being put in this position, saying ‘alright, I understand.'

He said that he did not know if his own views or those of his daughter - who dislikes the surveillance state - had any influence on Snowden.

Earlier, a blonde woman in her 50s thought to be Jonathan’s girlfriend went into his house and claimed to be the best friend of Lindsay’s’ mother Martha.

She said: ‘He (Jonathan) has nothing to do with it and she (Lindsay) has nothing to do with it’.

Keeping a secret: Snowden says he never told his girlfriend about his life-altering plans, saying he left weeks ago saying only that he had to travel for business

Since Mr Snowden leaked the data, he has effectively brought an end to any future he hoped to have with his girlfriend.

The pair seemed blissfully happy even though they appear to be totally different people.

She is an extrovert who enjoys walking around naked whenever she can, spends her Sunday evenings in circus classes and surrounds herself with bohemian eccentrics.

The title of her blog reads: ‘Adventures of a world-traveling, pole-dancing super hero.'

Mr Snowden, by contrast, is a shy computer geek from a suburban family who likes to spend Sundays at football games and needed to be coaxed out of his shell to even do karaoke.

In the days after the scandal broke, she took to her blog - where she has posted dozens of photos of herself semi-naked  - to tell of her heartbreak.

'My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass,' she wrote.

'As I type this on my tear-streaked keyboard I’m reflecting on all the faces that have graced my path.

'The ones I laughed with. The ones I’ve held. The one I’ve grown to love the most. And the ones I never got to bid adieu.

Better times: Lindsay Mills seen here with Ed Snowden before he suddenly took off for Hong Kong after leaking confidential information

‘But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes.'

It was an awful turn of events for Ms Mills, who had lived with Mr Snowden since at least 2009 when they were in Japan together.

In 2012, he whisked her 8,000 miles from their home south of Baltimore, Maryland to Hong Kong where family friends thought they got married because it was a 'special place' for them.

The NSA leaker curiously fled to a luxury hotel Hong Kong just as the revelations were beginning to be made public, after he decided to release the secret documents about the NSA's surveillance programs.

He never told his heartbroken girlfriend about his plan - saying only that he needed to leave for a few weeks and offering a vague explanation.

When he revealed his identity in the Guardian he said he expected he might never see his family again.

Add Ms Mills to that list of people.