Jerry Falwell Jr reveals his wife had an affair with a friend who is now blackmailing them: 'I’m tired of it'

Jerry Falwell Jr who has been suspended as the President of Liberty University has claimed that he has suffered depression because of a former family friend who had an affair with his wife. The Trump supporter said that the man also threatened his family and blackmailed them. Falwell publicly disclosed the affair of his wife Becki Tilley while issuing a lengthy statement to The Washington Examiner on Sunday, August 23. He also claimed that Tilley’s former lover threatened them to expose the affair and also tried to extort him. “I’m just tired of it,” the 58-year-old said of his anxiety. “It’s just got to end.”

The statement from Falwell read: “It was like living on a roller coaster. While completely dedicating ourselves to Liberty, we were also suffering in silence during our personal time together, while simultaneously trying to manage and deal with this increasingly threatening behavior, which only worsened over time. We were doing our best to respectfully unravel this "fatal attraction type situation" to protect our family and the university.”

The father-of-three said that they tried to maintain a friendly relation with the man, but he continued to threaten them and also demanded huge sums of money, due to which they eventually end all the ties with him. “While we tried to distance ourselves from him over time, he, unfortunately, became increasingly angry and aggressive. Eventually, he began threatening to publicly reveal this secret relationship with Becki and to deliberately embarrass my wife, family, and Liberty University unless we agreed to pay him substantial monies,” the couple said.

Though the couple did not reveal the name of the man, several reports identified him as Giancarlo Granda, whom Falwell and his wife met in 2012. The pair was impressed with him and wanted to him in starting his business. At the time, under a deal, Tilley bought a Miami hostel and gave charge of the place to Granda. However, the deal later sparked legal jostling over ownership and has since been facing legal issues.

During that time, Falwell was extremely busy with work as he was building up the university, founded by his late father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., who died in 2007. And Tilley and Granda reportedly started the affair.

After finding about their affair, Falwell said in the statement that he lost 80 pounds and suffered mental stress. He said the main reason behind his suffering was the man who blackmailed him and his family and demanded money. “Becki and I forgave each other because while her indiscretion may have been more obvious and apparent, I realized that there were important smaller things I needed to do better too,” he said.

“Even though I continued successfully working with our entire Liberty team to achieve so many of our goals, I am now dealing with things in a way that I should have done before — including seeking to address the emotional toll this has taken. I shouldn’t have been afraid to admit my vulnerabilities and to reach out for assistance from the mental health professionals who could have alleviated this pain and stress,” Falwell added. “I am committed to speaking out and sharing with others at Liberty the importance of seeking counseling instead of thinking you need to be tough and try to bear these burdens on your own. I am in the early stages of addressing these issues.”

Meanwhile, Granda has refuted the allegations in an email to Secrets. He said, “Any allegation of extortion is falsely, defamatory and belied by clear documentary evidence. The Falwell’s attempt to sandbag me, and the Examiner, with a last minute story without providing the Examiner clear evidence that this was not simply an ‘affair’ with concocted allegations of extortion reeks desperation. The WHOLE truth will come out.”

The statement from Falwell came weeks after the Liberty board decided to put him on paid leave after an uproar sparked by a photo he posted on his Instagram account. He had posted a snap of him that showed him with his pants unzipped and his arms around a woman who was not his wife. The picture had been posted and later deleted from his Instagram on August 4.