‘You’ll go to any lengths to get to the truth’
Julia Keys, 57, from Ascot, suspected her sports presenter husband Richard, 60, was having an affair – she just needed the opportunity to prove it…
Julia I heard says: about “When Anthea turning detective to find out that Grant was cheating, I completely sympathised. I can see how you’d be driven to spying when you know something is going on and your husband denies it and lies, telling you you’re going mad or being paranoid.
GUT INSTINCT
“Ironically, I was researching a book called The Manscript, about cheating men and how they act, when I had a gut instinct that my own husband Richard was seeing someone else.
“Although our 34-year marriage seemed happy and we were still intimate, there was something ‘off.’ The biggest clue was how protective he was over his phone – he’d always put it face down, to hide incoming messages.
“Then in April last year, I realised who the affair was with – a 27-year-old lawyer called Lucie Rose, who was a friend of our 31-year-old daughter, Jemma. We were at Richard’s birthday drinks and I was about to leave when Lucie grabbed my arm and said: “Julia, are you leaving?’ She was too keen to see the back of me. Call it woman’s intuition but, in that moment, I knew.
“Later that night I waited until Richard had gone to sleep and then crept into the room next door, where his phone was charging. I saw messages from Lucie asking where he’d got to, saying she’d followed him and tried to find him.
THE PRETENCE
“I confronted Richard and he fed me a story about her having a medical problem and that he’d found her a doctor and she was desperate to discuss it with him. It was nonsense.
“A month later, we went to Cornwall, and as soon as we arrived he fell asleep. A text popped up on his phone asking if he was OK. My heart was thumping as I replied, pretending to be him, and wrote: ‘No, I’m not.” A dialogue then followed, with her saying how much she missed him and wanted to cuddle him. Richard could no longer deny it and our relationship was finished from that moment. He’s since begged me to take him back but I won’t.
“I think a wife knows when her husband is cheating – it’s a strong instinct. But the urge to know for certain is very powerful – for your own protection and so you can make decisions based on fact. It’s this that drives you to go to any lengths to get to the truth.”