Sky pundit’s ex-wife, his sister and a police probe over trolling
WHEN his wife discovered he was having an affair with their daughter’s best friend, it seemed things could not get much worse for TV football presenter Richard Keys.
But now his estranged wife Julia has filed a harassment claim against his sister Susan following a public row on social media.
Susan Keys had posted a series of tweets about Julia in which she branded her 57year-old sister-in-law ‘delusional’.
It followed a TV interview given by Julia last week to promote her book on cheating husbands. Titled the MANscript, the book revealed Keys, 60, was still in a relationship with Lucie Rose, who is 31 years his junior.
Julia, a psychotherapist, said she was devastated when Keys left her for the lawyer who was a close friend of their daughter Jemma, 32. Responding to Julia’s TV interview, Susan tweeted: ‘So many lies by Julia Keys in her latest attempt to publicise her ridiculous book. I hardly know where to start to put the record straight.
‘I took Richard into hospital while she heartlessly swanned around at Royal Ascot. I stayed with him throughout #lieslies.’
She added: ‘Some people may say I hate my ex-sister-in-law Julia Keys – not true, I pity her, she’s delusional. Embarrassing her kids – 90 per cent of what she says is a lie. Affairs happen, she should know.’ Julia complained to police, claiming the tweets constituted harassment.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: ‘I can confirm that a report has been made by a woman which refers to accusations being made on Twitter.’
Keys quit his £500,000 a year role at Sky Sports in 2011 after making sexist comments about a female referee. It is understood that Miss Rose, who works in private equity, became friends with him in the Gulf state of Qatar. Her family had moved to the region where Keys had gone for work.
Interviewed on ITV’s This Morning last week, Julia spoke about her 36-year marriage and her husband’s affair. She said: ‘It was difficult in that we knew her.’
But she said she did not feel worried by Miss Rose’s age. ‘I never felt threatened that she was younger,’ she said. ‘I would have been more concerned if she were the same age. Age-gap relationships don’t end happily. The fantasy becomes reality. All we older women want is simplicity.’
Jemma was cleared last month of sending threatening or abusive text messages to Miss Rose.