HARDER THEY FALWELL
Jerry Jr.: The pool boy slept with my wife The pool boy: And Jerry watched!
It was an unholy trinity. Religious leader Jerry Falwell, Jr. said his wife, Becki, had an affair with a cabana boy, who then extorted the couple. But the pool dude, Giancarlo Granda (inset), fired back, saying that not only was Falwell aware of the coveting, he watched. Late last night, Falwell resigned as president of Liberty University.
Jerry Falwell Jr. has revealed that his wife had an affair with a pool boy, who he says later tried to extort the couple.
But the other man claims the evangelical leader was not only OK with the sex — he liked to watch.
The sordid saga led to a backand-forth between Falwell, 58, and the ultra-conservative Liberty University in Virginia,, where he served as president.
Ultimately, Falwell caved and submitted his letter of resignation late Monday, after spending the day denying reports he was out.
Falwell first admitted his wife Becki’s “indiscretion” — which he described as brief and starting in 2012 — in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Sunday night.
In the statement, Falwell — the son of late televangelist and modern religious-right co-founder Jerry Falwell Sr. — claimed he was “not involved” in Becki Falwell’s “inappropriate personal relationship” with Giancarlo Granda, now 29.
Falwell described Becki’s affair as “a fatal attraction-type situation,” adding that the couple has been paying for it ever since with threats and fear.
But in a second bombshell, Granda on Monday told Reuters that his affair with Becki, 53, lasted from March 2012 to 2018 — and that Falwell would happily watch the pair get it on.
“Becki and I developed an intimate relationship, and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda said.
Granda alleges he was taken advantage of by the couple.
“Whether it was immaturity, naivete, instability or a combination thereof, it was this ‘mindset’ that the Falwells likely detected in deciding that I was the ideal target for their sexual escapades,” Granda said.
Falwell Jr. had already been on leave from Liberty University amid an uproar over an Instagram photo that showed him with his stomach exposed, jeans unzipped and his arm around a young pregnant woman whose shorts were also undone.
He has dismissed the since-deleted snapshot as being taken “in fun.”
But the photo — and now Granda’s claims — paint a picture that is at odds with the conservative morals Falwell has peddled over the years as he assumed the religious-leader mantle of his dad, who founded Liberty University in 1971 and died in 2007.
Liberty’s students are forced to adhere to an “honor code” that prohibits sex outside of marriage.
According to Reuters, Granda produced screenshots of what he said was a FaceTime call last year between him and Becki — a prominent voice on the conservative scene herself — as they discussed their relationship.
Becki allegedly appeared on the screen naked while they talked — as Falwell peeked from behind a door.
Falwell and Becki — who married in 1987 and have three children — first met Granda in 2012 while he was working as a pool attendant at the Foutainebleau Miami Beach hotel in Florida, Falwell acknowledged in his statement, which did not mention Granda by name.
Falwell said both he and his wife admired Granda’s work ethic.
The Scripture-spouting, antiLGBTQ leader offered to go into business with Granda — by buying a gay-friendly Miami hostel in 2013 and giving him a share for managing it with Falwell’s son, Trey.
Granda said that over the next
few years, as Falwell was solidifying his role as one of the country’s most prominent evangelical leaders, he was having sex romps with Becki.
Granda said the pair had trysts “multiple times per year” in hotels in New York and Miami, as well as at the Falwells’ home in Virginia. He was 21 when the alleged affair began.
Reuters reported that in a text message from 2012, when Granda and Becki started their affair, she allegedly cooed to her younger lover, “Right now I am just missing you like crazy . . . . Have you had this effect on all of your lady friends?”
Granda also produced an audio recording of what he said was a conversation between him and the couple in 2018. In the recording, Becki allegedly gripes about Granda’s other women.
“He’s, like, telling me every time he hooks up with people. Like I don’t have feelings or something,” Becki allegedly says, apparently addressing her hubby.
Falwell then allegedly tells Granda, “You’re going to make her jealous.”
Granda replies, “I’m not trying to do that.”
Granda told Reuters that the relationship eventually went south because he wanted out of the hostel and sought money as part of a buyout.
“Since you’re okay with ruining my life, I am going to take the kamikaze route,” Granda says he wrote to Falwell in a text message two months ago.
“It really is a shame because I wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives, but if conflict is what you want, then so be it.”
Falwell allegedly shot back, “You should by now understand that I will not be extorted.
“I have always treated you fairly and been restrained in response to your threats because I did not wish to ruin your life. Going forward, stop contacting me and my family.”
Reuters said it had asked the Falwells for comment while working on Granda’s explosive claims and received a statement only last week from Falwell’s lawyer saying he “categorically denies everything you indicated you intend to publish about him.”
Then, Falwell gave his statement to the Examiner.
In the 1,200-word document, Falwell insisted, “While we tried to distance ourselves from [Granda] 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.’’
Falwell said he and his wife decided to go public with the situation because “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,” he said.
But Granda told the Examiner, “Any allegation of extortion is falsely, defamatory and belied by clear documentary evidence.
“The Falwells’ 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 [of] desperation,” he said.
Becki Falwell could not be reached for comment by The
Post.