Ex-Liberty University leader's wife details affair with pool boy (2024)

Becki Falwell, the wife of disgraced former Liberty University leader Jerry Falwell Jr., revealed in a tell-all interview released Monday that she used to make sex tapes with her much younger pool boy ex-lover,Giancarlo Granda.

'I had a big Canon camera. A couple of times I put it on the dresser and Giancarlo agreed to it,' Becki, 54, told Vanity Fair, alleging her husband did not know she and Granda, 30, had filmed them.

Jerry's time as president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, came to an end last year after Granda's revelations about the years-long affair emerged.

Granda claimed that Jerry enjoyed watching him have sex with Becki after they first met in Miami in 2012, when Granda was 21. He even claimed that they formed a 'throuple' - a polyamorous couple who invite a third person to join their relationship.

Jerry, 57, denied that - but did admit to Vanity Fair that he'd once walked in on Becki and Granda in bed, and claimed to have been 'traumatized' by the sight of another man having sex with his spouse.

Becki also claimed that in 2017 Granda, a former Miami pool boy, pressured her into having sex in her 25 year-old daughter's Caroline's bed long, after the relationship had ended.

'He said he wanted to have sex and I said, "No, no, no." I kept saying no. I didn’t want to do it,' Becki said.

'But I was scared to death of him too, because he was still holding everything over me, so we had sex. He left and I went into the room and just cried.'

She said it took her months to tell her husband, Jerry Falwell Jr., and two lawyers about the 'traumatic experience,' which she now believes could have been a form of assault.

'I said no. Just because we had sex before does not mean he has a free ticket to my body,' she told the magazine.

Granda declined Vanity Fair's request for comment on the allegation, but issued a succinct statement denying Becki's claims.

He said his version of events would become clear in an upcoming book and Hulu series about his time with the couple.

Granda however, allege that Jerry often enjoyed watching him have sex with his wife, an accusation the fallen televangelist denies.Although, Jerry did recently admit to having walked in on the pair.

'It was traumatizing,' he said, recalling how he caught them together in a Miami hotel room in autumn of 2013.

Granda also accused the Falwells of 'grooming him' and alleged the three of them were a 'throuple' - an assertion the married couple has denied. Furthermore, Granda insists that Jerry watched him and Becki the first time they had intercourse, which occurred in March 2012.

They entered into a business agreement which saw the Falwells support Granda's hospitality venture. Asked by Vanity Fair why they'd continued to bankroll to the tune of $1.8 million it long after the personal relationship had allegedly soured, Jerry claimed it had been too good a business opportunity to miss.

Jerry, one of the most influential right-wing Christian leaders in the United States, went public about his wife's infidelity in 2020.

He said the couple had chosen to make the affair public as he alleged the pool boy had been blackmailing them for years about keeping the secret.

'Jerry would wake up every morning and worry that my affair would come out. Both of us did,' Becki recalled. 'It’s just horrible to have that over you.'

The Falwells met Grandaat the Fontainebleau hotel pool in Miami Beach in March 2012 and were reportedly so impressed with him that they invested in a gay hostel that he and their son ran as managers.

Granda and Becki's affair allegedly began shortly afterwards and ended in 2014. Becki told the magazine she called things off because Granda had started a serious relationship with a girlfriend.

'I felt guilty about it. I didn’t want to keep it up,' she said.

Jerry claims Granda then devised an extortion plot and demanded $2million to keep the affair secret.

When he took the affair public two years ago, Jerry claimed that the 'threatening behavior' left him with 'trauma' and had greatly affected him as he tried to run Liberty University.

'It was like living on a roller coaster,' Jerry said at the time. '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.'

He claimed the relationship began when at a time when he was dedicating too much time to the university after being appointed its president following the death of his father in 2007. He said he was not not spending enough time with Becki during that period in his life.

'Becki had an inappropriate personal relationship with this person, something in which I was not involved,' he insisted in 2020, 'it was nonetheless very upsetting to learn about.'

Now, Becki claims that two have worked through the hardships caused by the affair and are both very grateful to have their marriage.

'We’re together more than any couple you will ever meet in your life,' she told Vanity Fair. 'He forgave me, and that’s what Jesus teaches, forgiveness.'

Jerryagreed to step down from his role as Liberty University president in late August 2020, shortly after the affair had come public.

Hehad been on indefinite leave since August 7 amid a furor over an Instagram picturethat showed him with his pants unzipped, drink in hand, and arm around a woman.

In wake of the photo, and other sordid reports about his sex life, Jerry agreed to resign.His father, Jerry Falwell Sr. had founded the university.

Jerry Sr, who died in 2003 aged 73, reportedly only became a pastor because of his wife, Macel, who was a devout Baptist. Jerry said his father adopted 'militant stands against drinking and hom*osexuality' to prove to Macel that he could be a 'conservative Christian'.

He also realized there was money to be made in preaching.

'My dad became a Christian because his mom pushed him in that direction,' Jerry Jr said. 'My mother was the only reason my dad became puritanical.He became a different person to build a church and a school.'

Jerry Jr said his dad's firebrand image was only for show, and that he was much calmer and more relaxed in private.

The two men grew apart during Jerry's youth, but became close again in the mid-1990s when Jerry helped save Liberty University from bankruptcy by offering distance learning, with cash pouring in to its coffers as a result.

Strict conservative views were enforced atLiberty University, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school has a 'strict code of conduct' wherestudents are prohibited from having sexual relations outside of 'biblically ordained' marriage and are also banned from engaging with media that contains lewd lyrics, sexual content and nudity.They can also be fined $250 if they're caught drinking alcohol.

Jerry Jr and Becki have both been now banned from its campus in the wake of the scandals which led to Jerry's departure, even though Jerry Sr is buried on its grounds.

Jerry is also being sued by Liberty University for $10m after he failed to notify bosses of Granda's alleged extortion plot when negotiating a new contract with them.

Shortly before the Granda scandal emerged, Jerry shared a snap of him at a party in jeans with his fly undone, and with his hand around a pregnant colleague's waist.

He said they'd dressed up for a Trailer Park Boys-themed event on a yacht.

Jerry also faced widespread condemnation after tweeting his opposition to mask mandates using a photo of a mask showing a person in KKK robes next to another person wearing blackface.

The former university leader was also one of thefirst evangelical Christian leaders to endorse former President Donald Trump, who appeared on the campus twice before his 2016 election victory.

Ted Cruz had reportedly been the leading evangelical candidate in the 2016 Republican primary, but five days before the Iowa caucuses Jerry endorsed Trump, which some analysts allege 'dealt a terminal blow' to Cruz's campaign.

Becki also served on the Women for Trump advisory board.