Liberty University president, Jerry Falwell Jr., has resigned after 29-year-old Giancarlo Granda, revealed to Reuters that he had an affair with Falwell’s wife, Becki, beginning in 2012, when he was just 20-years-old.
According to the interview that was published on Monday, Granda confirmed that the affair lasted until 2018. He claims that the evangelical Christian leader would watch as he had sex with Becki Falwell. Granda even believes that the couple targeted him.
While 58-year-old Falwell did release a statement confirming that an affair took place, he denied participating in it. He claimed that Becki’s infidelity caused him to suffer from depression. In the statement, Falwell said that he forgave both his wife and her lover, which he did not name at the time.
However, Reuters revealed that Granda shared emails, text messages, and other evidence that shed light on the nature of the relationship.
On Tuesday, the board of trustees at the private evangelical Christian university accepted Falwell’s resignation, following a daylong back-and-forth over the fate of the longtime leader of the school, who spent 13 years in the position. Falwell had been placed on an indefinite leave of absence on August 7th after a series of scandals, including a tweet showing a person in blackface. He also posted a disturbing photo to his Instagram account in which his shirt was up, and he was holding a glass of dark liquid as he stood next to a woman, and his pants appeared to be unzipped. He issued a public apology for the incidents.
Falwell became president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, following the death of his father, Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. The latter founded the school in 1971 and led it until his death in 2007. The senior Falwell was also a leader in the Moral Majority and promoted a “pro-family” agenda. The junior Falwell helped Donald Trump win the endorsement of evangelicals in 2016.
On Monday, the university said in a news release that Falwell initially agreed to resign as president and from its board of directors after “additional matters came to light that made it clear that it would not be in the best interest” for him to return. But, he withdrew the offer following media reports. For reasons unknown, Falwell then told The Wall Street Journal late Monday that he had decided to provide a resignation letter.
“The board put me on leave, took away my duties as prez, and that’s not permitted by my contract,” Falwell said, according to the paper. “And they put me on leave because of pressure from self-righteous people.”
Attorneys for Granda and Falwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
