Jerry Falwell Jr says he took testosterone to get in shape to win wife Becki back after her affair with pool boy - but blames side effects for making him 'more combative'

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Disgraced former Liberty University leader Jerry Falwell Jr. claims his wife's affair with her much younger pool boy ex-lover motivated him to get back in shape by changing his fitness regimen and taking testosterone supplements.  

Jerry, 57, claims he hired a personal trainer and began lifting weights in an effort to win his wife, Becki, back from her lover, Giancarlo Granda, who was 21 at the time the affair started in 2012.

'I was thinking maybe I was the reason she was lonely because I wasn’t taking care of myself,' Jerry told Vanity Fair in a tell-all interview published Monday. 

The fallen televangelist was met with negative side effects from the hormone treatments, which he has attributed to many of the seditious things he did before his resignation from his role as university president.

'The testosterone made me more combative,' he said. 

Jerry's time as president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, came to an end in 2020 after Granda's revelations about his years-long affair with Becki, 54, emerged.  

When Jerry first discussed the affair publicly, he shared that he lost 80 pounds after becoming aware of the affair. He claimed, at the time, that it was 'very upsetting to learn about' and it showed him there were 'important smaller things I needed to do better, too'.

Disgraced former Liberty University leader Jerry Falwell Jr. (pictured on left in 2021) claims the affair his wife, Becki (right), had her much younger pool boy ex-lover motivated him to get back in shape by changing his fitness regimen and taking testosterone supplements 

Jerry is pictured in 2017 riding a horse. He appears to be in good physical health

Falwell stood down as president of Liberty University days after this 2020 photo of him emerged. He said he'd been attending a party on a yacht where the theme was the TV show Trailer Park Boys 

Former lovers Becki and Granda also shared some bombshell revelations during the interview.

Becki claimed she and Granda, now 30, used to make sex tapes together, alleging that Jerry was unaware of the recordings.  

'I had a big Canon camera. A couple of times I put it on the dresser and Giancarlo agreed to it,' she shared. 

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 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. 

Jerry (right) is pictured with his wife's ex-lover, Giancarlo Granda (left). The Falwells met Granda in 2012 at a hotel in Miami

Jerry said he hired a personal trainer, began lifting weights and underwent hormone treatments in an effort to win Becki back. He claims he lost 80 pounds after learning about the affair. He is pictured left, in 2012 and right, in 2015.

Jerry and Becki Falwell are pictured at the National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner at Waldorf in December 2013

The married couple is also pictured in October 2013

Jerry is pictured jet-skiing in June 2016 (left) and participating in water sports in October 2016 (right)

Becki (left) also made bombshell revelations during the tell-all interview, including how she and Granda used to make sex tapes together without Jerry's (right) knowledge. The Falwells are pictured together in 2019

Jerry and Becki Falwell are pictured together in May 2021 after he underwent an advanced medical procedure to reduce blood clots in his lungs

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, alleges 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.  

Becki Falwell (circled second from right), the wife of disgraced former Liberty University leader Jerry Falwell Jr., (right, circled) revealed in a tell-all interview released Monday that she used to make sex dates with her ex-lover, Giancarlo Granda (circled second from left). They are pictured in an undated photo

Granda is pictured with Becki and Jerry and their family on trip to DC in September 2018

The Falwells met Giancarlo Granda (pictured left in 2020) in 2012 when he was a 21 year-old pool boy. Jerry denies claims he enjoyed watching his wife (pictured right in 2019) have sex with the younger man - but has now claimed he once walked in on them together, and was 'traumatized' by what he saw

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 Granda at 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.   

The Falwells first met Granda at Miami's famous Fontainbleu Hotel, pictured, in 2012, with Becki beginning a sexual relationship with him shortly afterwards 

Becki claimed that in 2017 Granda, pressured her into having sex in her daughter's Caroline's bed despite the affair having ended (Pictured: Becki, Jerry and Caroline in Aug. 2018)

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.' 

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

He had been on indefinite leave since August 7 amid a furor over an Instagram picture that 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 homosexuality' 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.'

Falwell also sparked fury over a tweet opposing mask mandates including a tweet showing a figure in a KKK hood stood next to a man wearing blackface 

The Falwells were also big supporters of President Trump, and were credited with helping drive important support among Evangelical Christians 

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 at Liberty University, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school has a 'strict code of conduct' where students 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 the first 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.