Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images — leaving me a message, like, the corniest thing you could do, like [singing the James Blunt song] ‘You’re Beautiful,’ leaving it on my [voicemail],” he remembered. Jerry Falwell Jr. has had a change of heart. POLITICO granted the former student anonymity to describe what he considered inappropriate advances from a woman who was herself a university employee and wife of the university president. Representatives for Jerry Falwell Jr. and Granda did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Monday. "hey mr. legend, it was great finally seeing you tonight after a month or forever. In the same statement, Jerry admitted that he and Becki met an “ambitious young man” who was working at the hotel eight years ago, but declined to mention Granda by name. Earlier this summer, the couple was vacationing with friends and family aboard a yacht owned by a Liberty University supporter when Jerry posted and quickly deleted a photo of himself with his pants unzipped and arm around Becki’s assistant. Becki Tilley was born in 1965 and from Winston Salem. I don't know what jobs are available but I think they list them on the website somewhere.”. "We have the strongest relationship, and Jerry is the most forgiving person I’ve ever met," Becki Falwell told the Associated Press. Members of the band recall Becki Falwell’s habit of showing up to their rehearsals. Brandon Ambrosino is a writer living in Delaware. The former student remembers that Falwell climbed into bed with him, and quickly took down his pants. POLITICO has also reported that Liberty has given a contract to a company owned by the Falwells’ son and sold property to friends and family without always making proper tax disclosures. “I was working weird hours at a restaurant, so I wasn’t around when Trey and [the then-student] would chill,” the former bandmate told POLITICO. I think that you are beautiful just like you are,” Becki Falwell wrote in a message sent in September 2008. But all through that fall, as the band was slowly separating, the former student said he continued to receive messages and requests from Becki Falwell. Still, Trey Falwell could play. https://people.com/human-interest/becki-falwell-breaks-silence-affair-scandal i'll give the cd to someone else who will appreciate it." “I think she was embarrassed, because I kinda remember her being defensive about it.”. “I was getting phone call after phone call after phone call after phone call from her — I’m in class! Trey Falwell and the former student would stay up drinking whiskey and picking out tunes on their guitars until the early morning. Find out what your cat is trying to tell you with a new cat app, Princess Diana died when Harry was just 12 years old, Engineer Creates App To Translate Your Cat, The Sweetest Photos of Princes Harry with Diana, Sean Connery's Cause of Death Revealed Weeks After He Dies at Age 90. “She was buying Kings of Leon tickets and showing up and handing [them] to [me in front of] people!”. Becki Falwell Biography – Becki Falwell Wiki. Jerry told the Examiner that Granda was extorting him, and allegedly threatened to make his affair with Becki public unless he was paid “substantial monies” — a claim Granda denied to the outlet. In the case of this then-student, these feelings were compounded by Becki Falwell’s position at Liberty University, and in Evangelical Christianity more broadly. A former Liberty University student says Becki Falwell, the wife of the university’s then-President Jerry Falwell Jr., jumped into bed with him and performed oral sex on him while he stayed over at the Falwell home after a band practice with her eldest son in 2008. “I love watching you before a show,” she wrote him on Nov. 7, 2008. Call me (since your text is dead) and i’ll get the cd to you,” she wrote in one. And his parents were supportive of the band, even offering to let the guys practice in an abandoned church next to their home, which is sometimes referred to as Falwell Farm, in Goode, Virginia. “They had this old church on their lot, and said, ‘If you guys go in and fix it up, you can play there whenever you want,’” the former student said. While the former student said he considered coming forward with his story in the past, he was worried about damaging the reputation of the school that Rev. “I’m just seeing this wrong,” he recalled thinking. She was the wife of the president of the school. "What in the world are you talking about??" He asked for her help in getting a job to offset his student-loan debt as he returned to classes: “I don't know if i should do the call center, or grounds...what do you think?? After some prodding, he coaxed Falwell into leaving. He was the eldest son of Jerry and Becki Falwell. “It’s a shame that Christians can’t give us the same forgiveness that Christ gave us.”, Granda, 29, told Reuters in a bombshell interview that after meeting the Falwells at a Miami Beach hotel in 2012, he would meet up with them several times a year over the next six years to have sex with Becki while “Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room.”. Jerry Falwell Jr married wife Becki Tilley in 1987. Jerry, 58, disputed Granda’s claims in a statement to the Washington Examiner, alleging that he had no part in the sexual relationship. ?”, In another, Falwell wrote, “is anyone there????????? “Becki thought [he] wrote that song about her,” the bandmate said. Steve Helber/AP/Shutterstock, | Shortly before classes resumed for Liberty’s fall 2008 semester, the then-student and a few friends were clearing boxes out of the rehearsal space on the Falwells’ property. For Liberty University students, the school year started off with a major scandal involving the institution’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., his wife Becki, and at least one of their kids. The concert went poorly, the former student said, recalling that their transition from “Carol of the Bells” into a Led Zeppelin song was booed by the audience. We weren’t as inviting.”. Falwell then proceeded to give him oral sex. So I want everybody to know that.”. Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now? Still, he figured, he was imagining things. One referenced a mutual friend who “said that she wants you to cut [your] bangs when you get your hair cut. Then he realized something was amiss. “I would think, ‘Am I reading too much into this?’ She would speak almost … she’d always give little innuendos. It would be the last time the group performed together. “If we slow down long enough, I can show you what I mean.”, Even as the then-student tried to stay away from Falwell, he said, she continued making advances. I am a hard worker and can learn and adapt very quickly.”, She replied almost a week later, offering to help him and asking after his mother. In 2012, evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Rebecca, met Giancarlo Granda, a pool attendant, at the Fontainebleau. It was early in the summer of 2008 when a member of his rock band suggested a new guitarist who, he said, knew every Led Zeppelin song and could play like Jimmy Page. For the then-student, a line was crossed when Falwell befriended his mother, who had driven to Lynchburg to see one of his band’s shows. Jerry Falwell Jr. and his Wife Becki Tilley in Lynchburg, Virginia, November 2018. It was so neat to see people singing along to shady grove (of course through the tears in my eyes … that song always gets to me.).”. He was younger than them by a few years — they were in their early 20s, and he was fresh out of high school. Steve Helber / Shutterstock. “We have the strongest relationship, and Jerry is the most forgiving person I’ve ever met,” Becki told the outlet. He remembered walking into the guest room, just as he’d done many times, closing the door behind him, and preparing the bed. “So we went in and put egg crates and lighting everywhere. He said she initiated the act, and he went along with it. The former student said he responded the following day by texting that he was praying for her. That property ultimately turned out to be a Miami Beach youth hostel, which the Falwells purchased in 2013 and offered Granda a share in, BuzzFeed News reported. In the end, he decided to come forward with his story because of what he now sees as an abuse of power on the part of Becki Falwell. Why are you doing this right now on this account?’” the former student recalled. Often, the band would practice into the evening. I found [that] a lot of the traits that these guys had, [Falwell] had as well.”, The former student also believes that Falwell trusted him to keep their secret because “she knew that I cared about her school and the soul-winning aspect. Her praise of the then-student’s talents became effusive. “She got too brash with stuff,” he said. We had a decent amount of Jack Daniels,” the former student said. The messages, screenshots of which were provided by the former student to POLITICO, suggest a flirtatious relationship that went beyond what might be expected of a mother communicating with her son’s bandmate. Potiphar’s wife aggressively tried to seduce Joseph, an unwilling recipient of her advances, and stripped off his clothes. “It was, ‘Oh hey, guys, I brought you some lemonade.’ And then she’d always stick around.”, “She was like, ‘Hey, I know I’m a mom, but I wanna be friends with everyone,’” recalled the former bandmate. Falwell Jr., who is the son of the late televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., said the affair caused h… She goes, ‘Hey, can you help me with something?’ I said, ‘Sure, heck yeah, I can help you!’ I figure she needed some heavy lifting. POLITICO first contacted the former student in 2019, after hearing of his alleged sexual encounter with Falwell from former classmates. “What you did at the Battle of the Bands was truly genius, getting everyone to stand up and come near the stage. Over the last year, the former student has recounted this story several times in interviews with POLITICO. Jerry and Becki Falwell. He said he grew up in a North Carolina home where the Falwell name loomed large. RELATED: Jerry Falwell Jr. — Ousted Amid Sex Scandal — Says He Was 'Targeted' Over Trump Ties.