- Richard Keys was divorced in 2016 after 36 years of marriage due to ‘infidelity’
- Julia Keys said the alleged affair ‘devastated’ her as she recovered from cancer
- Keys married Lucie Rose, 32 years his junior, in 2023 in a ceremony in Devon
Shamed former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys has hit back at claims that he cheated on his ‘terminally ill’ wife to marry his current partner.
Back in June last year, Keys secretly tied the knot with his daughter’s friend after previously denying falling in love with the young lawyer while his wife was fighting cancer.
The former Sky Sports News presenter, 66, married Lucie Rose, 35, in a £20,000 ceremony attended by family and friends, which did not include his 38-year-old daughter Jemma or son Joshua.
And, on Saturday night, Keys drew the ire of users on X having posted to commemorate the death of former Sky Sports rugby league commentator who died recently following a battle with prostate cancer – before becoming embroiled in a heated dispute.
One user eventually said on X: ‘A comment about class when you cheated on your terminally ill misses with your daughters friend has some sort of irony doesn’t it gorilla hands’.
Ex-Sky sports presenter Richard Keys hit back at critics on X denying his wife, who divorced him in 2016, was ‘terminally ill’, demanding that ‘it’s time for this nonsense to stop’
Keys (centre) pictured with his ex-wife Julia (left) and their daughter Jemma (right), was divorced in 2016 due to his alleged infidelity with lawyer Lucie Rose, 32 years his younger
Lucie Rose (right) pictured with Richard Keys’ daughter Jemma – Keys has always denied that he had ‘fallen in love with a friend of my daughter’s’ and that he left his wife fighting cancer
Keys then lashed back at accusations he had left his terminally ill wife during an alleged affair, replying: ‘You guys have no idea. Terminally ill? She’s still here – Alive and Kicking.’
He continued: ‘Behave yourself. It’s time for this nonsense to stop.’
Another user then wrote: ‘Oh come on Richard. I was in the Cardinal Clinic in Windsor with your ex-wife Julia.
Keys then replied to the user and wrote: ‘One of the unwritten rules of therapy of course is that you don’t ever break confidences. But you do’.
The online trolling of Keys relates to his 2016 divorce from his then wife of 36 years Julia, who previously recovered from thyroid cancer.
Keys married Julia in 1982 and they had two children together. But she filed for divorce in 2016 citing Keys’ alleged infidelity while he was working for beIN in Qatar.
Julia said that the affair had ‘devastated’ her during her cancer recovery and wrecked her children’s lives.
In June 2023, Keys married lawyer Lucie Rose, 32 years his junior, who he had allegedly been having an affair with at the same time as his wife recovered from thyroid cancer.
It was alleged, but always denied by Keys, that Lucie Rose was his daughter’s best friend.
The suspected £20,000 wedding in Devon in 2023 was not attended by Keys’ daughter Jemma or son Joshua.
Keys had previously denied leaving his wife while she had cancer, telling The Athletic in 2019: ‘I’ll mention the unmentionable for you. Did I leave my wife fighting cancer? No.
Keys, who still lives in Doha, Qatar, where he works for beIN as a presenter married Lucie Rose at a £20,000 ceremony in Devon in 2023 – neither his son or daughter were in attendance
‘I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why our marriage ended the way it did, but my wife was fighting cancer for seven years before I left her and she had been in remission for seven years.
‘She and I went to London every day of her fight, prior to a ground-breaking operation that saw her in a period of recovery.
‘Julia had been in remission for seven years. I know how hard it was for her when things went wrong.
‘I wasn’t going to start engaging in a tit-for-tat, he-said, she-said, respond to everything that was said about me.
‘If people believe that I walked away with my wife fighting cancer with a friend of my daughter’s. I can’t change that now.
‘Tell a lie twice and it becomes the truth. Tell it on social media and it haunts you forever. I didn’t fall in love with a friend of my daughter’s.’
In April 2018, Julia wrote about her husband’s affair in her book The MANScript.
She explained: ‘Richard’s affair didn’t just devastate my world, but the world of our children Jemma and Josh too.
Lucie Rose (pictured) married Keys the former Sky Sports presenter after he had previously denied an affair with her – Keys’ ex-wife Julia described the affair as having ‘devastated’ her
‘It is only now, two years on, that he has admitted he did have an affair with Lucie, as well as acknowledging his deceit and the damage it has caused.
Julia also told The Sun: ‘He met Jemma’s friend Lucie, who was working in Doha, and the lies began. He claimed she and her friends thought of him as their ”Doha Dad”.
‘I remember at Richard’s birthday party, just as I was leaving, Lucie grabbed my arm and said: ”Are you leaving now Julia?’ She was so insistent, and I thought it was odd – then Richard was ages coming home.
‘When I questioned him, he’d said Lucie needed to talk to him as she had a problem. I don’t feel bitter towards Lucie, but deeply disappointed that she could devastate our family like this.’
Keys still lives in Doha where he fronts beIN’s football coverage with Andy Gray.
The former Sky Sports presenter left Sky after a recording of derogatory comments he made about female assistant referee Sian Massey off-air and the fitness of women to officiate at football matches was leaked. Further clips were subsequently leaked of Keys and fellow presenter Andy Gray making sexist comments.
Keys later apologised and described it as ‘prehistoric banter’. Keys and Gray still present together for beIN.