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Whether you describe it as ironic, fortuitous or horribly prescient, there’s no doubting what finally awakened Julia Keys to the thought that her sports presenter husband might be ‘playing away’ from home – and that was her fateful decision to write a book on the sensitive subject of infidelity.

After nearly 20 years as a trained counsellor, Julia was in an excellent position to describe the warning signs in a failing marriage, but as her research for the manuscript gathered pace, she found herself reaching a series of disturbing conclusions not just about the conduct of men in general, but the increasingly suspicious behaviour of a husband who had been by her side for 34 happy years. 

That man, of course, is Richard Keys, the football presenter who has already enjoyed a fair share of notoriety.

After nearly 20 years as a trained counsellor, Julia (left) was in an excellent position to describe the warning signs in a failing marriage, but she found herself reaching a series of disturbing conclusions about her husband Richard Keys (right)

Famously, he parted company with Sky in 2011 when remarks he made about a female colleague were caught on tape. 

The genial Keys today plies his trade on a TV station in Qatar. 

But it is a conflict closer to home that has now caught the headlines after Julia finally established that he was conducting a romance with a blonde lawyer who was not merely less than half his age, but was also a friend of their daughter.

When, after months of denial, photographs of 59-year-old Keys with the other woman – a 27-year-old called Lucie Rose – were published a few weeks ago, a weary Julia was finally driven to ‘press the divorce button’, as she delicately puts it.

Today, in her first interview after five months of emotional turmoil, she sets out a heartbreaking account of not just the betrayal, but the lies and mind games that she says have caused lasting damage to her and those around her. 

Julia finally established that he was conducting a romance with a blonde lawyer, Lucie Rose, 27, (pictured) who was not merely less than half his age, but was also a friend of their daughter

There was a time when Julia really thought she might be going mad amid the half truths and denials – tempted to dismiss her instincts and agree with him that Richard’s infidelity was all in her head.

‘I know from my own work that women in this position feel isolated and alone,’ she explains. ‘I felt that too. So bewildered. And so betrayed.’

Needless to say, it was the most obvious of clues that eventually gave him away, one that has practically become a cliche. And that, of course, was his ‘relationship’ with his mobile phone.

‘I’d been working on this book about how to tell whether a man – it’s usually the man – is cheating,’ she sighs. ‘These men behave in a very predictable way. We call it the manscript.

Julia said: 'Women have a gut feeling and you should trust that'. Lucie Rose (left) sent an intimate set of text messages to Richard (right), which were quietly received by Julia herself

‘I suddenly thought, “Hang on. I think something is going on with Richard.” There were classic symptoms: he was overprotective with his phone, the secret calls, the late-night texts quickly deleted. 

Women have a gut feeling and you should trust that.’ There was more, too: moody and preoccupied, Richard, she says, became angry and defensive when questioned, attempting to blame her for how she felt.

It hardly needed the eventual clincher, an intimate set of text messages from Lucie Rose which were sent to Richard’s phone, but were quietly received, late at night, by Julia herself.

Sitting in a comfortable armchair in her Berkshire home, she cuts a slender, elegant figure, one much younger than her 57 years.

At times she seems to find it hard to reconcile the behaviour of her estranged husband with the young man she met and fell in love with when he worked for Radio City in Liverpool, and she was waiting to start her training as a nurse.

Julia describes Richard as a caring husband and father who doted on his two children. He became a presenter for the Sports Channel on British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990, and when that later became Sky Sports, he became a household name, presenting Premier League and Champions League matches.

Meanwhile, Julia had embarked on a new career as a relationship therapist, while caring for family members who were ill. But her own health, too, was suffering. In 2009, she was diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer, a rare form of the disease, and had surgery to remove tumours in her neck.

The resilience she showed then was again required in 2011, when her husband suffered that very public fall from grace. Leaked audio footage – off air but picked up by microphones – showed Keys and boorish co-presenter Andy Gray making sexist remarks about an assistant referee, questioning whether she understood the offside rule. Both presenters were forced into a grovelling apology and later sacked.

So when Richard was offered a lucrative £420,000 job as the face of Qatar sports channel beIN, Julia did not hesitate to move to Doha to be by his side – even though it came at the cost of her new career and her network of friendships at home.

Julia describes Richard as a caring husband and father who doted on his two children. He became a presenter for the Sports Channel on British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990

‘He was my husband and I felt I should be wherever he was,’ she shrugs. ‘I didn’t want to go. There was very little for me to do. There were family issues at home and I had to return frequently to the UK because of family illness. I felt like I was being split in two. Richard blamed me and the family for taking me away from him, as if it was somehow my fault.’

Despite the difficulties, she played the role of the dutiful expat wife and the pair made a new life for themselves in the Qatari capital. Jemma, their actress daughter, made welcome visits and they started to establish a social circle, including one of Jemma’s new friends, a young lawyer called Lucie Rose.

Often dressed in low-cut tops and figure-hugging skirts, social media pictures of her suggest that Lucie was no stranger to the party scene, yet Julia had never questioned her husband’s loyalty – until, in March last year, when she began working on her book with a friend. And suddenly, a jigsaw of disconnected pieces started moving into place.

‘I actually said to him one day, “Richard, I’m feeling suspicious about the way you’re dealing with your phone. What was that message? Can I see it?”

‘He quickly pushed a few buttons and showed me something on Twitter, but I’m not an idiot.’

The following month, Julia threw Richard a birthday party and was puzzled when Lucie turned up.

Julia was tired that night, an after-effect of her cancer treatment. ‘I left early,’ she recalls. ‘But Lucie came over to me, grabbed me by the arm and said, “Oh, are you going now, Julia?” It was the tone she used. That was the moment I knew.

Richard (right) became a household name, presenting Premier League and Champions League matches. Pictured with co-presenter Andy Gray

‘When Richard came home we went to bed, but in the early hours I went to his phone and there was a message from Lucie saying, “Where are you? I ran after you and came out as soon as you’d left.” When I confronted him, Richard brushed it aside and said he’d been helping her with a medical matter. He was dismissive.’

Weeks later, on a trip to Cornwall at the end of May, Richard fell asleep beside his phone.

‘Suddenly a message came through from Lucie saying, “Are you OK?” I took the phone and pretended to be Richard, and wrote “No. I’m not”.

‘The response was, “You sound so sad. I wish I was there to give you a big cuddle.” We went on messaging from there.’

Julia confronted him with his lies and, finally, Richard admitted he had got ‘extremely close’ to Lucie.

Julia confronted him with his lies and, finally, Richard admitted he had got ‘extremely close’ to Lucie

‘I was not only angry but hugely upset and hurt that he would do this knowing our family circumstances and how much I’d torn myself in two to be everything to him as well as our family.’

News of the liaison leaked into the press but, behind the scenes, Julia was persuaded by lawyers to deny the relationship, backing her husband despite her private humiliation.

She still maintains that he had never been a womaniser. ‘But I knew this was different,’ she continues. ‘He promised that it was over. But it wasn’t. As he was texting his messages of love to me, he was still in contact with her. And I knew that.’

After years of caring for others as a nurse and as a mother, Julia’s own health has suffered. She had already nursed both Keys’s father and her own before their deaths, and is now caring for another close family member. It is clearly taking its toll.

However, she maintains it has been ‘a happy marriage’ despite its trials and, although she refused to return to live with Richard in Doha, she attempted a reconciliation.

But in December, Julia discovered through a friend that Richard had arranged to meet Lucie once again during a business trip to Dubai. And then came the final devastating blow: pictures of them together during a two-night stay at a Central London hotel, after his repeated insistence that it was over.

‘I was so angry. There was a part of me that had actually been accepting of the situation. When you’re lied to so prolifically… lies are so damaging. They make a person doubt themselves and their own gut feelings.

‘When you’re constantly being told, “It’s all in your mind” – which is part of the manscript, by the way, to shift responsibility – that “You’re mad,” or “You’re imagining things,” you start to believe it. I called Richard and I said, very calmly, “I’ve just been shown some photos of you and Lucie. There is really nothing left to say, is there?” He didn’t reply. He couldn’t. I’m really, really sad that at this stage in our life we find ourselves compromised in this way.

But in December, Julia discovered through a friend that Richard had arranged to meet Lucie once again during a business trip to Dubai

‘My son Josh and daughter Jemma are disappointed and sad. Jemma couldn’t believe that a woman who was a friend could do this to her family. She’s very upset. I think we might have resolved it if this had been just about Richard and me. But we have a third person in this relationship.

‘I’ve been told Lucie had a tenacious determination to be in Richard’s life. I would like to think that she was extremely sorry for the part she’s played in the breakdown of our marriage but unfortunately my understanding is quite the opposite.

‘I don’t think their relationship has much chance of survival. But that is no longer my business.

‘Richard has told me, “I don’t know what happened to me”. He admits he was flattered by the attention of a young woman who he says made it plain she was interested in him at a time I was away trying to desperately sort out a very difficult family situation in the UK. He has also said, “There’s no fool like an old fool”.’

The timing is far from perfect. Last year, Julia officially came out of remission and tests have revealed further cancer markers in her blood, which means the disease is active again. ‘Richard knows this. He’s said he’s extremely sorry that his actions may have contributed to my recent diagnosis. I think stress has played an enormous part in this. But I remain 100 per cent positive.’

Julia maintains it has been ‘a happy marriage’ despite its trials and, although she refused to return to live with Richard (right) in Doha, she attempted a reconciliation

It is testimony to this positivity that Julia still finds herself able to talk fondly of him. ‘When you have been with someone as long as we were married, you become enmeshed, intertwined. It’s almost like you co-exist on some levels. It is traumatic to be separated.

‘There’s no doubt we’re still in each other’s thoughts. It’s very hard for me to consider life without him. I never thought that at this time in our lives we would be in this position. It is truly tragic.

‘I felt very alone; the humiliation has been so public. I’m not so concerned for myself, but I’ve been very concerned for my children.

‘I’ve sat with many women, sometimes they cannot speak for their emotion and crying when their husband has met someone else.

‘The main reason for me doing this interview is to let other women who are going through similar circumstances know that there is help out there from people who know exactly how difficult it is to negotiate the end of a marriage and come out the other side. To be true to yourself and come out intact. That’s why we’ve written this book.’ 

http://www.themanscript.com/