Jerry Falwell Jr. Was Reportedly Paid Millions To Leave Liberty University
The Hulu documentary, God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty, just dropped on Nov. 1, and it is sure to have you running to your computer to Google your (many) questions about a famed American evangelical family and an alleged sex scandal that broke in 2020.
The doc tells the shocking story of a Miami pool attendant who later claimed he ended up tangled in a seven-year affair with a woman and her husband. But the husband wasn’t just anyone: It was evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.
News broke about the affair in 2020 and led to a massive fallout that saw the end of Jerry's career and his ousting from Liberty University, a conservative Christian college that his father founded. And while the former pool attendant, Giancarlo Granda, is featured in the documentary, the Falwells are notably absent.
This is certainly a lot to take in, so it’s understandable to have questions, including what happened to Jerry Falwell Jr. and where he is now. Here’s what you need to know.
Who is Jerry Falwell Jr.?
Let's start at the beginning. Jerry Falwell Jr., 60, is an attorney, but perhaps most famously, a prominent Evangelical Christian and former academic administrator. He’s the eldest son of televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., a conservative Christian leader and televangelist.
“My dad and I were thick as thieves," Falwell Jr. told Vanity Fair in a recent interview. The elder Falwell died at 73 in 2007.
Jerry was formerly the president of Liberty University, a school his father founded in Virginia, before a very public fall from grace, per NBC. He resigned from his post under pressure from school officials, per NBC. But more on that in a second.
Before his departure, Jerry had actually done a lot to resuscitate Liberty, bringing it back from near-bankruptcy and turning the university into "a financial powerhouse with more than 100,000 students and a $1.7 billion endowment," per Vanity Fair.
He later faced a civil lawsuit from the school, which alleged that he created a “well-resourced exit strategy” from his role as president and chancellor in the form of a 2019 employment agreement while keeping details of his scandal secret, NBC reported.
His father Jerry Falwell Sr. founded the Moral Majority.
The elder Falwell actually founded the conservative political lobbyist group in June 1979. The Moral Majority, which has since dissolved, was a pro-life, pro-family, pro-Israel group that strongly favored national defense, according to Falwell Sr.'s Liberty University bio. The group regularly endorsed presidential candidates based on those criteria, including Ronald Reagan.
Jerry Falwell Jr.'s wife was at the center of a big sex scandal.
Granda went public with his story about a seven year affair with Jerry's wife, Becki, and claimed that Jerry also participated in the "throuple" by watching Granda and his wife have sex, per NBC.
He claimed that the Falwells started “grooming” him when he was only 20 and then treated him to nice vacations, rides on the university's private aircraft, and that they even made him a co-owner of a hostel in Miami Beach, per Vanity Fair.
The Falwells later confirmed to Vanity Fair that Becki was involved in the affair, but they denied that Jerry played any role. They also said that Granda tried to extort them by threatening to go public with the relationship.
He endorsed Trump in 2016.
Jerry was a key endorsement for former President Donald Trump back in 2016. "I am proud to offer my endorsement of Donald J. Trump for President of the United States," he said in a statement released by the Trump campaign, per NPR. "He is a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again."
But the endorsement apparently came only months after Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer and fixer, helped the couple recover compromising photos related to the sex scandal, so some have assumed it was a quid pro quo arrangement, per Reuters.
Both Cohen and Jerry have denied this claim, per Vanity Fair.
Is Jerry Falwell Jr. still married?
Yes, Jerry and Becki are still married. In January, Becki told Vanity Fair that the affair is “the biggest regret I’ve ever had," adding later, "we’re together more than any couple you will ever meet in your life."
What is Jerry Falwell Jr.'s net worth?
All the scandal aside, Jerry still has a healthy net worth of $100 million dollars. And his departure from Liberty University helped him get there.
Jerry earned $1.25 million annually from his 13-year job at the university. However, he was also reportedly paid an additional $10 million for stepping down from his position. That's because his contract stipulated that he'd be payed his salary for two years plus $8 million if he were to ever leave, per Celebrity Net Worth.
What is Becki Falwell's net worth?
Becki Falwell is also doing well with a $33 million dollar net worth. This is mostly due to her marriage to Jerry, although she works as a social worker, activist, and media personality, which also contributes to the total, per Mixed Article.
What happened to Jerry Falwell Jr and where is he now?
Jerry lists “lawyer” and “commercial real estate developer” on his Instagram bio. He’s also a grandfather and seems to be spending a lot of time with his kids and grandkids lately at his farm and lake homes.
His daughter was a senior at Liberty this past year, per Vanity Fair, but the couple is still in a big legal fight with the school over Jerry's severance package.
The couple still lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.
God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty, is streaming now on Hulu.
You Might Also Like
