Former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys has denied 'falling in love with a friend of his daughter's' while his wife Julia was fighting cancer.
Keys, 62, split from his wife of 34 years back in 2016 after allegedly having an affair with the then-28-year-old lawyer Lucie Rose, a friend of his daughter Jemma.
Julia revealed last year how Keys' affair 'devastated' her world as she recovered from thyroid cancer and also wrecked the lives of their two children, Jemma and Josh.
But Keys, who was sacked in disgrace from his £500,000-a-year job fronting Sky's Premier League coverage in 2011 after making disparaging remarks about female referee Sian Massey-Ellis, has denied the affair happened.
In an interview with The Athletic, Keys said: 'I'll mention the unmentionable for you. Did I leave my wife fighting cancer? No.
'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.'
It emerged in September 2016 that Julia Keys had filed for divorce on grounds of adultery amid accusations her husband had an affair with Miss Rose.
The pair were understood to have been introduced by a mutual acquaintance on the expat social circuit in Qatari capital Doha, where Keys was working as a presenter for TV network BeIN Sports.
At the time, it was reported that Mrs Keys, a psychotherapist, felt her husband had 'run out of chances' after she had stood by him following his sacking by Sky Sports.
Keys and co-presenter Andy Gray made offensive off-air remarks about Premier League official Massey, claiming she didn't know the offside rule.
In another studio conversation, which was filmed but not transmitted, Keys asked pundit Jamie Redknapp about a former girlfriend, saying 'Did you smash it?' meaning 'did you have sex with her?'
In April 2018, Julia wrote about her husband's affair in her book The MANScript, saying: 'Richard's affair didn't just devastate my world, but the world of our children Jemma and Josh too.
'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.
'In his statement in my book he also has this advice for other men: "If you really love your wife but are tempted to get a bit of excitement elsewhere you have to be prepared to lose the one you really love — it just isn't worth it".
'But for a year and a half he was telling me it was all in my head, that I was imagining it, that I was going mad — lines that I now realise nearly every man comes up with when having an affair.'
She also said in an interview at the time his affair hindered daughter Jemma's recovery from alcoholism, saying the family drama made it 'much harder to remain sober'.
Richard responded in December last year, saying: 'Sadly my daughter's problems have haunted our family for 15 years or more.
'Those that know us well would tell you that we have tried everything to help her. We've spent in excess of £250,000 on rehab. I have never come up short on family matters.
'Jemma's issues are at the core of my marriage break-up. My wife and I disagree on her treatment.
'Quite simply - I refuse to 'enable' her with her problems any further. Those with addictions will understand what I mean.'