{"id":503418,"date":"2026-03-30T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/503418\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:39:11","slug":"richard-keys-defends-leaving-wife-of-34-years-for-his-daughters-friend-amid-cancer-claim-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/503418\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Keys defends leaving wife of 34 years for his daughter\u2019s friend amid cancer claim backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Richard<\/p>\n

Richard Keys (beIN Sports)<\/p>\n

Richard Keys<\/a> has insisted he did not leave his former wife while she was battling cancer, saying he \u201cnever expected\u201d his 34-year marriage to end until he was \u201cbowled over\u201d by his current partner.<\/p>\n

The former Sky Sports<\/a> presenter, 68, separated from Julia in 2016 before beginning a relationship with Lucie Rose, who is 32 years his junior.<\/p>\n

Speculation – largely circulating on social media – had suggested Julia was unwell at the time of their split, a claim Keys has firmly rejected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never sat with anybody and talked about this, but I didn\u2019t leave Julia dying of cancer, or suffering with cancer,\u201d Keys told The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cSadly, she had cancer in 2008 and \u201809, and we ran into a genius surgeon who removed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring that period, we travelled 30 days straight to find the best specialists at the best hospitals, the best anaesthetists. I remember working at Arsenal on the day of the operation. It wasn\u2019t that I was uninterested, I just didn\u2019t want people to know she was unwell or to bring in the intrusion that would naturally follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keys also dismissed claims that Lucie, who was friends with his daughter Jemma, had been pressured into the relationship. The couple married in 2023.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the end of his first marriage, he said he had not anticipated it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never expected\u201d it to be over after more than three decades, \u201cbut Lucie bowled into my life,\u201d he said, describing her as \u201ca force of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Keys<\/p>\n

Keys pictured with his daughter Jemma (Instagram\/Richard Keys)<\/p>\n

Addressing criticism surrounding their relationship, Keys said: \u201cWhat\u2019s damaging is that people presume I ran away with my daughter\u2019s best mate, locked her in a room, and gave her no choice about whether she wanted to be with me or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of which is nonsense. Lucie\u2019s one of the most powerful, strong-minded individuals you\u2019ll come across. She\u2019s deeply passionate about women\u2019s rights. People see me as an easy target, but the narrative is not fair on her. It\u2019s totally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keys married Julia in 1982 and the couple share two children, Jemma and Josh.<\/p>\n

Following their divorce, Julia published an infidelity survival guide, writing that his behaviour \u201cdidn\u2019t just devastate my world, but the world of our children, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presenter has faced ongoing scrutiny over the 32-year age gap between him and his second wife. Lucie, a partner in private funds at law firm Proskauer Rose, has said she does not understand the backlash.<\/p>\n

The pair spent a decade living apart while Keys worked in Qatar for broadcaster beIN SPORTS<\/a>, but are now based together in London after his departure from the company.<\/p>\n

Approaching 70, Keys has also spoken of wanting another child, saying he would be a \u201cvery, very happy man\u201d if \u201csomething of that nature happened\u201d.<\/p>\n

Keys was a mainstay of Sky Sports\u2019 Premier League coverage for nearly 20 years before leaving in 2011 following derogatory comments about female assistant referee Sian Massey.<\/p>\n

His long-time co-presenter Andy Gray also departed the broadcaster after further clips emerged of the pair behaving in a sexist manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Keys (beIN Sports) Richard Keys has insisted he did not leave his former wife while she was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[220,59,99441,176646,57119,2946,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-503418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-julia","11":"tag-lucie-rose","12":"tag-richard-keys","13":"tag-sky-sports","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}