Jerry Falwell Jr., already on indefinite leave from his presidential post at Liberty University, denied Monday that he had officially resigned.
"I have not resigned. How did those reports get out? I don't know," Falwell told Politico on Monday evening. "I have not resigned. I will be on indefinite leave."
It was a day after he went public with allegations that his wife's former lover tried to blackmail them, detailing the emotional toll it took on him to the point of depression.
Religion News Service had reported that Falwell resigned hours after a news story came out alleging that he and his wife, Becki, had had a yearslong sexual relationship with a business associate.
In a statement published in the Washington Examiner, Falwell wrote that although years had gone by since the brief affair ended, the emotional toll had dragged on as his wife's former lover threatened to expose the indiscretion publicly if they did not pay him.
The pressure of that threat, he wrote, plummeted him into a depression that lasted even after he and his wife had worked out their issues.
But the alleged paramour, Giancarlo Granda, told Reuters a different story. Now 29, the businessman said he had met the couple in 2012 when he was a 20-year-old pool attendant and that for six years, he and Becki Falwell had had sex numerous times while her husband watched.
In his statement in the Examiner, Falwell said Granda was merely attempting "to deliberately embarrass my wife, family, and Liberty University unless we agreed to pay him substantial monies."
A university official also told The Associated Press that Falwell had resigned.
