Jerry Falwell Jr. says a “fatal attraction” threat to expose an affair his wife had with a pool boy eight years ago triggered an emotional roller coaster before he was suspended as president of Liberty University. The Christian school on Friday said it was investigating “rumors and claims” about Falwell, who was put on leave after a photo of him with his pants unzipped surfaced. “I’m just tired of it,” Falwell told the Washington Examiner as he released a long statement about the infidelity by wife Becki. “It’s just got to end.”

In the statement, Falwell Jr. says he forgave Becki for the affair. He did not name the pool boy, but numerous news outlets have written about the couple’s friendship with Miami pool attendant Giancarlo Granda and a real estate venture with him. Falwell claimed that over time, the man “became increasingly angry and aggressive” and “began threatening to publicly reveal this secret relationship with Becki and to deliberately embarrass my wife, family, and Liberty University unless we agreed to pay him substantial monies.” Falwell added, “We were doing our best to respectfully unravel this ‘fatal attraction’ type situation to protect our family and the University.” The Daily Beast was unable to contact Granda.