Grant Denyer admits he’s embarrassed his family as he reveals what was REALLY going on when he was ‘caught out’ with his Dancing with the Stars partner Lily Cornish
Married TV presenter Grant Denyer has admitted he has ’embarrassed’ his family after he was pictured with his hand on his dance partner’s thigh in between rehearsals for the new season of Dancing with the Stars: All Stars.
The photos, which were published in New Idea this week alongside the headline ‘Grant Denyer Caught Out’, showed Denyer getting close to 22-year-old Lily Cornish outside a dance studio in Sydney.
The 44-year-old clarified on Thursday the pictures were innocent and in fact showed him consoling his friend after she had received some sad personal news.
He told 2Day FM’s The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed & Erin the images were taken by a paparazzo just moments after he and Cornish had finished speaking to his wife Chezzi over FaceTime.
‘It’s such a horrible, made-up story that’s embarrassing for everyone. We’d just been on the phone to Chezzi, we had been FaceTiming… It had been a bit of a tough day and Lil had a bit going on in her personal life,’ he said.
Setting the record straight: Married TV presenter Grant Denyer has admitted he has ’embarrassed’ his family after he was pictured with his hand on his dance partner’s thigh in between rehearsals for the new season of Dancing with the Stars : All Stars
‘It’s not up to me to divulge what it [the personal issue] is but I was just giving her a bit of a pep talk and fatherly advice,’ he added.
‘I just gave her a tap on the leg and she sort of leaned in for a bit of a hug after a chat and that’s the photo on the [New Idea] front page.’
Cornish also addressed the New Idea story on Thursday, sharing a post to Instagram thanking her fans for being so understanding.
‘Thanks everyone for the kind words and messages. I really appreciate the amount of love that has come out of this yucky / disrespectful situation. Killing it with kindness,’ she wrote.
Fake news: The photos, which were published in New Idea this week alongside the headline ‘Grant Denyer Caught Out’, showed Denyer getting close to 22-year-old Lily Cornish outside a dance studio in Sydney
Explanation: The 44-year-old clarified on Thursday the pictures were innocent and in fact showed him consoling his friend after she had received some sad personal news. Denyer and Cornish are pictured behind the scenes of Dancing with the Stars: All Stars
Denyer and his wife had categorically denied the report suggesting he was having an affair with a woman half his age in a series of social media posts on Wednesday.
Chezzi posted screenshots of the article to Instagram and blasted the publication for fabricating such a ‘gross and mean’ story.
‘What the actual hell is this front-page crap, New Idea,’ she wrote, adding that the images had been completely taken out of context.
Breaking her silence: Cornish also addressed the New Idea story on Thursday, sharing a post to Instagram thanking her fans for their ‘kind words and messages’
‘Lilz [Cornish] is like our adopted daughter. We grew extremely close during her month long stay with us here in Bathurst. We absolutely adore her!
‘Poor Lilz doesn’t deserve this defamation of character… New Idea, you should be ashamed.’
Chezzi went on to claim the photographer who took the photos had apologised to her for the images being ‘taken out of context’.
She also pointed out that Cornish’s long-term boyfriend Jock White had been pictured visiting her during rehearsals for DWTS.
Denial: Denyer and his wife Chezzi (right) had categorically denied the report suggesting he was having an affair with a woman half his age in a series of social media posts on Wednesday
Denyer later issued his own blistering statement, calling the article a ‘brutal’ attack on a ’22-year-old kid’ and a ‘dad of three girls’.
‘My wife and I are used to fabricated stories from these type of magazine, we’ve had a life of it but for Lily, she’s a 22 yo kid!!’ he wrote on Instagram.
‘This kind of treatment is brutally unfair and disgusting.
‘I’m a Dad of 3 girls. And if any friend is having a bad day or a tough time in their life, I’m going to be there for them. End of story.’
While the magazine is still on newsstands, the online version has been taken down.
‘You should be ashamed’: Chezzi posted screenshots of the article to Instagram and blasted the publication for fabricating such a ‘gross and mean’ story