Who is Richard Keys ex-wife Julia Keys? When did the couple divorce?

Julia Keys is the ex wife of shamed former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys, who she filed for divorce from on grounds of adultery. 

Julia and Richard Keys were previously married to one another for 34 years.

But what else is known about Richard Keys’ ex wife Julia Keys? When did the pair get divorced?

Read on below for everything you need to know about Julia Keys. 

Who is Julia Keys? 

Julia, 62, was married to former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys between 1982 and 2016, and is a psychotherapist. 

Julia and Richard Keys have two children together, Jemma – an actress who was born in 1985 – and Joshua – who was born in 1989 and works as an assistant producer in the United States. 

Sadly, she has been battling thyroid cancer for a number of years, having undergone an operation on a tumour in her neck in 2009. 

In 2011, Keys resigned from his £500,000-a-year job fronting Sky’s Premier League coverage after making offensive off-air remarks about Premier League official Sian Massey-Ellis, claiming that she did not know the offside rule.

Afterwards, the couple moved to the Qatari capital of Doha, a relocation which Julia believed ‘would be a fresh start,’ 

However, things did not go to plan as she soon started to suspect that Richard might was having an affair.

‘One night a message came through on his phone. When I asked him who it was it was very evident he was lying’, she told The Express in 2018. 

‘I asked to see the message and he said, ‘Yes, no problem’ but then he picked up his phone, pressed a few buttons and showed me a Twitter message.’

From then on Julia was on high alert, looking for evidence. She began to suspect her daughter’s friend Lucie Rose could be the other woman after an incident at a party.

‘As I was leaving the party Lucie grabbed my arm and said, ”Are you going now, Julia?’

Keys with his ex wife Julia (right) and daughter Jemma (left) at the HMV Football Extravaganza in London in 2004

‘She said it in such an excited way I wondered if something was going on,’ Julia stated.

When did Richard Keys divorce his wife?  

It emerged in September 2016 that Julia Keys had filed for divorce on grounds of adultery amid accusations her husband had an affair with Lucie. 

Julia felt her husband had ‘run out of chances’ after she had stood by him following his sacking by Sky Sports.

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.

Keys (centre) pictured with his ex-wife Julia (left) and their daughter Jemma (right) 

In a statement given in the book, Richard expressed his regret at having an affair, revealing: ‘You have to be prepared to lose the one you really love and it just isn’t worth it’. 

The book, written by Julia and her friend Jacqui Coles, includes a ”script”, which the pair say men follow when they are having an affair. 

They believe such examples of this include changes in behaviour, taking more care of their appearance and suddenly becoming secretive about phone calls and emails. 

Richard still lives in Doha, where he is the frontman for BeIN Sports’ football coverage alongside his former Sky Sports colleague Andy Gray.