Release
EX-MALE PROSTITUTE WHO BROUGHT DOWN PASTOR TED HAGGARD IS SPEAKING OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME
To be broadcast Monday, February 1, 2010
New York, NY - February 1, 2010 -Mike Jones, the former male prostitute who brought down pastor Ted Haggard, is speaking out for the first time to INSIDE EDITION about the Haggards' claim he's free of "unwanted sexual desires" thanks to therapy.
Jones: "Not one time in the three years we were together did I ever think that this was a heterosexual man with some gay issues."
It was Mike Jones who revealed that Haggard had paid him for sex and drugs over three years, breaking the scandal that would result in the downfall of one of the nation's most powerful preachers. He tells INSIDE EDITION, his face still bearing the marks of recent surgery, that he does not believe Ted Haggard is cured.
Jones: "No cure for homosexuality. You are who you are. I would have so much more respect if he just said, ‘I'm choosing to stay with my family...'"
INSIDE EDITION also spoke with Ted's defiant wife, Gayle, who stood by her husband in the wake of the scandal - and now is taking aim at Jones.
Haggard: "Mike Jones doesn't know my husband. He hasn't ever talked to my husband about any of the process that my husband has been in, so I don't think he's an authority to speak about my husband."
Gayle is promoting her new book, "Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made In My Darkest Hour."
Haggard: "I know what my husband confessed to me. I also know the journey he's been on, I know the choices he's made, and that's what many people don't know."
Gayle says she remained intimate with her husband throughout their ordeal.
Haggard: "I knew the importance of not rejecting my husband at his vulnerable point...so instead of calling for a time out I drew near to my husband."
She also responds to critics who say she is just writing a book for monetary gain, and that she and her husband want to get back in the spotlight.
Haggard: "I do feel we have a message...I think we have a message that will encourage...people to be respectful of each individual story and have compassion for them."
INSIDE EDITION is produced daily at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and produced and distributed by CBS Television Distribution, a unit of CBS Corp.
http://www.insideedition.com/ www.twitter.com/InsideEdition
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