The wife of French presidential candidate François Fillon has said that she did carry out parliamentary work for him, for which she was paid, reports the BBC.
"He needed someone that carried out his tasks," Penelope Fillon told a newspaper, rejecting allegations she was paid without actually working.
As calls mount for him to quit, he is due to attend a big rally near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday.
His Republican party has brought forward crisis talks to Monday.
The former prime minister has seen his popularity slip in opinion polls.
"If it hadn't been me, he would have paid someone else to do it, so we decided that it would be me," Mrs Fillon told French magazineJournal du Dimanche (in French). "Everything was legal and declared."
Mrs Fillon said that she has repeatedly told her husband to "go all the way" but said that the final decision would be down to him.
She urged supporters of her husband to get behind him in his presidential campaign and not to give up.
Speaking to supporters in Paris on Saturday as he marked his 63rd birthday, Mr Fillon said that those attacking him over his presidential bid were "trying to kill a desire for change".
The latest opinion polls suggest that he would be eliminated in the first round of presidential election voting on 23 April, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen and liberal Emmanuel Macron likely to progress to contest the election run-off on 7 May.
A survey published in Journal du Dimanche (in French) suggests that 71% of those polled want Mr Fillon to step down.