His cheating came to light when several women said he had an affair with them, and he ended up losing everything he had.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 26, 2020.
Back in 2010, Sandra Bullock went through one of the worst breakups in Hollywood. Not only was her husband Jesse James caught cheating, but he was also caught cheating publicly with multiple women. It had broken Bullock's heart and eventually lead to them separating after only five years of being married.
They had met in late 2003 when the Ocean's 8 actress made plans to have her then 10-year-old godson meet James, a biker and reality TV star who had his own show Monster Garage. They hit it off and got hitched in 2005 in a lovely California ceremony. She became a stepmom to his three kids, Jesse James Jr., Sunny, and Chandler, according to CloserWeekly. Together, they fought for custody with James’ ex-wife Janine Lindemulder, who was an adult entertainment star, over his daughter Sunny in November 2009. They won legal custody eventually.
While they didn't have their own biological kids together, they raised three children regardless. But, to complete their family, they had started the adoption process for a son, who was named Louis. But by then, in 2010, his cheating had come to light and their relationship was as good as over.
And he apologized for the situation. "There is only one person to blame for this whole situation, and that is me," he said in a public statement, according to CloserWeekly. "This has caused my wife and kids pain and embarrassment beyond comprehension and I am extremely saddened to have brought this on them. I am truly very sorry for the grief I have caused them. I hope one day they can find it in their hearts to forgive me."
Bullock may have forgiven him but she also moved on from him. He checked into rehab in Arizona in 2010 and remarried in 2013. He is currently on wife number four, heiress Alexis DeJoria, and lives in Texas.
In March 2017, he opened up about the cheating incident. "Yeah, I did cheat on my wife, yeah, I stood up and took accountability for it and apologized. And that’s end of story," he told DailyMail. "In general, both women and men cheat. It’s part of life," he added.
He believes that the end of his marriage wasn't the worst that could happen to him. "A lot of good happened out of [the end of his marriage] because it helped me focus on being a dad more, it helped me focus on doing the right thing and being myself, and getting out of LA and getting a better life for my kids," he said.
One of the biggest regrets he has after the divorce is losing the son, Louis, they were going to adopt together. "I made mistakes and did stuff that I shouldn't have. I handled the situation not the way that I should have," James said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I got divorced and lost a kid I adopted because of it," he added in reference to his infidelity. "Whether that’s fair, whether I should have lost a kid due to infidelity, which I don’t think anybody ever does. But I think with ‘Hollywood Law’ that’s totally fair."
The hardest part was "losing my son that I adopted, for sure. … Not being able to see him and see him grow up," he added.
"As bad as stuff was between us, we adopted a kid and things got kind of good for a little while and we had that kid to focus on and boom, it was over in 24 hours. Gone. Done," James said. He admitted that "I messed up really bad on a global scale and everybody knows it. I had to stand up in front of the media and take full account for what I did. I took it all. I told the truth and held myself accountable for what I did wrong and took 100 percent of it right on the chin."
He also added that he was honest with his older children over what he had done and eventually moved to Texas because he was done with Los Angeles. While Bullock has definitely moved on and is in a relationship with photographer Bryan Randall, James too has found a different life, away from the spotlight.
References:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jesse-james-opens-up-divorce-827435
https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/sandra-bullock-jesse-james-history-136313/
