Salon.com > Jesse James

Breaking: Jesse James is still the worst

Thu, 05 May 2011 20:28:00 +0000

In case there was any question lingering in your mind whether Jesse James is still a raging jackass, his latest attempt at public relations should remove all doubt. Promoting his new memoir, "American Outlaw," the man who cheated on America's Sweetheart with a White Power enthusiast and then bragged of being "the most hated man in the world" seems determined to drum up even more ill will. During a Wednesday visit on Howard Stern's Sirius show, Stern questioned the thrill-seeking entrepreneur/reality star about whether his fiancée, Kat Von D., was better in bed than Sandra Bullock, and James unhesitatingly replied, "That one's an easy no-brainer ... Yes sir, 100 percent." Way to win back your public, James! Maybe he's jealous of all the attention Osama bin Laden and Charlie Sheen have been getting lately.

Jesse James’ relentlessly public love

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Just because your second wife was a convicted tax offender porn star who's been arrested for assaulting you and whom you took to court for being an "unfit parent," and just because you cheated on your third wife with a Nazi-saluting tattoo model who had the words "white power" spelled out on her fridge, that does not mean you aren't entitled to enjoy the rest of your life and happiness. But Jesse James, good luck.

This week, the motorcycle entrepreneur, death-defying reality star and man who broke Sandra Bullock's heart announced that he is making an honest woman of his girlfriend of five months, tattoo artist and "LA Ink" star Kat Von D. Uhhh, mazel tov?

It was only a year ago that Sandra Bullock was tearfully clutching a Golden Globe and thanking her then husband, James, "There's no surprise that my work got better when I met you, because I never knew what it was for someone to have my back." The next month, James was gushing over her at the Oscars, saying, "She's beautiful. She's amazing. She takes my breath away." Two weeks later, in the wake of embarrassing revelations about his extramarital activities, James was issuing a public apology for "my poor judgment" in hooking up with Michelle "Bombshell" McGee and saying that "I deserve everything bad that is coming my way." Yet James seems to have bounced back quite nicely from all the bad karma he once professed to have coming his way.

Jesse James: Self-hatred poster boy

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:13:00 +0000

When ABC correspondent Vicky Mabrey described him as the most hated man in America, Jesse James quickly corrected her. "I think the most hated man in the world now." And as the daredevil, motorcycle enthusiast, and soon to be ex-husband of Sandra Bullock said those words, there was a nervous smile on his face. An odd bit of pride, even. Nobody screws up our lives quite like we do.

James, whose seemingly picture-perfect marriage to America's sweetheart took an abrupt nosedive earlier this year with the revelations of his grandly ill-advised infidelities, is the subject of an entire edition of Tuesday's "Nightline" (apparently there's only so much of a public appetite for oil spills), a lengthy preview of which aired today on "Good Morning America." Speaking out directly for the first time since his marital combustion, James repeated a familiar list of platitudes from the Philanderer's Guide to Public Contrition, admitting, "I lied," and, "I deserve everything bad that's coming my way."

Jesse James: I threw it all away

Fri, 21 May 2010 18:46:00 +0000

Less than three months after word broke of his extramarital affairs, Jesse James is doing his public penance by submitting to a cross-examination on national television. Today, a promo was released of his sit-down with ABC's Vicki Mabrey, and it's just about what you would expect. He delivers teary-eyed platitudes like "I took a pretty amazing life and marriage and threw it away," and there are compelling exchanges like this one:

Mabrey: "You cheated on your wife."

James: "Yup."

Probing, illuminating! How will we survive until it airs Tuesday on "Nightline"? Presumably, there will be a little more emotional insight in the full interview, although his declaration that he's "the most hated man in the world" suggests a certain lack of perspective.

Sandra Bullock’s triumphant new role: Single mom

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:29:00 +0000

This is how you do it, ladies. No apologizing for your own "failing," saying (as Silda Spitzer did recently), "The wife is supposed to take care of the sex." No stealthy, stand-by-your-man wall of silence. Just a few weeks after her personal life blew up with revelations her husband, Jesse James, was stepping out with a colorful array of tattoo models and exotic dancers, Sandra Bullock is on the cover of People, smiling, her ring finger blatantly unadorned, holding her brand-new adopted baby. So there.

In the story, Bullock confirms that she's filed for divorce from James and is the new mother of 3-and-a-half month-old Louis Bardo Bullock. She says she and James initiated the adoption process four years ago and brought the child, who was born in New Orleans, home together in January. Bullock is finalizing the adoption as a single parent.

Bullock is divorcing James, adopting baby

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:44:00 +0000

Sandra Bullock has filed for divorce from her husband, Jesse James, and is adopting a baby boy as a single parent, a story posted Wednesday on People magazine's website.

"Yes, I have filed for divorce," the 45-year-old Oscar-winning actress said in an interview with People. "I'm sad and I am scared."

Bullock and James, 41, began the adoption process four years ago, the report said, and brought 3 1/2-month-old Louis Bardo Bullock home in January but decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Academy Awards.

In the interview, Bullock said she is savoring her new maternal status.

"You wake up, you feed, you burp, you play, you do laundry," she said. "I'm still in that stage where I'm just amazed with him and at life."

"All I said when I met him was, 'Oh, there you are.' It was like he had always been a part of our lives."

The baby, called Louie, is named after jazz great Louis Armstrong, who had particularly touched her with his signature song, "What a Wonderful World," said Bullock. The child was born in New Orleans, a city where Bullock and James had both spent time after Katrina.

Bullock said she got the call that a baby might be available for adoption during what she described as "the media craziness of the awards season."

Michelle “Bombshell” McGee: America’s Next Top Mistress

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:01:00 +0000

I'm going to have to scrub myself with bleach after writing this sentence, but here I go: Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, Jesse James' alleged mistress, is set to referee a boxing match between Jon Gosselin's ex-girlfriend, Hailey Glassman, and adult actress Gina Lynn, star of "Welcome To Boobstown." (Scrubbing commences.) It's quite the fight card: In one corner, we have a reality TV dad's "other woman" and, in the other, we have a porn star -- perhaps the most ubiquitous type of "other woman." Of course, the only reasonable judge for such a match would be the most talked about "other woman" of ... this week.

Speaking of, Radar reports that McGee returned to the stage at San Diego's Pure Platinum strip club Friday night. She worked the pole and performed lap dances for $100 a pop. One of Radar's intrepid video journalists procured some one-on-one time with the tabloid star and recorded the whole thing in the style of P.O.V. porn. Now all you folks at home can pretend Sandra Bullock's husband's mistress is crawling on your lap and humping your knee.

Jesse James detoxes the vague, unspecified way

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:50:00 +0000

Hey, you, rich and famous person. Have you recently had the cops show up on a "domestic abuse" call? Are you the one who made the call? Have you been caught with an array of paramours extending into the double digits? Cheated on your wife with a woman who has a swastika tattooed anywhere on her body? Broken into a bank? Then you need to check in to the Vague, "Unspecified Condition" Rehab Center!

Just Tuesday, we welcomed Jesse James, whose publicist issued the statement that he came to our undisclosed location for "treatment" for "personal issues." What does that even mean? Wouldn't you like to know!

Tiger, Jesse James: Why do cheaters marry?

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:40:00 +0000

It's been nearly two weeks since the Jesse James-Sandra Bullock scandal, and as the fourth alleged mistress comes forward today, many (including me) have tried to answer the question, "Why do men cheat?"

But perhaps the better, and more interesting, question is: Why do cheaters marry? Consider how many star athletes and celebrity bad boys sleep around on their wives; now consider the scandal and professional fallout that breaks loose upon discovery. Wouldn't it be easier for a man not to get married, at least until he decided his carrot was sufficiently wet? Why put yourself through the strain of a potentially messy extramarital affair? Don't we live in a brave new world where we don't judge others for choosing not to worship at the altar of familial bliss? Wasn't it our grandparents' generation who naively worried about the status of being "an older bachelor"? Look at George Clooney. That guy will never have a sex scandal.

Tiger Woods’ adultery: The scientific defense

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:40:00 +0000

There's nothing like dubious science to justify any wackadoodle idea. Want to say that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs or that climate change is a crock? We've got the proof! And if you really want to have fun, roll up your sleeves, trot out your academic credentials and subtly suggest that a sports hero sleeps with a harem of cocktail waitresses or a bad-boy motorcyclist cheats on his wife with a woman sporting a swastika tattoo because "we can't really blame a guy for being a guy."

That's the conclusion from Dr. Louann Brizendine, whose new book, "The Male Brain," was just released from Random House. Writing today on CNN.com, Brizendine explains guys can't help themselves: "Men have a sexual pursuit area that is 2.5 times larger than the one in the female brain." I had never realized there was a sexual pursuit area of the brain, so I Googled it to learn more about this plush lair of gray matter, stockpiled with R. Kelly CDs and Courvoisier. And what do you know? Almost all the references out there are from Dr. Louann Brizendine! How has this vital zone escaped the attention of all neurologists but her?

This week in crazy: Jesse James

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:20:00 +0000

I'm not saying that if you cheat on America's sweetheart with a woman who named herself "Bombshell" it's always going to blow up in your face, but -- oh, wait, yes I am.

A week and change after Sandra Bullock won her Academy Award for best actress, Michelle McGee -- tattoo model, webcam girl and occasional fan of Gestapo garb -- spilled to InTouch magazine about her liaisons with Mr. Sandy B., Jesse James. The story was tawdry stuff: While Bullock was filming "The Blind Side," McGee claims she was getting it on for nearly a year with with the stunt-loving motorcycle entrepreneur, who turned out to be so impressively endowed she nicknamed him "The Vanilla Gorilla."

Explaining Tiger Woods and Jesse James, badly

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:20:00 +0000

Jesse James is cheating on Sandra, Tiger wants to choke out his stripper while he bangs her in the ass, and Sam Mendes needs more than one female sex icon to satisfy his needs. A troika of high-profile, anything but ordinary celebrities turn out to be cheaters and (surprise, surprise) maladjusted egomaniacs, and suddenly the men's fidelity sky is falling, worse than it was after Edwards, and Sanford, and Spitzer. Enter Esquire, which -- in an effort to validate the concerns of those who think celebrities really are just like us -- posted a helpful article titled "Why Men Cheat" by anonymous.

For the record, I don't cheat, not that my proclamation means anything. I could be cheating as I write this for all you know.

But I don't judge cheaters. I think there are understandable reasons for cheating: love of sex, the desire to feel young, the illusion of new love (Marc Sanford, I'm looking in your direction), and let's not forget fear of death. All this stuff is acceptable in my book. I recognize some of these reasons may be short-sighted and may ultimately end up causing everyone involved big hurt, but they are, at the very least, hopeful. Maybe you are with the wrong person and will find someone who makes you happier. They are concerns with which I can sympathize. Who doesn't want to feel younger or more attractive sometimes?

“Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War” by T.J. Stiles

Tue, 15 Oct 2002 21:24:00 +0000

First-time biographer T. J. Stiles' "Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War" is perhaps the finest book ever written about this American legend. It is also a book that should have been unnecessary. With the possible exception of Billy the Kid, Jesse Woodson James is America's most famous outlaw. As Stiles points out, when James was killed on April 3, 1882, he was probably as famous as the president of the United States.

He is no less famous today. Jesse James has been the focus of countless movies, including everything from last year's execrable "American Outlaws" to three fine films: Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" (1980), Philip Kaufman's "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" (1972) and Henry King's "Jesse James" (1939). He has inspired art both high -- three superb novels, "The Chivalry of Crime" by Welsh writer Desmond Barry (2000); Susan M. Dodd's "Mamaw" (1988), based on the life of Jesse's mother; and Ron Hansen's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (1983) -- and low, from dime novels in his lifetime to Pokémon characters in our own.

Why did someone whose legend is so much with us have to wait 120 years for a definitive biography?