Most people would be mortified to have their mugshot shared on social media, but as we all know by now, it actually worked out in Jeremy Meeks’ favor.
In 2014, Stockton Police Department posted a photo of Meeks’ mugshot
The Washington-native was arrested on June 18 that year on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In February 2015
The judge also ordered that Meeks participated in the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program, reported at the time.
Prior to his 2014 arrest, Meeks had served a nine-year sentence for grand theft from a person. He served his sentence between 2002 to 2011.
After police shared his 2014 mugshot, the quickly went as people online swooned over the now 42-year-old.
Jeremy Meeks went viral in 2014 for his mugshot (Stockton Police Department)
Ventures in modelling and fashion
Because of this, Meeks landed himself a modelling contract when he was released in March 2016.
Shortly after his release, Meeks shared a statement on Instagram that read: “I want to thank my family and everybody for all your love, support and prayers. I’m overwhelmed and grateful for what lies ahead. I’m ready.”
And he didn’t just pursue modelling, Meeks is now a fashion designer and actor as well, says Reportedly, Meeks landed a whopping $15 million deal with Fashion Concept GmbH to develop a clothing line in 2019.
(Instagram/@jmeeksofficial)
‘I hope that people can connect to it and understand how I came to be in the place that I’m at in my life’
The dad-of-two then launched his second collection for Canon Mitchell in January 2024.
In terms of his movie credits, Meeks has starred in the likes of Secret Society (2021), Dance for Me (2023), Love After Holidays (2024) and Beach Chain (2024).
He’s even had his own autobiography published.
Speaking to PEOPLE ahead of its release, Meeks shared: “I’m in a place in my life where I am extremely vulnerable and want to tell my story, the whole story, and hope that people can connect to it and understand how I came to be in the place that I’m at in my life.”
There have been lows that have come with his fame however, and Meeks had previously battled addictions.
The former convict is now a model, clothing designer, and actor (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
Discussing this, he said on the Inside True Crime Podcast earlier this year: “The mother of my second child was struggling with me struggling. She took a video of me sleeping, my breathing was very delayed and my lips were turning blue and I was pretty much overdosing in my sleep.”
Meeks shares his youngest child with ex girlfriend Chloe Green, the daughter of billionaire Philip Green.
“She was four months pregnant,” he continued. “So she’s like, ‘Dude, if something happens, like there’s nothing I can do’, and so luckily she made a phone call and got some help and got a doctor in there and it was very expensive, but they got me the treatment that I needed.”
He’s since spent thousand of dollars to maintain his sobriety.
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can call American Addiction Centers on (313) 209-9137
Featured Image Credit: Gisela Schober/Getty Images
You might not know Jeremy Meeks by name, but chances are you know him by face, because he’s the man who went viral for being the ‘world’s hottest felon’.
Obviously being a felon isn’t something to shout about, but that didn’t stop Meeks from gaining global attention after he was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in June 2014.
As he was taken into custody, Stockton Police Department posted a photo of Meeks’ mugshot online, and the internet quickly did its thing as users commented on his good looks.
Over a decade later Meeks has now turned his life around, but he’s opened up in a new interview about feeling ‘survivor’s guilt’ after struggling with addiction.
Meeks grew up surrounded by drugs and violence, and previously claimed on the What’s Your Water podcast in 2021 that both
Meeks shot to fame in 2014 (Leon Bennett/Getty Images for EBONY MEDIA GROUP)
In 2002, he was charged with grand theft and spent two years in prison, then he was convicted of identity theft in 2005, and forgery in 2007, among other
Following his 2014 arrest, Meeks was convicted of felony firearm possession and was sentenced to 27 months in prison. In a new interview with Matthew Cox Meeks reflected on the moment he shot to fame and described how he started getting ‘300 letters a day’ while behind bars, some of which included naked pictures
“There was many monikers,” Meeks said, recalling how he’d been called the ‘hot felon, the sexy convict [and] the blue-eyed bandit’.
After being released from prison, Meeks found himself with opportunities to travel the world and walk in fashion shows, but what people didn’t realize was that he was struggling with drug addiction at the same time, while also preparing for the arrival of his second child.
“The mother of my second child was struggling with me struggling,” he said. “She took a video of me sleeping, my breathing was very delayed and my lips were turning blue and I was pretty much overdosing in my sleep. “
Meeks struggled with addiction after getting out of prison (Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime/YouTube)
Meeks continued: “She was four months pregnant. So she’s like, ‘Dude, if something happens, like there’s nothing I can do’, and so luckily she made a phone call and got some help and got a doctor in there and it was very expensive, but they got me the treatment that I needed.”
However, while Meeks made it through the night, he said doing so gave him ‘survivor’s guilt’.
He explained: “A lot of my homies and people that I knew, some of their addiction grew just because of the resources that I had, to then buy. And it’s just like ‘if I’m doing it,
you’re doing it’. And now everyone’s getting higher and everyone’s getting higher and more drugs are being done. And then next thing you know, I’m clean. 30 grand was dropped on my sobriety.”
“I just felt bad because a lot of the people that I knew were still struggling and still, you know, in the thick of it…”
While Meeks acknowledged that he ‘couldn’t take care of everyone’, he came to realize that ‘God’s plan is God’s plan’.
“I know that God’s going to have me exactly where I need to be in front of exactly who I need to talk to,” he said. “I just jump in a river now and I flow with it instead of trying
to swim upstream, which, that’s what I tried to do for so many years.”
Meeks is still involved in fashion, and launched his second collection for Canon Mitchell in January 2024, as well as having appeared
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can call American Addiction Centers on (313) 209-9137 24/7, or contact them through their
A man who was called the ‘world’s hottest felon’ after his mugshot went viral has admitted he’s voluntarily celibate now after becoming famous.
If you don’t know the lore behind Jeremy Meeks, it’s a wild story.
It all began on in 2014, when Meeks’ blue eyes and chiselled cheek bones circulated online after the Stockton Department posted his booking photo and detailed his crime.
The image immediately brought him a fan base, and little did he know,
At the time and gang membership, per but when he got out, he ended up walking the runway for designers like Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.
He even became a movie star before he was given a multi-million-dollar fashion deal and free rein to create his own brand.
Jeremy Meeks’ career started when his mugshot went viral (Paul Archuleta / Contributor/ Getty Stock)
Meeks came from a broken home, the What’s Your Water podcast in 2019: “Both of my parents were heroin addicts. I was a heroin baby … My childhood was very dark. My dad committed a murder when I was nine months old and killed my mom’s best friend.”
He was in and out of prison for a decade before he was released for the last time in 2016 and walked into stardom.
Now 41, his life is very different, and so are his priorities.
While attending the Dutch III: International Gangster in July, Meeks revealed that he’s been celibate for the past few years.
In 2018, Meeks divorced his wife Melissa Meeks after ten years of marriage.
Everyone has seen this mugshot… (Stockton Police Department)
The pair share a son and broke up after his affair with British actress Chloe Green, who bore his son in the same year as his divorce.
Away from the spotlight, Meeks confirmed in 2024 that he’s single, to PEOPLE in 2024: “I am single. I’m trying to focus on myself.”
In the clip, Meeks was asked about his ‘biggest turn on’, where he explained that he’s focusing on himself, stating: “I don’t have a girl. I’ve been celibate for almost three years.”
When asked why, Meeks replied: “Cause I’m not being distracted.”
Meeks previously spoke of how his fame could help him to look after those he loves, as after signing with White Cross Management, “I’m in a place where I will be able to provide for my family and really change my life.”
Meeks and Chloe Green now co-parent their child (WWD / Contributor/Getty Stock)
He said: “I’m in a place in my life where I am extremely vulnerable and want to tell my story, the whole story, and hope that people can connect to it.”
In a 2020 interview with Extra, Meeks also revealed that he was single but had managed to create better relationships with his ex-wife and Green.
“We’re all co-parenting. They are incredible mothers,” he said at the time.
After finding out about his celibacy, people online said he was doing the right thing.
One person wrote: “Good for him. That’s a lot of self control especially when you are hot,” as another said: “Good for him… glad life has turned around for him.”
Someone else wrote: “These guys be running the streets for years, until they’re tired then they wanna promote staying single and want to be a teacher.”
Featured Image Credit: Stockton Police Department
The man who stole people’s hearts over one mugshot back in 2014 has spoken out about how going viral didn’t really solve all his problems.
First things first: back in 2014, one mugshot photo quickly went and spread throughout for the most bizarre reason. The man in picture was dubbed ‘prison bae’, ‘hottest felon’, and a whole other bunch of flattering names due to being pretty darn handsome.
Jeremy Meeks had his photo posted on the Stockton Department page, and it quickly racked up millions of views and even pushed him to internet status. Despite facing multiple gun charges, and serving a 27-month prison sentence, Meeks was able to make the most of his celebrity fame.
and signing million-dollar fashion deals.
While this is quite a wacky turn of events for just being good-looking, Meeks has previously spoken out about how, before his fame, being attractive didn’t solve all his problems.
Meeks was turning a whole lot of heads on the internet back in 2014 (Stockton Police Department)
Only a few years after becoming a viral sensation, in 2017, Meeks opened up about the difficulties he still faced having a troubled childhood.
In his first interview at the time, he said: “I heard all my life, ‘you’re so handsome, you have the most beautiful eyes’, and I heard it a hundred times a day. To where I would not even pay no mind to it.
“It didn’t fix it then. I still had a father in prison doing life. I still had a heroin-addict mother and me and my brother and sisters struggling through life’s tribulations.”
He added that ‘having a pretty face’ didn’t rescue him then, and noted that, despite going on to have some success, it wouldn’t be enough then.
Meeks has opened up about his difficult childhood in his new book(Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
He noted that he was going to use the lessons he learnt to navigate the difficulties of celebrity and Hollywood living.
Speaking on a podcast in 2019, he spoke more about his family and said: “Both of my parents were heroin addicts. I was a heroin baby … My childhood was very dark. My dad committed a murder when I was nine months old and killed my mom’s best friend.”
Now 41 years old, Meeks still looks rather striking, but he’s donned a polished,look that’s made him a permanent fixture in the industry.
Meeks in February 2025 (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
In 2024, he released an autobiography, Model Citizen: The Autobiography of Jeremy Meeks, to give greater insight into his childhood and life, something he had only touched on previously.
Away from the spotlight, Meeks has two sons: Jeremy Jr. with his ex-wife Melissa, and Jayden with Topshop heiress Chloe Green, whom he dated for two years.
Featured Image Credit: Stockton Police Department