When "Hot Felon" Jeremy Meeks began modeling, his then-wife, Melissa, knew things would be different. What she didn't know is that Jeremy would be falling for a different woman.
Melissa, who stuck by the model while he was incarcerated, opened up about her marriage on Oct. 23 to Britain's "This Morning." At times, she misses him, despite the fact he cheated on her in a very public fashion.
"He was an amazing husband, honestly, when I think about it I still get emotional. It's still very raw. We had a really good life together," she said.
Over the summer, Jeremy was photographed kissing Topshop heiress Chloe Green in Turkey. They have been inseparable ever since. Jeremy has since officially filed for divorce from Melissa.
The affair, she said, was "heartbreaking."
"I had no indication he was looking for another relationship," she said. "People who are married, you go through your ups and downs, I thought it was a new chapter in our lives, we'd have to get over the hump and it would be fine."
In the chat, Melissa gave a glimpse into the conversation she and Jeremy had after those aforementioned images were published.
"He was just apologetic for how things came out and how hurt I was by it," she said. "I don't really think there's any denying it based on the photos that were out there."
Melissa didn't fight for the marriage after that.
"I really wasn't too sure where I wanted to go in the relationship," she offered. "That's my husband of 8/9 years, I love him deeply, I still do. It's very hard when I think about what happened. I wish I still had my husband to go home to… but I don't believe there is any hope."
Still, Jeremy and Melissa maintain contact for their children, and she admits that he is "very involved" with them.
Jeremy became an overnight sensation after his mugshot went viral in 2014. He was immediately dubbed "the hot felon." He was quickly offered modeling contracts by several high-end companies.
While this was happening, Melissa was maintaining the household.
"We were leaving day to day lives without him. We would go to visit him a lot. It was good for the kids that they weren't completely pulled apart from him," she said. "It was the plan – to be a family together. But then his mugshot went viral. All the exposure that he got, this new career path he was on, he started doing a lot of traveling. I wasn't able to go with him, that probably put some distance between us."