Portions of tonight's Nightline interview with Sunset Beach's (for now) Jesse James first trickled out via official ABC press release, then it was leaked online, then a chunk of it rolled on this morning's Good Morning America and, finally, everyone else in the media universe has been showing chunks based on the latter. What follows are tonight's top 10 revelations.
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1) “I took a pretty amazing life and amazing success and marriage … and
threw it away by my own hands.” (Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy)
2) “I still really love her and care about her” (his soon-to-be ex-wife Sandra Bullock, who he knows will definitely
divorce him). . . . “I knew I
would get caught eventually and I think I wanted to get caught.” (Entertainment Weekly)
3) “I told her basically everything . . . that I had affairs outside our
marriage.” (
TMZ)
4) “I think she had her suspicions in the past . . . but I lied my way out
of it. I lie to everyone about everything, even to myself.” (TMZ)
5) “I told her I was going to get help . . . and I wanted to make sure she
took care of Sunny.” Sandy's reaction? “No problem, OK and that she was proud of me.” (TMZ)
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6) They found out they were getting Louis this past Christmas day, and their adopted black son from the New Orleans area arrived on New Year's day. Why a black child, and why from New Orleans? “I didn't care. I didn't care what
color he was. My only prerequisite for adopting the baby was I want a baby
that needs us the most.” (TMZ)
7) It made him sad to see the People cover with Sandy holding Louis and learning the kid would be taking the Bullock name. “I realize why things need to be done in a certain way.” (TMZ)
8) “To see her in the role of mother is one of the most amazing things I
have ever seen. She is like a fish to water. As soon as she put that
baby in her hand, it was automatic and amazing.” (TMZ)
9) Losing his marriage, his son and his dignity were all bad, but the main
reason he did the interview was to answer to charges that he is
racist, especially in light of the infamous photo showing him giving the Nazi salute.
10) “It makes me sad, the way I look. I don't even remember taking the
photo, but I can tell by the look on my face it was a joke and was funny
then for about a minute. But looking at it now in the context of my
life, it's not funny.” (TMZ)
Besides revealing he sat down with
Nightline's
Vicki Mabrey to knock back the Nazi smack, James mentioned that the public's reaction has been hardest on him.
Gotta protect that Jesse James brand, after all.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.
