Opportunity knocked for Jeremy Meeks in the most unexpected of places.
The then-30-year-old got his modeling start, so to speak, in June 2014 when he was arrested on felony weapons charges and his mug shot snapped by Annie Leibovitz an unwitting member of the Stockton Police Department went viral.
What was so special about his mug shot, you ask?
Nothing other than Meeks posed for it looking how he looks, which to this day is very much how he appeared in the unusually flattering photograph posted to the Stockton PD Facebook page (as a this-suspected-criminal-is-now-in-custody PSA). Then, internet thirst did its thing and a new crush was born.
“I have not seen that many likes for a photo before,” Officer Joseph Silva told the Associated Press of the 68,000-plus seals of approval the newly minted “Hot Felon” (or “Prison Bae,” if you will) attracted in less than 48 hours.
Of course, it didn’t take long for the enthusiasm to be curbed by inconvenient truths, including that his wife of six years Melissa Meeks, the mother of his now-16-year-old son JeremyJr., was apparently unamused by the attention being paid to her husband.
“She’s furious,” a friend of the couple told CBS Sacramento a week after Meeks’ June 18 arrest. “Her man is in there and people are taking it as a joke, thinking it’s funny talking about his looks, saying all kinds of crazy things.”
Then there was the whole behind-bars aspect of the infatuation.
“Nobody has standards anymore!” read one of the more critical comments on the original post. “This man is a convicted felon!”
Meeks, now 41, had indeed spent two years in prison after being convicted of grand theft in 2002, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.
His 2014 arrest occurred during a Stockton Police gang sweep. Per the DA, officers found a loaded, unregistered .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, plus two extended magazines in the trunk of the car Meeks was driving, as well as a 9mm round of ammunition in the glove compartment.
“I just want them [his new admirers] to know that this is really not me,” Meeks told KXTV in a jailhouse interview, “like I’m not some kingpin.”
Almost eight months after his arrest, a federal judge sentenced him to 27 months in prison for one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Meeks was also, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, ordered into the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program.
But while he was gone for a while, his chiseled cheekbones were not forgotten.
“We have a lot in store regarding Jeremy’s new career,” Meeks’ agent said in March 2016 upon his early release from prison into a transitional housing facility. “There are a multitude of offers on the table.”
He said his client was “humbled and grateful and overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, support, and prayers for him and his family.”
And with that, Meeks embarked on his ongoing career as a model and actor, making his runway debut for Philipp Plein in 2017.
“Never thought i’d go from being locked up to the front covers of magazines,” he captioned a carousel of his work in June for his 1.4 million Instagram followers. “Grateful for the journey.”
On the personal front, he and Melissa divorced in 2018 and he shares son Jayden, 7, with his Top Shop heiress ex-girlfriend Chloe Green.
“I have an incredible relationship with Chloe,” Meeks told Extra in October 2020. “And now I have a relationship with the mother of my oldest son…We’re all coparenting. They are incredible mothers.”
At the time he noted he was single and trying to “focus on self,” and he has since leaned into going it alone.
“I don’t have a girl,” Meeks, who released the memoir Model Citizen in 2024, told journalist Shirley Ju in a red carpet interview posted to X Aug. 6. “I’ve been celibate for almost three years.”
Living that life, he said, “I’m not being distracted.”
So the people who want to get lost in his eyes these days still have to resort to looking at photos.
Speaking of which, read on to revisit Meeks and Green’s romance in pictures:
Oct. 25, 2017
“My baby @jmeeksofficial Capturing the beautiful sunset before heading to the #PrincessGrace 2017 gala #LA #Charity #Monaco.”
Sept. 28, 2017
Green wrote, “No one else I would rather have on my arm than you @jmeeksofficial #princealbertofmonaco #princealbertiiofmonacofoundation.”
Sept. 14, 2017
Chloe wrote, “Your eyes stole all my words away… #thelookoflove #loveatfirstsight @jmeeksofficial I heart U.”
Sept. 6, 2017
Chloe wrote, “My everything.”
Aug. 31, 2017
The couple gets cozy on the beach.
Aug. 29, 2017
The socialite gushed, “Beautiful day on the beach in Malibu with my baby @jmeeksofficial he didn’t tell me it was a video!! So cheeky.”
July 15, 2017
Meeks and Chloe were spotted seen leaving Catch restaurant in Los Angeles.
July 15, 2017
The couple lounged around poolside in Los Angeles.
July 2, 2017
During their photographed vacation, Chloe and Jeremy made it Instagram official.
