US3 min(s) read
Published 12:19 13 Aug 2026 GMT
A man who became famous for being the 'world's hottest felon' after his mugshot went viral in 2014, leads a different life nowadays.
Jeremy Meeks, 42, was arrested on June 18 2014, on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and soon after, the Stockton Police Department posted a photo of Meeks' mugshot to Facebook.
Meeks would be sentenced to 27 months behind bars in February 2015, with the judge also ordering him to participate in the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program, as per CBS News.
Meeks had already served a nine-year sentence for grand theft from a person, from 2002 to 2011.
It didn't take long for the Washington native to go viral the second time around, with many taking note of how attractive he looked despite being a felon.
Upon his release in March 2016, the ex-convict secured a modelling contract after his mugshot did the rounds.
Meeks took to Instagram following his release, writing: "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."
But the felon went beyond modeling, later becoming a fashion designer and an actor, as reported by PEOPLE.
Meeks reportedly agreed an eye-watering $15 million deal with Fashion Concept GmbH to develop his own clothing line, back in 2019.
He wouldn't stop there, later launching his second collection for Canon Mitchell in January 2024.
As for the titles you can catch Meeks in, he has appeared in the following films: Secret Society (2021), Dance for Me (2023), Love After Holidays (2024) and Beach Chain (2024).
Ahead of the release of his autobiography, he told PEOPLE: "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."
Meeks also opened up about the struggles with fame, which included a battle with drugs.
In an appearance on the True Crime Podcast earlier this year, Meeks said that the challenges went beyond him.
"The mother of my second child was struggling with me struggling," he began to explain.
"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 welcomed his youngest child into the world with ex-girlfriend Chloe Green, as Meeks recalled: "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."
He said that he has splashed out thousands of dollars to stay sober.
