More than a decade after his mugshot broke the internet, Jeremy Meeks, once dubbed the "world’s hottest felon," has had one of the most unlikely glow-ups in modern celebrity culture.

Back in 2014, Meeks was arrested in Stockton, California, facing five firearms charges.

Police described him as "one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area."

But when the department posted his booking photo on Facebook, his piercing blue eyes and chiseled jawline quickly stole the spotlight.

The image racked up more than 20,000 likes and over 95,000 comments, earning him viral fame while still behind bars.

From Prison Time to Modeling Contracts

At the time, Meeks was a documented gang member with a lengthy rap sheet that included grand theft and forgery.

In February 2015, he was convicted of felony firearm possession and sentenced to 27 months in prison, according to KCRA3.

Speaking to BuzzFeed in 2020, he revealed: “While I was still incarcerated, I received, I believe, 45 contracts.”

He served just over a year.

Upon his release in March 2016, he thanked supporters via Instagram: “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.”

From there, Meeks’ transformation was nothing short of cinematic.

He signed with White Cross Management and landed runway gigs with designers like Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.

“I'm in a place where I will be able to provide for my family and really change my life,” he told ABC at the time.

By 2020, he was appearing in films like Trigger, Secret Society, and True to the Game 2 and 3.

He also made a cameo in Russian pop star Olga Buzova’s music video Wi-Fi and later inked a $15 million deal with Fashion Concept GmbH to launch his own clothing line, per WWD.

Reflecting on his journey, Meeks told BuzzFeed: “If anyone would’ve told me 10 years ago that I was gonna be traveling the world, walking in fashion shows, acting in movies? I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

Author and Advocate

Now 41, Meeks still looks striking, but his style has shifted from street mugshot to sleek high fashion.

In 2024, he added “author” to his resume with Model Citizen: The Autobiography of Jeremy Meeks.

“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,” he said.

The book dives into the darker parts of his past, something he began opening up about in 2019 on the What’s Your Water podcast: “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.”

According to the book’s synopsis, Model Citizen charts his rise from a “poverty-stricken and gang-tied adolescence” to global fame, calling Meeks “the new American Dream, finally realized.”

Life Off the Runway

While his career skyrocketed, Meeks’ personal life also made headlines. He shares a son, Jeremy Jr., with his ex-wife Melissa Meeks, and another son, Jayden, with Topshop heiress Chloe Green.

Although the couple split in 2019, Meeks later told Extra: “I have an incredible relationship with Chloe, the mother of my two-year-old. And now I have a relationship with the mother of my oldest son. They're in good places. I'm in a good place. We're all co-parenting. They are incredible mothers.”

In 2024, he confirmed to People: “I am single. I'm trying to focus on myself.”

And, in a surprisingly candid moment at the premiere of Dutch III: International Gangster, Meeks admitted, “I've been celibate for almost three years ... 'Cause I'm not being distracted," per Complex.

Featured image credit: Andreas Rentz / Getty

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.

Jeremy Meeks became better known as the 'world's hottest felon' after his mugshot went viral. Credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images

Meeks became involved in the fashion world

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).

Jeremy Meeks has gone on to live a very different life. Credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty

Meeks opened up on personal life

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.

Featured image credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images

Jeremy Meeks, better known as the 'hot felon', went viral in 2014 after his mugshot captured the attention of thousands worldwide.

After it was shared by police on Facebook, it quickly racked up thousands of likes and comments as people were taken aback by the handsome felon.

His striking looks - with a shaven head, stubble, tattoos, and piercing blue eyes staring down the lens - quickly earned him millions of admirers.

But what did the hot felon do to get arrested in the first place?

Jeremy Meeks became better known as the 'hot felon' after his mugshot went viral. Credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images

Meeks and three other men were arrested by Stockton Police Department on June 18, 2014, as part of a multi-agency law enforcement mission dubbed Operation Ceasefire.

Meeks denied the charges, but was listed as a "convicted felon, arrested for felony weapon charges", and his and several other men's photos were shared on Facebook following the arrest.

His bail was set at $1,050,000, and a Northern California grand jury indicted Meeks on July 3, 2014, on a charge of possession of a semiautomatic .45 caliber pistol that was transported across state borders in the commission of grand theft.

The state dropped its charges against Meeks and his case was handed over to federal prosecutors, and on February 5, 2015, Meeks was convicted by a federal judge of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.

He was also ordered to participate in the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program while incarcerated at Mendota Federal Correctional Institution.[

Meeks served 13 months of his sentence before he was released on March 8, 2016, and ordered to reside in a transitional housing facility for several weeks following his release from prison.

Meeks opened up about the strange time after his mugshot went viral, when obsessed fans would take up his limited visiting slots to try and get close to him while he was in prison, stopping his young son from being able to visit.

In March 2026, Meeks appeared on the Matthew Cox - Inside True Crime podcast where he revealed: "I’m still a month into my mug shot going viral. This is so fresh that I'm still getting letters. I got random, random f**king people coming up to visit me."

He revealed that they never actually got to spend time with him face to face as he would deny them "before I even walk up the stairs into the section" as he could see them through the glass, and told officers he did not know who the visitor was.

Despite him turning down their visits, the prison still counted them as among his two-per-week allowance.

"They're like, ‘Well, I'm still taking your visit. You can deny it, but I'm still gonna take your visit for the week.' So now my family can't come because I got f**king random people coming to see me and it was so frustrating."

He recalled telling two people who'd returned numerous times: "'Hey, please don't come back. I need to see my kids.

"'My son's 5 years old and he doesn't understand why I'm not home and he needs to see me. I’m just gonna ask that you please don't come back.'"

He admitted: "It was rough. And the only thing that made it rough is ‘cause my kids."

Featured image credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images

Jeremy Meeks found instant overnight fame back in 2014 after his striking mugshot went viral - but what is the 'hot felon' up to now?

Now 42, Meeks was 30 when he was arrested in Stockton, California, during a gang sweep, but ended up amassing an unexpected following after his mugshot was shared on Facebook by police.

His shaved head, light stubble and tattoos, combined with his chiseled jawline and piercing blue eyes had thousand thirsting over him, and soon earned him the accolade of being known as the 'hot felon'.

In February 2015, Meeks was convicted by a federal judge of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison, where he served 13 months of his sentence before being released in March 2016.

Jeremy Meeks became better known as the 'hot felon' after his mugshot went viral. Credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images

Upon his release, Meeks was quickly signed up by a model agent and began a very successful modeling career, making his runway debut in 2017.

Prior to his arrest, Meeks had a son with his ex-wife Melissa Meeks, to whom he was married from 2008 until 2018, and went on to have a second son with Chloe Green, the daughter of British businessman Philip Green, before the pair split amicably in 2019.

What does Jeremy Meeks look like now?

Well, there's no mistaking Meeks as he still remains just as striking as he ever was, as fans got an update on his life in a new podcast interview.

In March 2026, Meeks appeared on the Matthew Cox - Inside True Crime podcast where he opened up about the madness of overnight fame.

He revealed that fans were so obsessed with trying to get close to him that they even took up some of the very limited visitor slots to see him in prison, stopping his own child - Jeremy Jr., now 17 - from being able to visit his father.

Meeks explained: "I’m still a month into my mug shot going viral. This is so fresh that I'm still getting letters. I got random, random f**king people coming up to visit me."

He revealed that they never actually got to spend time with him face to face as he would deny them "before I even walk up the stairs into the section" as he could see them through the glass, and told officers he did not know who the visitor was.

Despite him turning down their visits, the prison still counted them as among his two-per-week allowance.

"They're like, ‘Well, I'm still taking your visit. You can deny it, but I'm still gonna take your visit for the week.' So now my family can't come because I got f**king random people coming to see me and it was so frustrating."

He recalled telling two people who'd returned numerous times: "'Hey, please don't come back. I need to see my kids.

"'My son's 5 years old and he doesn't understand why I'm not home and he needs to see me. I’m just gonna ask that you please don't come back.'"

He admitted: "It was rough. And the only thing that made it rough is ‘cause my kids."

As he didn't have social media before prison, Meeks didn't initially understand his mugshot going viral, until news channels began trying to speak with him.

Jeremy Meeks (pictured in 2025) still looks striking. Credit: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

"I would say on the third day, that's when just... floods and floods of letters from all over the world. I was probably getting 300 letters a day," he revealed, adding that he was found it "too much" when people began sending him nude photos and money orders.

He revealed that the intense attention - including reporters fighting to get into the courtroom for his hearings - led to conflict with the corrections officers when he was behind bars.

Featured image credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images