Jesse James Says Childhood Abuse Made Him Cheat
By Becky Broderick. Posted on .
In an exclusive interview with Nightline, Jesse James says that he's been living a false life, in which he's continuously "lied to everyone" and sabotaged himself because of low self esteem.
That lack of self worth, Jesse claims, stems from years of his father's physical and mental abuse. He alleges that his dad frequently beat him—even once breaking his arm—and emotionally terrorized him. Apparently, these buried memories came back while in sex rehab:
After about two days I realized, 'Wow, I'm kind of more messed up than most of the people here.' It was like peeling an onion. Every day it was a new revelation about myself and the things I've been doing. I cried more in rehab in the last 30 days than I have in my whole life. No BS. That's the truth.
I don't think I have a sex addiction where I'm running around trying to have sex with everyone and I can't stop. I think I do things to sabotage my life, including having extramarital affairs...There's a lot of people who are abused that go on to abuse, or go on to do drugs...or go on to, you know, cut themselves ...They'll do it to self-sabotage their life to because, because of their abuse they've never felt good enough. Source: ABC News
Jesse says that growing up with so much shame made him feel like he wasn't good enough for anyone, therefore he rationalized cheating on wife Sandra Bullock by telling himself, "I might as well do whatever I can to, like, run her off 'cause she is going to find out what I am anyway and leave me anyway."
And the photo of him wearing the Nazi hat? Oh, that was probably because of low self esteem, too. Jesse doesn't even remember having the picture taken but is sure that he was just kidding around. Because he's not a racist. And he's not a cheater. No wait, he is a cheater, but that's not his fault. *sigh* Does A Racist Jesse James Taint Sandra Bullock?
Look, we feel bad for the guy if his story is true. No one deserves to grow up in an abusive environment. But this growing trend of everyone—not just celebrities—blaming everyone else for their mistakes is just old. For his part, Jesse's dad, Larry James, has denied all abuse allegations. And it's a little hard to believe Jesse's story, especially because his answers seemed a bit rehearsed...like he'd been reading a Psych 101 textbook for the last few days.
If you watched the interview, what do you think? Is Jesse being honest or is he trying to save his reputation and career by throwing his dad under the bus? And is he truly sorry for what he's done to his family?
