Celebrity Love

Details Of White House Crashers Michaele & Tareq Salahi's Breakup

By The Daily Beast. Posted on Sep 19th 2011.

Their eight-year marriage ended when Michaele ran off with Journey's guitarist Neal Schon.

That Michaele Salahi has reportedly left her husband and, for now, gone to be with Neal Schon, guitarist for the rock band Journey, didn't surprise me one bit.

Schon, Michaele once furtively told me, was one of the true loves of her life. Long ago, as she dated both Schon and Tareq Salahi simultaneously, she had to make a difficult decision. She chose to marry Salahi on Nov. 1, 2003 because she thought life with him would be more tranquil than living with a rock star. She wistfully wondered aloud to me last year if she had made the right decision.

During my research for the book Cirque Du Salahi, I probably spent more concentrated time inside the Salahis' home than anyone ever had before or since. As an eyewitness to their private lives I saw the cracks in this marriage back in the early summer of 2010 when I travelled to rural Linden, Va., to get to know the couple who, by then, had been branded worldwide as "The White House Gate Crashers." I wanted the story behind the story and they agreed to speak to me exclusively.

Read what Michelle and Tareq had to say about their split at The Daily Beast: Inside The Salahi Split: Michaele Leaves Tareq For Journey Guitarist Neal Schon.

Written by Diane Dimond for The Daily Beast.