Jesse James, the West Coast Choppers founder and TV personality, caused significant controversy after making a brutally candid comparison between his former wife Sandra Bullock and his then-fiancée during an appearance on Howard Stern's Sirius XM show, a resurfaced clip of which has been circulating widely online.
James, now 57, is perhaps best known outside the automotive world for his high-profile marriage to Hollywood superstar Bullock, which lasted from 2005 to 2010. The pair appeared to be one of Hollywood's more unlikely but beloved couples, with James accompanying Bullock to the Oscars in their final year together when she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side. The public image of a happy marriage was shattered shortly after when it emerged that James had been having an affair, and the couple finalised their divorce in 2010.
James later wrote about the moment he confessed to Bullock in his memoir American Outlaw, describing it as one of the most painful experiences of his life. He recalled sitting frozen as Bullock broke down in tears after hearing the details of his infidelity, before she composed herself, put on her sunglasses and walked out the front door of his shop and into the sunlight. He has since reflected on why he cheated, telling Stern that the root of the problem was always himself and his deep-seated belief that someone of Bullock's stature could not truly love him.
As he explained on the show: "The problem was me. I could marry anyone and it didn't matter because I would always screw it up and sabotage it because I couldn't live with myself. She could stand there in front of the world and say she loved me, but in my mind I was thinking, 'Yeah? Bullshit. You don't love me. I'm just some biker kid.'"
He added that the cheating began after a couple of years into the marriage, as the disconnect between his old life working in his shop and his new Hollywood existence became harder to manage. He even admitted that subconsciously he may have wanted to be caught, though he did not anticipate the scale of the fallout.
James is currently on his fifth marriage, to former adult film actress Bonnie Rotten. His relationship with his fiancée at the time of the Stern interview, tattoo artist Kat Von D, also eventually ended, with Von D claiming James had cheated on her multiple times during their on-again, off-again relationship.
When Stern asked him directly to compare the two women in the most intimate terms possible, James answered without hesitation. As he told the host: "That one is an easy no-brainer. Kat Von D. One hundred percent. She's a vixen."
