Love conquers all? Not so much. Meghan King Edmonds and Jim Edmonds have faced cheating allegations, fertility struggles and Bravo cameras during their marriage.
The former Real Housewives of Orange County couple tied the knot in 2014. Jim, a retired baseball player, had been married twice previously. He shared two daughters, Hayley and Lauren, with his first wife, LeAnn Horton. Years after their split, Horton lost her battle with cancer in 2015.
In 2008, Jim married his second wife, Allison Jayne Raski. They share a son named Landon and a daughter named Sutton. Their divorce was finalized after six years of marriage months before Jim and Meghan said “I do” on October 24, 2014.
Shortly after their nuptials, Meghan, who is 14 years younger than Jim, joined the cast of RHOC. Fans watched the twosome go through IVF to welcome their daughter, Aspen and often saw Jim begging Meghan to keep him out of the issues with the other women.
After discovering she was pregnant with twins, Meghan left RHOC after three reasons, but the drama didn’t stop for the couple. In June 2019, the former St. Louis Cardinals star was accused of being unfaithful to Meghan. The accusations, which Jim denied exclusively to Us Weekly, included the athlete allegedly sending photos of his penis to another woman and allegedly sending a video of himself masturbating on the same day Meghan gave birth to their twins, Hayes and Hart.
“Regrettably, I had a lapse in judgment. I engaged in an inappropriate conversation with this person,” Jim told Us after the news broke. “At no time was there any type of relationship or physical contact. Absolutely none. This is someone trying to profit from my name. I am aware she has done this to others in the past.”
“Clearly, I made a very poor decision to expose myself and my family to this type of person,” he continued. “For this, I am truly sorry and sought forgiveness from my wife. “I’m outraged over the intent to ruin my family and intend to take legal action. We were never having any problems in our marriage. My attorney is in possession of documents wherein this person has admitted fabricating large portions of her ‘story.’ … I never had any sort of a physical relationship outside of my marriage with her or anyone else.”
Four months later, Us broke the news that Meghan and Jim split after five years of marriage. While Meghan accused Jim of “having an affair” with their 22-year-old nanny, he denied the allegations.
Scroll through to relive the highs and lows of Meghan and Jim’s relationship:
The twosome exchanged vows in St. Louis on October 24, 2014.
Courtesy Meghan Edmonds/Instagram
During season 10 of RHOC, Vicki Gunvalson slammed Meghan and Jim’s marriage.
“Jim, talk to me in five years when you’re divorced,” Vicki told the former baseball player during the episode.
Courtesy Meghan Edmonds/Instagram; Bravo/Getty Images
Meghan was candid with fans and viewers about her struggles to conceive. “I have a lot of friends who have had fertility issues. Some talk about it and some don’t talk about it, but one thing is consistent: It’s hard on every single one of them,” she told Us in June 2016. "I’m an open person, so I wanted to show my process and the heartaches and the ups and the downs that go with IVF so people can say, ‘It’s OK to feel this way.’"
Later that month, the Bravo star announced she was pregnant: “We are so thankful to have a healthy baby girl on the way. IVF was well worth it!”
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Aspen was born on November 24, 2016.
Courtesy Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
During season 12 of RHOC, Kelly Dodd accused Meghan of having an affair with Jim during his marriage to Allison — and claimed the athlete was cheating on Meghan while she was pregnant. They denied all of the allegations.
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The couple announced in December 2017 that Meghan was pregnant with twin boys. A month later, the blogger confirmed she was leaving RHOC after three seasons.
“I know this is what I must do. I must focus on my family and my pregnancy,” she said at the time. “I will miss the rush of the first all-cast event of the season, the anticipation of receiving each week’s episode, the thrill of wrapping the reunion. I have made soul sisters in Shannon Beador and Tamra Judge and that can’t be lost. They have touched my heart and I would do anything for them and I know they feel the same way about me – what a gift to have found that on RHOC! But I guess it’s time for me to become an actual real housewife of sorts. Oh, the irony!”
Courtesy Meghan Edmonds/Instagram
The former Bravo star hinted that there was trouble in paradise in October 2018, revealing the duo “have become complacent in our lives and have taken each other for granted” in a lengthy blog post.
“Our marriage needs it,” she wrote, referring to their Mexican getaway. “We’ve had three babies in under two years. … We need shining and buffing. We need US back … and the sad part is that we never even realized ‘we’ were missing.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
Jim denied cheating on Meghan in an exclusive statement to Us in June 2019.
“Regrettably, I had a lapse in judgment. I engaged in an inappropriate conversation with this person,” Jim admitted after reports surfaced that he had an affair. “At no time was there any type of relationship or physical contact. Absolutely none. This is someone trying to profit from my name. I am aware she has done this to others in the past.”
“Clearly, I made a very poor decision to expose myself and my family to this type of person,” he continued. “For this, I am truly sorry and sought forgiveness from my wife. “I’m outraged over the intent to ruin my family and intend to take legal action. We were never having any problems in our marriage. My attorney is in possession of documents wherein this person has admitted fabricating large portions of her ‘story.’”
Courtesy Meghan Edmonds/Instagram
Meghan opened up about her husband’s infidelity in a heartbreaking blog post titled “I’m Sad” on June 14.
She wrote that Jim told her he had not been physical with the other woman but that he’d “paid her off to protect me so I’d never find out.” “Do I believe him? I don’t know. Because I don’t trust him anymore,” she wrote. “Physical or not, he still had an affair and he admits this to me.”
Adding that her wedding ring “symbolizes fraud,” the mom of three admitted that her face was stinging “from the salt of my tears.” Yet she had hope for the future of their relationship. “Marriage is a choice on the bad days. And on the good days marriage is easy and beautiful,” she concluded. “No one said it would be easy, I just didn’t think it would be this hard.”
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On June 21, Us Weekly exclusively revealed the name of Jim’s other woman: Jennifer McFelia Villegas. Meghan spoke to Us after she was identified, saying, “I only blame my husband for his actions: he made the choice to betray my trust and jeopardize our marriage. His recklessness also allowed this woman to profit from my heartbreak — but now that her name is out there, she won’t be able to shake down any other families as I rebuild mine.”
Villegas responded to the accusations in a statement to AllAboutTheTea, saying, “I want to make a few things very clear — I never set anyone up, blackmailed anyone nor have I attempted to ruin anyone’s family. All my relationships have involved two consenting adults. I made a poor decision to enter a relationship with a married man, and for that I am sorry.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
Us Weekly broke the news in October 2019 that Jim had filed for divorce from Meghan one day after the pair's fifth wedding anniversary. “Meghan and Jim have been fighting,” a source told Us at the time. “The latest fight began when he went to a recent hockey game and she began interrogating him about who he went with.” Another source noted that the pair got into an argument and she called the police. Authorities chalked it up to a verbal dispute and no charges were filed.
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
Meghan and Jim’s split turned nasty after the Bravo alum accused the former baseball player of having an affair with their 22-year-old nanny, Carly Wilson. Jim and Wilson, who were spotted at a hockey game together, both denied the accusations repeatedly.
“It’s one thing to be accused of something. It’s another thing to be so negligent and so careless, and ruin the lives of innocent young people.. I did not sleep with our nanny,” Jim wrote in October 2019 via Instagram before slamming his ex. “We have been treating and raising this young girl like she is our own child. For someone to accuse me of sleeping with her is not only wrong, it’s disgusting and irresponsible. … Just because you’re extremely witty and intelligent, and know how to play the Instagram game. Doesn’t give you the right to use that platform to wrongfully accuse. Not only is it irresponsible. It is dangerous and puts my family in harms way.”
Meghan, for her part, released a lengthy blog post titled, “Broken.”
“In the wake of the sexting situation, my husband was drinking and partying with much younger women, including several of our babysitters, and I found this gallivanting inappropriate, immature, and downright odd,” the reality TV personality wrote. “While I initially wrote it off because during several of these outings, his 22-year-old daughter was present, given his previous indiscretions, I was uncomfortable. Even more so when he started lying about where he was going or who he was going with—and deleting entire text conversations on his phone with several of these young women. … To be clear, I don’t know if Jim slept with our babysitter or whether they were just being exceedingly inappropriate by hanging out socially without either of them telling me (and Jim expressly lying to me about it). I’ve gone back and forth with my thoughts for a couple days but as I write this, I don’t think he did. But I still don’t understand why he’d lie. And why would she lie?”
Meghan concluded that she is “broken” and “buried in despair” about the split.
“I love my husband and I’m devastated that our marriage is being broken up in the ugliest and messiest way,” she wrote. My step kids, Landon and Sutton, have lost a stepmother whom they love and will have to endure another divorce and broken home in their short lifetime. And my three babies who will likely never remember their parents being married. … I cry at the drop of a hat. But I am enduring. I will set an example for my children and I will teach them to love and respect people while also knowing not to condone unethical or wrong behavior.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
As Real Housewives stars rallied around Meghan, Jim discussed his split from the Bravo star in an exclusive statement to Us Weekly, saying he had weathered “what has been one of the most emotionally exhausting sleepless five days of [his] life.”
“It saddens me tremendously that my wife is hurt,” he wrote. “After having a few days to digest the situation, I realize that something that occurred in a split second spiraled out of control with no way to stop it. We were both separately surprised to find out that the media had received details of our private situation without our knowledge.”
In his statement, Jim vowed to “make it right again” with Meghan. “I have way too much love for my wife and kids for this to happen and it’s time for us to get back to the private life we used to live,” he added. “Meghan is a truly special woman who my kids are so fortunate to have as their mother.”
Courtesy of Jim Edmonds/Instagram
In response to Jim’s statement, Meghan exclusively told Us Weekly that the former athlete was “completely speaking” for her. “I have endured prolific controlling by Jim and it isn’t slowing down,” she added. “Even when I make an unassuming post on Instagram, he hurls insults at me for a battery of made-up indiscretions. I’m sick of the abuse and I won’t engage anymore — and I don’t have to.”
She also refuted his suggestion that they were trying to make their relationship work: “That’s not fair to me. He is not my mouthpiece, and I believe the facade he presented is false and manipulative to the public while using and taking advantage of me.”
The reality star continued: “Divorce had been discussed as something that could be possible but I truly thought he could change and work through his demons. Divorce never really crossed my mind. I had to find a divorce lawyer in a matter of hours. He filed so quickly that it seems to me (and others) it had been ready to go and he just was waiting for an event to happen so he could pull the trigger.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
Us Weekly broke the news on November 7 that police came to Meghan’s house and questioned her ability to care for the couple’s three children.
“Meghan came home from being out with friends and she had a couple glasses of wine,” a source told Us. “It was the first time Jim stayed at her house and put the kids to sleep since he filed for divorce, so she met up with friends. She didn’t drive. … She was washing her face when she heard someone knock around 10:30 p.m. An officer was there with Jim and told her Jim said he was worried she couldn’t care for [their] kids.”
The officer concluded that Meghan was fit to take care of the kids, but Meghan was “appalled,” an insider told Us. “She has never been anything short of a fantastic mother,” the insider added.
Jim sounded off on the situation on November 7, telling Us Weekly, ”I did not call the police on my wife. I called the police to protect the situation and make sure there were no further issues.” The following day he posted photos of new digs on his Instagram Stories, writing, “Moving day.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
The “Intimate Knowledge” podcast cohost plans to keep her and Jim’s eggs “frozen until eternity,” she said during a January 2020 episode of the “Juicy Scoop” podcast. Meghan went on to say, “I don't know if I'm done having kids. I’m 35; my kids are little. I could totally have another kid and I do love the idea of a nuclear family. However, my kids are a lot of work. They're young. And I need to get out of the weeds right now."
Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com
Meghan told Us exclusively in January 2020 that she wished coparenting with Jim “was better.”
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During a January 2020 episode of her “Intimate Knowledge” podcast, Meghan alleged that she and Jim had a threesome with one of her pals early in their marriage. At the time, she claimed that he was vacationing with the female participant in Cabo. “When he goes to Cabo for a birthday party, from my understanding, he takes this girl with him. This threesome girl,” she said. “This girl who I thought was my friend. I cast aside my uncomfortability with a threesome, everything I had in my head about a threesome being weird and gross, because I was fun and wanted to do things for my husband.”
Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com; Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram; Courtesy Kortnie O’Connor/Instagram
During a January 2020 appearance on “Juicy Scoop With Heather McDonald,” Meghan revealed that she has “no contact” with her two stepchildren. “I’ve been blocked from their phone numbers, from their Instagrams,” she claimed. “They’ve been told things, according to Jim, that I’ve never said.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
In a blog post from March 2020, Meghan opened up about how she’s learning to get through her divorce. “I have learned to cope with what I call ‘Emotional Releases,’” she wrote at the time. “Let me tell you something, some days I’m barely hanging on by a thread. Some moments I can’t breathe. Sometimes I get in bed and the bed is vibrating, but it’s not: I’m just shaking.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
During the coronavirus quarantine in March 2020, a source told Us that Jim was not happy with Meghan’s decision to fly the couple’s three kids out to Los Angeles without his knowledge as he remained isolated in Missouri. “Meghan took the kids to California unbeknownst to Jim. He can’t see his kids and he’s not going to travel,” an insider told Us. “She can’t do that without talking to him first and Jim is saying that this was not discussed with him before she did it.”
Meanwhile, Meghan’s rep told Us that she had previously obtained permission to take the children from Missouri on “a preapproved trip, signed off on by the guardian ad litem.”
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
Jim confirmed his romance with girlfriend Kortnie O’Connor on his Instagram Stories in April 2020. At the time, he shared photos of himself and the real estate professional working out together at his at-home gym during the coronavirus pandemic period.
Courtesy of Jim Edmonds/Instagram
The reality TV personality threw major shade at her estranged husband shortly after he confirmed that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. "Got a text from my ex the other day, he said he missed me," Meghan lip-synced in an April 2020 TikTok. "I said, 'I’m sorry I can’t talk right now, I’m at a funeral.' He said, 'Oh, my god. Who died?' I said, 'My feelings for you did. Bye, f--ker.'"
Courtesy of Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram
During an April 2020 episode of her "Intimate Knowledge" podcast, Meghan admitted that she was "kind of over" dating apps. "I guess that’s where my energy is with the dating, just to kind of date myself for a little bit. ... I want to be partnered up. I want that relationship. It was never my idea to get divorced and yet here I am and I’m happier than ever now but I do want a partner."
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
After his estranged wife claimed that she was "barely" receiving enough in child support payments to buy groceries, Jim fired back in a statement to Us. "If what Jim is giving to Meghan each month for child support doesn’t cover her groceries, she must be getting her eggs from Faberge," his rep said in April 2020. "Jim also pays every single bill for both of her homes, all the medical bills and practically every other expense related to the kids and the houses. Jim continually goes above-and-beyond what he is required to do." The athlete's response came shortly after the former couple struggled to make their shared custody work amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtesy of Jim Edmonds/Instagramfrom Celebrity News – Us Weekly https://ift.tt/2pSqj1T
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