Jesse James to tell his side of the story on 'Nightline'

Jesse James, the apparently future ex-husband of Sandra Bullock, will speak publicly for the first time since his life hit the tattooed tabloid fan, Show Tracker reports.

Questions on "Nightline" this coming Tuesday are said to touch on his split from Bullock and his recent time in an Arizona rehab clinic. (We'll pause a moment while you recover from the surprise over the selection of those topics.)

The home James formerly shared with Bullock in Sunset Beach has been quietly on the market for weeks, and now a People source says he has an offer in on a home in Austin, Texas, where Bullock also owns property and both were spotted separately last week.

Hence, the "apparently" in the lead, and of course that gesture could be so both adults could be near the kids, but we have to add, Jesse — maybe she's just not that into you?

— Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Vicky Mabrey sits down with Jesse James in his Long Beach garage on "Nightline." Credit: Patrick Wymore / ABC 

Been living in a box? Let us help you catch up on the whole thing with Sandra Bullock and Jesse James. My heavens yes, there's been some news in recent months!

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File this Jesse James story under 'paparazzi are people too'

This isn't the Ministry's normal type of post, but we stumbled upon an only-in-celebrity-land item that made us go "aww" just a little bit. In a sort of jaded way. But "aww" nonetheless.

Seems Jesse James apologized to a celebrity videographer (that's code for "paparazzo with a video camera") Thursday after a run-in Wednesday, telling the X17 associate, "Sorry for yesterday. I understand you're just doing your job. Just be cool and don't get in my face." According to X17, James then offered his hand to shake on it.

The paparazzi scene outside West Coast Choppers was rather chaotic Wednesday, Radar Online said, after news hit that James' wife, Sandra Bullock, had filed for divorce. At least James knew the People cover story was coming.

As always, what a difference a day makes. OK, so it's only a tiny difference, but -- still a difference.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Jesse James at the NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 26  in Los Angeles. We cropped his date out of the picture, Match.com style, because that's what you do when people break up, right? Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press.

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PREACH IT! Sandra Bullock calls checkmate in a tough public relations game

Sandra Bullock: We salute you. Your People magazine cover this week has to be one of the most ninja public relations moves we’ve seen out of an A-list celebrity since Angelina Jolie hooked up with the United Nations.

Not that we’re saying you announced your baby, Louis, as some sort of calculated image rehab; we don’t mean that at all. Sister, you don’t need image rehab. No, we here at Preach It! congratulate you on keeping such a tight lid on your private affairs until just the right moment, and then springing forth like an amazon on horseback. Too, too magnificent.

Your new triumph represents the pinnacle of how the wronged-woman game should be played in this town. You have set a new bar. At first we thought that maybe Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, was neck and neck with you in that department, but no. Sandra, you just knocked that formidable Swede right out of the running. Let’s examine why.

For weeks, Elin has epitomized the estranged classy broad. As Tiger’s myriad skanks paraded before the gossip blogs, Elin also let herself be photographed -- but only doing things like getting on a plane. To, you know, fly away from Tiger.

Elin also bailed on Tiger’s much publicized “press conference” at Sawgrass in February, and skipped his return to golf when he appeared during the Masters, distancing herself both physically and psychologically from a poisonous situation. Now we hear that Elin is definitely, definitely, definitely divorcing Tiger -- but we're not getting the news from her. No. That would be beneath her. Instead, word is coming from high-class minions such as Donald Trump.

Sandra, meanwhile, holed up completely following the Michelle “Bombshell” McGee revelation; photographs of Bullock outside of her home were virtually nonexistent for weeks. She stepped out briefly to visit friends, but the only really solid shot of her before now was during a hike earlier this month -- without her wedding ring. Like Elin, Sandra used fancy friends to do the talking for her, namely, her good buddy George Lopez. Also like Elin, Sandra has said zip about her problems with her husband -- until Wednesday. When asked about Jesse James’ seeming preoccupation with Nazis, she said, "The photo shocked me and made me sad. This is not the man I married. This was stupid, this was ignorant. Racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, anything Nazi and a boatload of other things have no place in my life."

Thank you both, ladies, for showing how to play through pain with style.

-- Leslie Gornstein

Top photo: The latest People magazine features Sandra Bullock and her newly adopted son, Louis Bardo Bullock. Credit: Jeff Christensen / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Elin Nordegren sits with her son Charlie during a semifinal match at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., on April 2. Credit: Lynne Sladky / Associated Press

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Sandra Bullock files for divorce, reveals adopted baby son, Louis; Jesse James reacts [updated]

Sandra Bullock has filed for divorce from husband Jesse James, she tells People in an exclusive interview and also has adopted an infant boy, Louis Bardo Bullock, whom she and James brought home in January and named after Louis Armstrong.

That process was started years ago, said Bullock, and the couple intended to keep Louis' adoption to themselves -- close friends and family only -- until after the Academy Awards, which were March 7. Louis was born in New Orleans.

"Just the doctors' visits were filled with decoys and dark cars," she said. "People that I had worked with for years couldn't understand why I wouldn't let them into my house" for Oscar ceremony gown fittings.

Ten days after she took home the best actress Oscar, however, word of James' infidelities began to hit the fan, and all bets were off.

"I did the only thing I could do, and that was to pack enough clothes to live on, get all of Louis' things and get out of town," she said. "My main concern was Louis."

People also talked to James, who said, "Sandy is the love of my life, but considering ...

Jesse James home from rehab, no wedding ring in sight

Jesse James is back home after a monthlong stint in an Arizona rehab facility, and he seems to be following the lead of his wife, Sandra Bullock -- the West Coast Choppers owner was photographed without his wedding ring.

Dropping his kids off at school Monday, he was photographed with his ring finger bare, Bullock was similarly snapped April 17 during an outdoors jaunt.

Just days after Bullock's lead actress Oscar win, the marriage entered Titanic territory with rumors of multiple infidelities on James' part. 

After dropping off his kids, James headed off to work in Long Beach on one of his motorcycles, according to RadarOnline. 

Though James may be on the mend from his time away, the barrage of self-proclaimed mistresses continues to drag Bullock into scandal.

Michelle Smith, the second woman to come forward alleging an affair with a married James, has penned a letter of apology to "The Blind Side" actress. 

"I am sorry for any hurt or pain that I have caused you. My actions of engaging with a married man are unforgivable. I never meant you any harm," Smith said in a missive obtained by TMZ. 

-- Matt Donnelly

Photo: Jesse James in 2009. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times 

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PREACH IT! Bombshell McGee gets a gig: Cue the sanctimonious outrage!

A brand-new reality show is making the rounds in Hollywood; you’ll recognize the hosts from their bedroom adventures with Tiger Woods and Jesse James.

That’s right: Woods and James have suffered pretty severe career dips as a result of their serial womanizing. But the mistresses? They’re still cashing in just fine.

Specifically, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee — you know, the white power mistress! — and Jamie Jungers, a.k.a. Tiger Woods Mistress No. 4, have fielded offers to host a show about stars who cheat on their loved ones. The concept, “Celebrity Cheaters,” is still being shopped around, but, per TMZ, both mistresses have agreed to host if the show finds a home.

This isn’t the first time Hollywood has boosted the careers of what the clucking hausfraus of these United States tend to call “home wreckers.”

McGee is also slated to appear — and by appear, yes, we do mean topless — in Vegas on Friday. She’ll be paid $5,000. On May 7, McGee is set to do a stunt boxing match against porn star Gina Lynn. Meanwhile, Rachel Uchitel, the first confirmed mistress of Tiger Woods, landed a job as a special correspondent on the TV celebu-mag "Extra." (She doesn’t necessarily need the cash — not if her reported $10-million shut-up settlement from Woods is accurate. But something tells us ...

Hugh Hefner on Tiger Woods and Jesse James rehabbing after being caught cheating: 'It's a cop out'

Who better than the founder of Playboy to ask about the dalliances of today's entertainers who run to rehab once they're found cheating?

Hugh Hefner turned 84 on Friday, and moments after playing around with the birthday gift just given to him by his girlfriend (Hef got an iPad), he sat down and talked about the new trend of 3-D movies ("It's a gimmick and how long it will last we'll see."), this year's box-office blockbuster "Alice in Wonderland" ("Slight on story, very strong visually. Tim Burton is a genius."), and why he has never found himself embroiled in scandal despite his less-than-mundane life.

But when it came to asking the man who knows a thing or two about human sexual behavior, particularly in regard to famous men, Hefner said although he believes some people have become addicted to sex and need treatment, it doesn't have much to do with sex when the likes of Tiger Woods and Jesse James enter rehab. 

"I think it is a cop out," Hefner said from inside the Playboy mansion. "In the cases we are talking about here, they're making choices and they think they can get away with it. And I think the real immorality about it is the cheating, not the sex."

Not long after the interview, Hef was joined by his friends for an annual viewing of his favorite film, "Casablanca," after eating caviar and drinking champagne by candlelight.

"Very romantic," he explained.

-- Tony Pierce

Video credit: Tim French / Los Angeles Times

Related dispatches: 

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's first true love was movies

Hugh Hefner's secret identity as a comic book artist

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Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee feels Sandra Bullock's pain [Poll]

Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, not pictured at left, says she owes Sandra Bullock an apology.

Gee, ya think?

In a lightning quick reaction to weeks-old events, McGee has gone bravely to the global stage that is Australian television, painting Jesse James as bad guy (but also a tattooed dream date) who talked her out of thinking he was a married man. Indeed, the "Today Tonight" interviewer seems to believe James' story as well, referring to Bullock's marriage to James in the past tense.

McGee likens herself to Bullock, saying they were both equally duped by the West Coast Choppers owner. She also allows that, even though the two didn't seem to have much in common, "maybe" James was in love with his wife, possibly attracted to her goodness and "cleanliness."

"I want to give her a heartfelt apology," McGee says. "I'm sorry for her embarrassment and her pain. I do feel really bad about it." She'd like to tell Sandra, "I'm sorry all this is public."

Not much discussion of why McGee made everything public in the first place, however, except ...

Whoopi Goldberg joins cheaters club on Jesse James' behalf

Whoopi Goldberg had Jesse James' back for a few minutes Tuesday on "The View," working the perennially winning arguments "It's nobody's fault" and "I did it too."

Whoopi's admission that she cheated "five or six times" isn't that earth-shattering, given that the third of her marriages ended in divorce 15 years ago, and the American public probably isn't the first to know. And she speaks the truth when she says, "It happens sometimes, it happens." Because it does happen. 

But the part where, while not excusing him, she wants to look around for a deeper explanation beyond just calling James "a bonehead"? This is where we part ways.

Yes, there probably are deeper reasons. Yes, it does happen. But when it happens multiple times, no matter the reason, it's "happening" to a bonehead.

"Maybe he wanted something wonderful in his life," she said, "and couldn't deal with it." 

Nobody's fault.

Everyone else is doing it.

Bonehead.

-- Christie D'Zurilla

Photo: Whoopi Goldberg takes part in a panel discussion in New York on April 6, 2010. Credit: Tina Fineberg / Associated Press. 

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'There is no sex tape,' Sandra Bullock says

Sandra Bullock has broken her silence, albeit briefly, and if you're a Team Sandra supporter, it's good news.

"There is no sex tape," she said in a statement to People on Tuesday. "There never has been one and there never will be one."

Why speak now, and why on this topic? In recent days there have been two reports of note on allegedly "shocking" and "disturbing" sex tapes linked to Bullock and her reportedly back-in-rehab husband, Jesse James.

One outlet -- which we cite from time to time, like in the paragraph above -- alleges the existence of a dozen homemade sex tapes featuring James with other not-his-wife people and an abundance of Nazi-themed props. The other outlet professes detailed knowledge of a tape featuring Bullock and James and -- well, let's just leave it at that.

We read the reports, went "ick" to the former and "OMG ick ick ick that's disgusting to the point of laughable fiction" to the other, and didn't mention either to Ministry readers. 

We presume the latter allegation is what moved Bullock to make a statement. Because it's just that disgusting and ridiculous. The person behind it, by the way, is now invoking a unique reason for standing by his sources ...