Jeremy Meeks, also known as the ‘Hot Felon,’ was forced to cancel his fashion week appearance in the Cayman Islands on Friday after a ‘misunderstanding’.
The criminal turned model, 41, was set to fly out to host this year’s Cayman InStyle Fashion Week, which is taking place this weekend.
However, on Friday Jeremy took to Instagram to share an update with his 1.4million followers and let them know he would no longer be able to make it.
While he didn’t clarify the exact reasoning, in the rare speaking video he explained that there were ‘misunderstandings’ and thanked ‘the ministry for trying to make it happen’.
Filming with a blue scarf wrapped around his head, he explained: ‘First and foremost, I just wanna thank everyone who has reached out and voiced their concern about the misunderstandings that took place in the Cayman Islands.
‘I was looking forward to arriving and hosting Cayman Fashion Week, hosting Interstar, the charity dinner, the black tie gala, you know.’
Jeremy Meeks, also known as the ‘ Hot Felon ,’ was forced to cancel his fashion week appearance in the Cayman Islands on Friday after a ‘misunderstanding’
The criminal turned model, 41, was set to fly out to host this year’s Cayman InStyle Fashion Week, which is taking place this weekend
He added: ‘It was gonna be amazing and I look forward to coming back once everything gets situated.
‘I want to thank the ministry for trying to make it happen as soon as possible but we also have to remember what’s meant to be is meant to be.
‘I want to thank the agents there who tried. I will be back and I look forward to coming to the Cayman Islands next time.’
MailOnline has contacted a representative for Jeremy for comment.
Jeremy won universal notoriety when his smouldering mugshot went viral in 2014 – earning himself the nickname the ‘Hot Felon’.
And while his looks won him adoration, behind the scenes the criminal had a life thwarted with tragedy – including heroin-addicted parents, his own substance abuse battles, a jail spell and bankruptcy.
The June 2014 jail visit that changed his life saw Jeremy and three others in a multi-agency law enforcement mission dubbed Operation Ceasefire, where he was listed as a ‘convicted felon, arrested for felony weapon charges’. He denied the charges.
In 2015, he was convicted of the crime of one count of being possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to participate in the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program.
Jeremy however changed his life – with his mugshot landing him a modelling career and also seeing him date heiress Chloe Green, with whom he shares son Jayden, six, and now penning a searingly honest book alongside his charity work to keep kids off the streets.
While he didn’t clarify the exact reasoning, in the rare speaking video he explained that there were ‘misunderstandings’ and thanked ‘the ministry for trying to make it happen’
Jeremy won universal notoriety when his smouldering mugshot went viral in 2014 – earning himself the nickname the ‘Hot Felon’
Jeremy however changed his life – with his mugshot landing him a modelling career
He claimed bad decisions, along with a learning disability, made him susceptible to the gang life when he moved from Washington State to LA in the sixth grade.
He said: ‘Next you know I’m fighting and fighting and fighting and I had to learn really fast about colors, and gangs, and neighborhoods, and sets.
‘At a really young age, I got put on to the hood and from there, I moved out of the house at 15 and was in the streets’.
That very same year he would be sent to his first juvenile hall, get shot five times and beaten up by a gang members with baseball bats shortly after his release.
In all Jeremy revealed he has spent about 10-and-a-half years behind bars in his young life, and that experience was made even worse because he is light-skinned mixed race, he said.
‘For most light-skinned people, you’re not black enough and you’re not white,’ he said, while also referencing that his good looks also made him a target in prison.
A grand theft and firearm possession conviction in 2014 would be a game-changer for his life; it was the mugshot from the arrest that would help launch him to international stardom.
His chiseled cheekbones and piecing blue eyes helped capture the hearts, compassion and, in some cases, generosity of people on the internet.
As a result, he began getting some 300 letters a day, some fans would send him money inside books, and there would be major interest from the modeling industry.
After earning the nickname the ‘Hot Felon’, Jeremy left a life of crime to become a model, actor and philanthropist (pictured walking the Extremedy runway in Milan in 2020)
Jeremy went on to have a son, Jayden, with Topshot boss Philip Green’s daughter Chloe before the couple split in 2019 (pictured in 2018)
A judge would end up sentencing him to 27 months, instead of the recommended 63 months, so he could take advantage of his viral fame, which Meeks is still grateful for to this day.
‘The only thing that saved me, which was such a blessing, was my judge. He helped me in so many ways,’ he admitted.
Far from his criminal life, he has move from the penitentiary to the pen by writing his own memoir, Model Citizen, which is due for release later this year.
Speaking about the book, Jeremy said: ‘I’m in a place in my life where I am extremely vulnerable and want to tell my story, the whole story and hope that people can connect to it and understand how I came to be in the place that I’m at in my life’.
The synopsis for his book reads: ‘In his harrowing autobiography, Meeks tells his personal story about his battles with gang violence, poverty, race and the inevitable life-changing moments that turned his world around’.
The book also includes 46 photos, featuring 24 full-page color modeling photos by celebrity photographer Jim Jordan.
