Jesse James on Infidelity: 'I've Paid the Price and Then Some'

USMagazine, Monday, April 9, 2012, 9:25am (PDT)

Jesse James wants a fresh start -- but will he be given that chance?

The West Coast Choppers owner, whose five-year marriage to Sandra Bullock ended in 2010 after she learned about his multiple affairs, tells Yahoo's OMG! that he's still struggling to change people's opinions of him.

"I think I've paid the price and then some, you know? I don't know anybody anywhere that's had to endure what I had to endure for basically infidelity," the 42-year-old says. "It's just the nature of my life. People always will want me sainted one minute, and strung up the next."

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While Bullock has said little about their June 2010 divorce (and the events that preceded it), James has done countless interviews explaining his bad boy behavior.

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"I stood up like a man and admitted my wrongs and what I did and all that did is make every sh-t tabloid everywhere across the world come after me even harder," James says. "I'm strong. I can take it. Everybody can take cheap shots and say I'm a horrible dad, and that I'm a Nazi, and all this other bullsh-t. Give me all you got. Because you know what? I know inside what kind of a person I am. I know I'm an awesome dad. I'm devoted to my work. And I work hard to take care of my family."

(James is father to daughter Sunny, 8, with porn star ex-wife Janine Lindemulder; he also has two kids with with first wife Karla James.)

According to James, he struggled with his public image long before he wed Bullock, 47, on July 16, 2005.

"My older brother was gay, and looked just like me, and happened to die of HIV five years ago. Nobody ever cared to ask about that," James tells Yahoo's OMG!. "I think people just judge me by the way I look. That predates fame or any of that stuff. People have always been scared of me and always think I'm a bigot or a racist or a homophobe just by the way I look. I'm 6'3", and 215 pounds, [and a] tattooed-up white boy. It fits a criminal or whatever. They don't realize."

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James, who is 12 years sober, adds that he's not proud of his philandering ways and the pain it caused his ex-wife and girlfriend Kat Von D, 30.

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"I think people will probably think since I'm doing well now and since I'm happy that I don't have any sorrow or regret for what I did, which couldn't be further from the truth. There'll never be a day that goes by for the rest of my life that I don't regret it," James admits. "If I could go back and change the way I did things, and not hurt people, and not do things the way I did, of course I would do it that way. I would never consciously bring pain to anyone, especially the people I love. It is something that I have to live with."

MORE ON WONDERWALL:

James Slams Sandra Bullock

Kat Von D: Jesse James Cheated On Me

James Gets Tattooed by His Daughter

Video: Jesse James: 'I've Paid the Price and Then Some'