If they were being honest, most people consider marriage to a Hollywood star as a golden ticket. When someone is rich and famous, marrying them means you get to be rich and famous. And on top of not having to worry about money anymore, marriage to an actor means you get to spend the rest of your life with someone who is smoking hot.
Sadly, things don’t always work out this way. They most certainly didn’t for Loni Willison, a woman who married a Baywatch star and once had the life so many of us dream of. After that marriage broke apart, though, she spiraled into a bleak existence of drug addiction and misery that has left her homeless.
Just what is Willison’s story? What happened with her marriage, and how did this lead to a sad new life on the streets? Keep reading to find out!
Getting her start as a fitness guru
Most regular people don’t marry Hollywood stars for the simple fact that they have no way of meeting them. That is, if you’re hoping to hook up with a movie or TV star, you need to do something that would land you in their orbit. For Loni Willison, it all started with her career as a fitness fitness model.
A California native, Willison frequently appeared on the covers of major national magazines as a fitness model. This included publications ranging from GlamFit to Sports Illustrated. Those covers are part of what makes her descent into homelessness so depressing because the Willison of today bears no resemblance to the blonde, tanned, and toned Willison of yesterday.
Her career as a fitness model is how she met her future husband. Their wedding was the happiest day of Willison’s life. Sadly, though, she had no way of knowing this was the beginning of the end.
Marriage to a ‘Baywatch’ star
By now, you’re probably asking who the heck Loni Willison married. The short answer is that she married Jeremy Jackson, and while he’s not exactly a household name these days, he was a very hot commodity back in the ‘90s. That’s because he played Hobie Buchanan, the son of David Hasselhoff’s character on the hit television drama Baywatch.
The two got married in 2012, and everything looked fairly happy from the outside. They attended red carpet events together and seemed absolutely crazy for each other. From the outside looking in, these two were Hollywood’s newest power couple. Unfortunately, their marriage was destined to implode because of events in Jackon’s life that occurred well before they ever got married in the first place.
A messy marriage and divorce
Jeremy Jackson began his acting career as a child star. From an early age, he got a taste of fame and money, but like far too many child stars, this came at a price. Specifically, he developed a drug addiction while still working on Baywatch, and in 19, he was busted for manufacturing meth. This caused him to spend 90 days in jail, and he would later enter rehab no less than five times.
Sadly, drugs and alcohol were a part of Jackson’s marriage to Loni Willison, and this culminated in a 2014 incident where the police were called to their residence after he allegedly assaulted her. She didn’t press charges, but Willison later claimed that he scratched her face and body, injured her neck, and broke two of her ribs.
This led the two of them to divorce. However, the alleged assault cost Willison her job, leading to a series of tragic events that led her to a new life on the streets.
Living homeless on the streets
When they find out that Loni Willison went from marriage to a successful actor to living homeless on the streets, everyone’s first question is the same: how could this happen? Unfortunately, all of it goes back to her alleged assault at Jeremy Jackson’s hands and subsequent divorce. She claims that it took her two months to recover from that assault and that she quit her job as a plastic surgeon’s assistant…unfortunately, when she was ready to work again, Willison couldn’t secure any kind of employment, including the kinds of modeling gigs that once made her famous.
In turn, this led to a mental breakdown which made working any kind of job impossible. Without money coming in, the former model started collecting debt and eventually wasn’t able to afford the rent on her apartment anymore or payments on her car. In 2016, she became homeless and developed an addiction to meth, the same drug that her former husband was once busted for possessing.
Some have tried to help the former model, but she has refused their assistance and seems to prefer life on the streets. Perhaps the only thing more depressing than this is the fact that she now makes herself look as ugly as possible to avoid getting attacked on the streets. From beauty queen to a homeless woman who deliberately tries to look ugly, Loni Willison’s fall from grace is one that we’ll never forget.