EXCLUSIVE: Jesse James Killed Baby Animals When He Was A Teenager -- Step Mom's Shocking Charge
May 27 2010, Published 1:57 p.m. ET
The controversy surrounding Sandra Bullock’s estranged husband Jesse James is not dying down. In fact, it’s getting even more intense.
Jesse’s comments on his ABC Nightline interview this week ignited a public debate about his cheating and his accusations of being abused by his father Larry. Now his former step mother, Janina James Coan charges that Jesse killed baby animals when he was a teenager and was obsessed with Adolf Hitler.
Despite the fact that a photo surfaced this year of Jesse imitating Hitler with a Nazi salute, the biker-turned-mogul insisted he is not a racist and was simply joking. But Coan says Jesse was interested in Hitler from a young age and exhibited disturbing behavior.
“When Jesse was about 14 or 15 years old he started killing baby rats by injecting them with alcohol,” his former step-mother told RadarOnline.com exclusively. “He told me it’s what Dr. Mengele would do.”
Josef Mengele was a German SS officer and physician in the concentration camps. He was known as the Angel of Death and performed horrific experiments on Nazi captives.
“Jesse found it fascinating that Hitler could seduce a whole country,” Coan said. “Then he became obsessed with Hitler’s personality and the SS and he was fascinated with the Nazis. He definitely has an attraction with the power race thing.”
One of Jesse’s mistresses, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee has the letters “WP” tattooed on her legs. Sources say it stands for White Power.
But Jesse, confronted with the racism charge told Nightline: “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”
Coan told RadarOnline.com that James’ father Larry used to run an antique business and that James became consumed with collecting Nazi and World War II memorabilia. “We just assumed he was into history,” Coan said. She said that it soon seemed like more than a casual interest.
Coan described when James was growing up his bedroom was filled with Hitler and World War Two items. “Jesse loved the Iron Cross and you can see that he even used a version of it in his business logo,” Coan told RadarOnline.com referring to his West Coast Choppers emblem. “He knew everything about it. He even knew that Hitler had redesigned it for his medals.”
Jesse’s former step mother said she is coming forward with these charges because James said his father abused him during his childhood. He told Nightline: He beat my ass pretty good a bunch of times. Bike builder, Monster Garage TV star -- all that stuff is a huge smoke screen so people won 't see that I'm a scared, abused kid, a 7-year-old.”
VIDEO: Jesse James On Sandra Bullock: “I Still Really Love Her”
His sister has reportedly backed up his allegations in general.
But Coan says while she doesn’t know what the sister’s motivation is, she’s simply not recounting things accurately. In fact, Coan told RadarOnline.com that Jesse had an idyllic childhood.
“There was NEVER abuse. Larry never even raised his voice when the kids were being rambunctious,” she said.
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“Larry devoted his life to Jesse and when my children came in the picture I’d never seen a man take to two children who weren’t his own like he did.”
VIDEO: Jesse James On Betraying Sandra; Denies Being A Racist
James was 6-years-old when Coan met James’ father when and she eventually married him when James was a teenager. They are now divorced.
