EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Jesse James' Mistress Tears Up Watching Nightline Interview; "I Felt For Him"
May 26 2010, Published 6:10 a.m. ET
It was the interview everyone was waiting for -- Jesse James finally breaking his silence about his scandalous affairs that shattered his marriage to Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, and one of the people most anxious to hear what the West Coast Choppers owner had to say was Melissa Smith, infamously now known as James' mistress #2.
Watch the video here on RadarOnline.com.
Only RadarOnline.com was with Smith as she watched the bombshell interview on ABC's Nightline, in which James wept as he openly talked about his repeated infidelities.
"When he cried, I was a little teary eyed," Smith exclusively admitted to RadarOnline.com, in her first major interview since being linked to the cheating scandal.
"I felt for him, I really did, because I could understand the place where he is coming from."
James, 41, told Nightline he cheated on his "perfect" wife with multiple women because his father used to beat and emotionally abuse him as a child.
But, in a statement to ABC News, James' father Larry James called the allegations of abuse "untrue."
Still, James claimed the abuse led him to think he didn't deserve to live a fairy-tale life, he claimed.
"Oh wow," said Smith, when the West Coast Choppers boss laid bare his soul, claiming he never had a chance to be "a kid" because his father used to "terrorize" him.
"I understand where he is coming from. You put up those walls to deflect the pain."
Smith later revealed she could relate to his childhood problems and deduced their romance, almost unbeknown to her, was forged through mutual feelings.
"I always knew there was a vulnerable side to him, I understand those kind of people because I am one of them," she said.
When James briefly halted the interview after being overcome with emotion, Smith too, showed signs of breaking a tough emotional barrier she at first protested.
As RadarOnline.com discovered, it wasn't all sympathy.
Her emotions seesawed from pain, to sympathy -- and at times -- sheer disgust.
"You broke her f----- heart dude, it's ----- up," Smith said at one stage and even reduced to calling him, "a jerk".
When James admitted to multiple affairs, we asked Smith if she thought he confessed to Bullock about their affair.
"I'm pretty sure he didn't tell her everything," she said. "I'm assuming he didn't tell her about me."
It's easy to see how James became seduced by Smith -- and her story eerily follows the same path as Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, the o-called mistress #1 , who incidentally, she last spoke to just a few days ago.
"But I am before Michelle," insisted Smith, of her two-and-a-half year romance with James.
"Forget Bombshell being called mistress number one, that's me."
Like Bombshell, James first contacted Smith online. The philandering bad boy reached out to her via MySpace in September 2006, a year after he married Bullock.
After a few e-mail exchanges, he introduced himself as Jesse James, dished his e-mail address and offered up the nickname "Vanilla Gorilla".
What followed, as it turned out, was just another in a string of illicit trysts.
"I am part of nobody's pack, posse, or harem. If anything, he was part of my pack," she said.
According to Smith, the rendezvous only ever took place at James‚ West Coast Choppers headquarters in Long Beach.
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They never dated socially. He never took her out on a date, nor did she ever want to, she said.
"I don't ever want to say it was a relationship. I knew I wasn‚t the only one and I knew that he was, at least, dating Sandra... I never took it seriously... (it was) a fling here and there."
They would covertly meet at his place of business and the sex would take place inside his office ˜ the same sex spot favored by Bombshell and others.
There, both would indulge in unprotected sex, she would satisfy James‚ kinky requests and they would have intercourse on his office couch.
But they never mentioned Sanda, ever. Or his children.
"It ultimately ended because I was in a relationship... and my conscious did start to catch up with me when I realized he and Sandra were together.
"As far as any sexual relations went, I did not want to proceed in that direction."
They last communicated in January, this year. It was a text message, in which James wished her merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Why then, given some sense of loyalty, did Smith decide to turn on him?
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"I saw the negative publicity Bombshell was getting -- people discounting her -- and I wanted to let Sandra know that this wasn't just one person, a one time thing," Smith said, insisting she never intended to hurt Bullock.
"I didn't want her to forgive him... I wanted her to know there were multiple situations... and it was a serious issue.
"I don't believe any woman should have to put up with that kind of infidelity. She deserves better. He is a great guy, yes, but he does have demons and she shouldn't have to deal with them. I believe she is doing the right thing (with a divorce)."
VIDEO: Jesse James On Sandra Bullock: "I Still Really Love Her"
And the final verdict on James, after his first quest to win over the court of public opinion.
"He came across very sincere... and he is remorseful. He is somewhat lost and it clear he felt not worthy of her love," Smith reflected.
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But there is no reason to hate him; he is not a bad guy. He has demons and he has made some bad choices.
"I hope he can find that (change), now that he realizes what he has done... I do believe he is sorry and I am sorry as well."
Watch for much more of our exclusive interview with Melissa Smith here on RadarOnline.com.