Meghan King Edmonds has given her first, emotional interview about her husband Jim’s sexting scandal and told how she is determined to hold her family together and save her marriage, especially for the sake of their brain damaged one-year-old baby boy, Hart.
The 36-year-old says her famous engagement ring, often pictured on social media, is still very much on and speaking exclusively to Dailymail.com she revealed how she discovered her MLB star husband had sent explicit messages to baseball groupie Jennifer Villegas, even sending a video showing him pleasuring himself the same day Meghan was in hospital preparing to give birth to twins Hart and Hayes.
Relationship turmoil: Meghan King Edmonds has opened up for the first time about her husband Jim’s sexting scandal and how she’s holding her family together. The Real Housewives of Orange County star is pictured with one-year-old twins Hart and Hayes
But she says the fact her 49-year-old husband did not have a physical affair with mother of one Jennifer, who she brands a ‘con artist,’ saved their five-year marriage and Meghan says she knew Jim hadn’t laid a finger on Jennifer the second she saw a photo of her.
Speaking from her home in St. Louis, MO, Meghan, also mom to daughter Aspen, two, said: ‘We’re still married, we’re still together, we’re not separated. I know my engagement ring is well known! I’m still wearing it. I’ve never stopped wearing it.
‘We’re in the family home, we’re in the same bed. We’re not having therapy, we’re talking.’
Speaking about how she discovered her husband had betrayed her trust, the former Real Housewives of Orange County star said: ‘I found out the same day, the same way that everybody else did.
‘A person I don’t know forwarded me a link on social media. I clicked on it and read it.
‘When I read it, I had a feeling, I knew in my gut there was truth to it. I was shocked and I took a shower.
‘We’re in the family home, we’re in the same bed. We’re not having therapy, we’re talking.’ Meghan, 34 tells Dailymail.com that she’s not separated from Jim
Meghan said the fact her 49-year-old husband did not have a physical affair with Jennifer, who she brands a ‘con artist,’ saved their five-year marriage
‘I’d never experienced a turmoil of emotions like it; I felt overwhelmingly alone and sad.
‘We were still a normal, married couple. Physically, nothing was missing from our relationship. Jim was in New York working. We FaceTimed and he came clean and told me everything.
‘He was extremely emotional, crying and remorseful. He wanted to fly straight back to be with me but I told him that I did not want him to do that until he had finished working, so that’s what he did.
‘I saw how gross she was’: Meghan says she knew Jim hadn’t laid a finger on Jennifer the second she saw a photo of her. Villegas is pictured in a 2012 mug shot
‘When he was back it was like I was having two separate emotions. On one hand I was so sad and hurt and on the other, he is my best friend in the world and the only person I want to be with at a difficult time. It was confusing.’
She said: ‘I felt at the time that those revelations would be the tip of the iceberg, that a lot more would come out. I was actually very scared, too.
‘But as we talked I just wanted to get everything out, get the truth out and start to build.
‘There turned out to be a lot less to come out. There was no physical relationship. He only met this other woman when she stalked him one time.
‘This woman is a con artist. She’s gone after so many baseball players. She was out to get some money and she got it, then she was on to the next one.
‘It was a baiting kind of thing. She would do that and move on. Believe me I am still mad at him but once I figured that out, what she was like, I was able to pull our family together. It actually made it more bearable.’
‘There was no physical relationship. He only met this other woman when she stalked him one time. This woman is a con artist’ Meghan said of Villegas
‘I’d never experienced a turmoil of emotions like it; I felt overwhelmingly alone and sad’: Meghan said of the moment she found out about Jim’s betrayal
Meghan said when the scandal broke Jim ‘was extremely emotional, crying and remorseful. He wanted to fly straight back to be with me but I told him that I did not want him to do that until he had finished working, so that’s what he did.’
Adding to her heartbreak, Meghan said her young sons and daughter Aspen, two, were able to tell something was wrong.
‘They picked up on the anxiety in the house. I’m an open book and I think it is important to be open and honest with the whole family but on an age appropriate level.
‘With my daughter, when we would say our nightly prayers I said to her, ‘We need to pray for mommy and daddy that we learn to love each other so, so much again. Because we do love each other so, so much and we need to learn it again because we are so, so sad right now.’ she added, ‘That was hard.’
Blonde beauty Meghan continued: ‘The second I saw her photo I saw she was disgusting. I saw how gross she was and I knew, “All good.”
‘They picked up on the anxiety in the house’: The Real Housewives star said that her kids could tell something was wrong when the scandal hit the couple in June
Meghan also discussed son Hart’s condition and how she hopes he will go on to lead a normal life. ‘His brain damage is not progressive,’ she said. ‘We don’t yet know how it will affect the rest of his life, like speaking in sentences or his physical abilities.
‘I knew he would never touch her. That helped me. Then I knew it was just a sexting thing. The pics she sent him were all highly filtered and she had sunglasses on, body parts were altered. It was all very sex related.
‘She told him that they had met in the past. She made up some story about how he helped her ten years ago by carrying some stuff to her car or something.
‘Then she wanted to know about his workouts then the naked pictures started coming. They never met ten years or so ago either, that was a lie.
‘I can’t relate to somebody like that because I’m not immoral.’ She added: ‘You know what, she doesn’t really mean anything to me. She’s just like a function of my husband’s bad decision.
‘I don’t want to think about her and I have nothing I want to say to her. Do I feel deep emotion about her at this point? No.’
Despite threats at the time of the revelations in June to go to the FBI, Meghan says she has not reported Jennifer to law enforcement.
‘I haven’t gone to the FBI. I’m not wasting my time,’ she said.
Meghan said she would pray with her eldest child Aspen, two: ‘With my daughter, when we would say our nightly prayers I said to her, “We need to pray for mommy and daddy that we learn to love each other so, so much again,’
‘With each passing day trust will rebuild, just like in any relationship that has been hit hard.’ The couple are seen in an Instagram snap taken just days before the scandal emerged
‘Other people might have gone to the FBI about her but not me, I am concentrating on my marriage and my children.’
She says time is going to be the main way they rebuild their relationship.
‘Time, time, time,’ she said. ‘With each passing day trust will rebuild, just like in any relationship that has been hit hard.’
Meghan also discussed son Hart’s condition and how she hopes he will go on to lead a normal life.
‘His brain damage is not progressive,’ she said. ‘We don’t yet know how it will affect the rest of his life, like speaking in sentences or his physical abilities.
He looks very normal to a regular person. He chases after his brother and sister.
‘I’m just hoping that all the early intervention stuff we’re doing now is going to help him and by kindergarten he won’t be doing any more therapy at all. He will essentially have grown out of his diagnoses.’
‘I’ve just got to have faith that he’s not going to screw up. But I know he’s not going to screw up. He really wants to make this work.’ Meghan said of her relationship with Jim (pictured in 2017)
She says her faith and her wider family will also give her the strength to help rebuild her marriage.
‘My faith helps me with everything and I have family here in Missouri. I pray that things get back to what it was like before but better. We don’t want things to be the same or worse. We only have one place to go and that’s better.
‘In a marriage when there’s a fight or an indiscretion, nobody wins if they leave. If I left, I wouldn’t win. I don’t win by staying. The only way to win is to work through it. It’s not about right or wrong because everyone is hurt.
‘I’m a mom, that’s my strength and I need it. With fame, I’ve discovered the highs are very high and the lows are very low. I have had support from the housewives but my main support network are my close friends and family here in Missouri.
‘My family is the ultimate example of a loving, supporting family and they know how to support my husband and I as a unit without condemning his actions.
‘Jim has to go away and work and at least he’s on TV so I know where he is!
‘I’ve just got to have faith that he’s not going to screw up. But I know he’s not going to screw up. He really wants to make this work.’
‘My family is the ultimate example of a loving, supporting family and they know how to support my husband and I as a unit without condemning his actions.’ The couple are pictured last year before Meghan welcomed their twin boys
