Model Citizen: The Autobiography of Jeremy Meeks

by Jeremy Meeks

Overview

Jeremy Meeks first catapulted to fame when his mugshot went viral, earning him the nickname “Prison Bae.” But beyond the headlines and the high fashion, Model Citizen reveals a complex journey from hardship to reinvention.

This memoir traces Meeks’s early life of adversity—from an unsettled childhood to the struggles that led to prison and, eventually, to an unexpected turn on the runway. With grit and a drive to rebuild, Meeks transitioned from gang-tied adolescence to modeling and Hollywood. But his story isn’t about a perfect transformation; rather, it’s a real and ongoing journey, shaped by resilience and an ever-evolving pursuit of something more.

Model Citizen explores the man behind the viral photo, sharing both his triumphs and challenges as he navigates a path from poverty to the glamour of high fashion, in a modern take on the American Dream.

Includes 46 photos, featuring 24 full-page color modeling photos by celebrity photographer Jim Jordan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781954220959
Publisher:	Kingston Imperial
Publication date:	09/09/2025
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeremy Meeks has unintentionally become a force within the modeling,
acting, and fashion industries. Deriving from a past filled with humble beginnings and obstacles, Jeremy’s life experiences faced while growing up in Stockton, California have shaped him into the intriguing individual he is today. As a force within the entertainment industry, Jeremy is most proud of the fact that he has used his platform to become what many never thought to be possible, a successful, multi-platform brand. From rearing his children, acting full time, modeling designer pieces down runways, posing for magazine covers, acting as the face of campaigns, and now using his life experiences to advocate for change in others’ lives, Jeremy has developed himself into a cross-platform powerhouse full of hope and future developments to be on the lookout for. Always wanting to better himself, Jeremy showcased his true resilience and determination when he then booked six projects in 14 months. With a riveting on-screen performance in the thriller, Trigger, and co-starring in True to the Game 2 and Dutch, he is poised for Hollywood acclaim. More releases include his ground-breaking performances in Secret Society and the sequel Secret Society 2. As the consummate professional, Jeremy continues to sharpen and perfect his craft, expanding his horizons to play roles outside of his typecast characters.

Editorial Reviews

09/16/2024

In this unvarnished debut, Meeks traces his unlikely arc from recidivist criminal to professional model. Meeks was born in 1984 Washington State to heroin-addicted parents. After Meeks’s mother escaped his abusive father, she got clean, but Meeks’s struggles to control his temper left him believing he’d inherited her “wild, impulsive anger.” When Meeks was a teenager, his rage regularly landed him in schoolyard fights and, eventually, juvenile detention, where he joined the Crips. Though gang life was “a constant battle,” Meeks took comfort in the mutual support it offered, and shuffled in and out of prison for a decade rather than give it up. In 2014, he was arrested in Stockton, Calif., on a weapons charge. The Stockton PD posted his mug shot to their Facebook page and it went viral, with Meeks becoming known across social media platforms as the “hot mug shot guy.” After he was released from prison two years later, Meeks took a paid gig at New York Fashion Week, which led to a full-time modeling career and lead roles in a handful of made-for-TV movies in the 2020s.While Meeks’s rise is astonishing, his prose is often flat, and he has a tendency to dispatch with complicated issues in a sentence or two. Still, it’s an intimate glimpse of a real-life rags-to-riches story. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly