Loni Willison’s tragic fall: From model and Hollywood wife to living homeless, collecting cans.
Once married to a Hollywood star and a fixture on fitness magazine covers, Loni Willison seemed to have it all. But behind the perfect image, her life took a tragic turn, and now, at 40, she’s living on the streets of Los Angeles.
Shocking new photos this week revealed her pulling a large trolley packed with her belongings, a swollen red eye, a cigarette in her mouth, and several missing teeth.
Loni, now unrecognizable from her blonde, happy days, has been homeless for years, once spotted digging through trash for food. This followed a painful divorce from Baywatch actor Jeremy Jackson nine years ago, which led to struggles with drugs and alcohol. The photos reveal the model’s heartbreaking descent after losing her job and home, while rejecting offers of help.
In a heart-wrenching statement, she once revealed that she intentionally makes herself appear as dirty as possible to avoid street harassment. Two years ago, she told The Sun: “I can survive on my own. I have everything I need right here.”
“No one cares about me, and I don’t want to see them, nor do they want to see me.”
When Loni and Jeremy married on a California beach in 2012, dressed in white and surrounded by their dog, they seemed like Hollywood’s perfect couple.
Jeremy, now 42, rose to fame as Hobie Buchanan, David Hasselhoff’s son on Baywatch, starting at just 11 and continuing until he left the show in 1999.
Loni, also from California, was a beautiful model featured on the covers of fitness magazines in sportswear and swimwear. Their red carpet appearances were frequent, and they appeared deeply in love.
Jeremy, a former child star, had a history of drug addiction that started during his Baywatch days as a teenager.
At 19, he was arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine, served 90 days in jail for possession, and went through five rehab stints.
Though they appeared to be the perfect couple, behind closed doors, their marriage was far from ideal. It spiraled into alcohol-fueled arguments, and in August 2014, police were called to their home after Jeremy allegedly assaulted Loni.
She later revealed that he had beaten her, leaving her with two broken ribs, a neck injury, and scratches on her face and body, though she chose not to press charges.
The couple separated shortly after the alleged assault, with Loni only speaking out about it a year later when her ex entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2015.
This marked the beginning of Loni’s mental health struggles and her downward spiral.
“It took me over two months to recover,” she said. “I had to quit my job as a plastic surgeon’s assistant and couldn’t find any modeling work.”
“I haven’t been out with friends or doing anything—I’ve been in a really dark place.”
When her ex was kicked off CBB for exposing Chloe Goodman’s breasts, Loni encouraged him to press charges “for his own good.”
“I didn’t report him when he attacked me because I was scared,” she admitted. “I was emotionally drained and didn’t want Jeremy to end up in jail.”
“At least now, everyone can see what I had to go through.”
Losing her job at the cosmetic surgery clinic after their 2014 split marked the beginning of a series of setbacks as her life spiraled out of control.
She suffered a mental breakdown, leaving her unable to work.
With no income, she fell into debt, and by 2016, she lost her apartment and could no longer afford her car.
Homeless, she developed a crystal meth addiction, and her mental health continued to decline.
In a 2018 interview, she claimed to have been electrocuted in her former apartment, believing that her body was so charged with electricity she posed a danger to others.
“I was being tortured in my home, in my apartment,” Loni told the Daily Mail. “I lived alone, but I was being electrocuted.”
“It was really bad, really awful. Later, I found a red mark on the back of my neck, and I think that’s how the electricity was entering my head.”
She said she tried to explain it to friends, but “I couldn’t make them understand, so I just stopped talking to everyone.”
Loni also claimed she saw Jeremy standing outside her apartment while she was being “tortured.”
She said her “charge” made her feel like she could tear down the buildings she slept in, and the only thing that could stop her was using drugs.
At the time, Loni explained that living on the streets felt like “survival of the fittest,” and she hadn’t showered in over a year to avoid abuse.
“I get robbed all the time. People take my stuff,” she said. “I make myself as dirty as possible so no one will attack me.”
“The dirtier I am, the better—even with the smell. If I do these two things, it seems to work.”
“I also cut my hair to look different. I did it myself. But even with that, I’ve been attacked—this will still happen.”
After she was first photographed sleeping under a shopping cart, Loni’s model friend Kristin Rossetti found her, offering a hotel stay for the night, fresh clothes, and a hot meal.
But after talking all night, Loni turned down her friend’s offer to pay for rehab and ran away, disappearing for two years and leaving her friends worried for her safety.
“Loni desperately needs our help; she needs to be off the streets and in care,” Kristen said at the time.
“It breaks my heart, but you can’t force someone to accept your help—they have to want to help themselves.”
Loni reappeared in October 2020, searching through bins near Venice Beach for clothes and food.
Her once-beautiful appearance has been ravaged by drug addiction, and she’s lost several teeth.
All of this was just yards away from celebrity mansions, including Ben Affleck’s £5 million home.
“I haven’t spoken to Jeremy. I don’t want to talk to my friends, I’m enjoying myself. I don’t need anyone’s help.”
She added, “I don’t have a phone. I have food and a place to sleep. I get money here and there, and there’s food in the garbage bins and near the shops. There’s plenty around.”
Heartbreaking photos last year showed Loni eating a pizza she found in a bin, sharing it with a nearby squirrel.
While Loni continues to battle her drug addiction, her ex-husband has managed to stay clean and is now a prominent figure in the Los Angeles fitness scene, sharing muscle shots on his Instagram.
He has declined to comment on his ex-wife’s situation when asked in the past, but another former partner, Cindy Kovacs, criticized the actor for not helping Loni after their 2014 split.
She told The Sun: “It’s really sad what happened to Loni, and she never got the help she needed.”
“He did nothing. It meant nothing to him. He didn’t even lift a finger. It was awful, disgusting.”
