MARRIED to a Hollywood star and a regular face on the covers of fitness magazines, to the outside world it seemed like Loni Willison lived the perfect life.
But her picture perfect life wasn't as it seemed, and now the former swimwear model, 40, is living rough on the streets in Los Angeles.
Shocking new pictures this week showed her dragging a huge cart filled with her possessions, sporting a red swollen eye, cigarette in mouth, and missing multiple teeth.
Loni - who is unrecognisable from her glam blonde bombshell days - has been homeless for several years now, and was previously spotted rummaging in the bins for food.
It followed a messy divorce from Baywatch actor Jeremy Jackson nine years ago and reported drug and alcohol abuse, which she's denied.
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The pictures highlight the model's tragic rapid decline after losing her job and her home, and shunning offers of help.
Heartbreakingly she once claimed she makes herself look as dirty as possible to avoid being sexually abused on the street.
Two years ago, she told The Sun: "I can live on my own. I've got everything I need right here.
"Nobody really cares about me and I don’t want to see them, they don’t want to see me."
When Loni and Jeremy tied the knot on a Californian beach in 2012, dressed in white and flanked by their snow-white dog, the duo looked the like the ultimate Hollywood couple.
Californian Jeremy, now 42, had found fame as Hobie Buchanan, the son of David Hasselhoff's lifeguard Mitch, at the age of 11 and played the role until he was 18, leaving in 1999.
Loni, also from California, was the stunning model who graced the cover of fitness magazines in skimpy sportswear and swimsuits.
Rounds of red carpet appearances followed and they appeared to be madly in love.
But Jeremy, a former child star, already had a history of drug addiction, which had begun during his time as a teenager on Baywatch.
He had been arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine at 19, had spent 90 days in jail for possession and completed five stints in rehab.
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While they looked like the perfect couple from the outside, the picture behind closed doors was less than rosy.
Booze-fuelled rows
The marriage descended into booze-fuelled arguments and, in August 2014, police were called to their home after Jeremy allegedly attacked Loni.
She later claimed he strangled and beat her, leaving her with two broken ribs, an injured neck and scratches on her face and body, but she decided not to press charges.
The pair split straight after the alleged attack, which she revealed only after her ex entered the Celebrity Big Brother house a year later, in 2015.
But it signalled the start of Loni’s mental health problems and downward spiral.
“It took me over two months to recover properly,” she said. “I ended up having to quit my job as an assistant to a plastic surgeon and I couldn't work out or take on any modelling jobs.
“I didn't go out with friends or do anything – I was in a very bad place.”
'Torture by electrocution' claims
When her ex was thrown out of CBB for exposing Chloe Goodman’s breasts, she urged her to press charges “for his own good.”
"I didn't report him when he attacked me because I was scared,” she added. “I was in a bad place emotionally and I didn't want Jeremy to go to jail.
"At least now everyone can see what I had to put up with.”
But losing her job at the cosmetic surgery company, after the 2014 split, was the first of a number of blows as her life span out of control.
She suffered a mental breakdown, leaving her unable to work.
Her lack of funds meant she fell into debt and, in 2016, she lost her rented apartment and could no longer afford to keep her car.
Finding herself on the streets, she developed an addiction to crystal meth and her mental health deteriorated.
In a 2018 interview, she claimed she had been electrocuted at her former flat and said she believed her body was so full of electrical charge she was a danger to others.
“I was getting tortured in my home, my apartment," Loni told the Daily Mail. “I was living by myself but I was getting electrocuted.
“It was really bad, really horrible. I later found a red mark on the back of my neck and I think that was how the electricity was getting into my head.”
She said she tried to talk to friends but “struggled to get across to them what I was talking about, so I just stopped talking to everybody.”
Loni also claimed she saw Jeremy standing outside her flat while she was being “tortured”.
She said her “charge” meant she would bring down buildings she slept in - and the only thing that could stop it was taking drugs.
'Survival of the fittest'
At the time, Loni added that living on the streets was “survival of the fittest” and she hadn't showered in over a year in a bid to avoid being abused.
“I get robbed all the time. People take my stuff,' she said. “I basically make myself as dirty as possible so that no one attacks me.
“The dirtier I am the better. Smelly, too. If I do those two things, that seems to work.
“I cut off my hair, too, to look different. I cut it myself. But I have been attacked, that's bound to happen, too.”
Refused help
After she was first pictured sleeping under a shopping trolley, Loni’s model pal Kristin Rossetti tracked her down and put her in a hotel for the night, giving her fresh clothes and a hot meal.
But after talking all night, Loni turned down her friend’s offer to pay for rehab and fled, disappearing for two years and leaving pals worried for her safety.
“Loni needs our help desperately, she needs to be off the streets and getting care,” said Kristen at the time.
“It makes me so sad, but you can't force someone to accept your help, she needs to want to help herself."
Loni finally resurfaced in October 2020, digging through bins near Venice Beach to find clothing and food.
Her once stunning looks have become ravaged by addiction and she has lost several teeth.
She was just yards away from celebrity mansions, including the £5million home of Ben Affleck.
Speaking to The Sun, she said: “I haven't spoken to Jeremy. I don't want to speak to my friends, I'm doing just fine. I don't want anyone to help me."
She added: "I haven’t got a cell phone. I've got food and I've got a place to sleep. I get money here and there and there’s food in the bins and near the stores. There’s lots here."
Tragic pictures last year showed Loni snacking on a pizza she found in a bin and sharing it with a nearby squirrel.
While Loni is still battling her addictions, her ex-husband is managing to stay clean and is now a leading figure in LA’s fitness scene, posting musclebound pictures on his Instagram page.
He has refused to comment on his ex-wife's plight when asked on previous occasions but another ex, Cindy Kovacs, slammed the actor for refusing to help Loni after their split in 2014.
She told the Sun: “It’s really sad what happened to Loni and she never got the help she needs.
“He didn't do anything. It was worth nothing to him. He didn't give a s**t. It was appalling, sickening."
The new pictures will bring heartache to the pals, like Kristen, who still care about the former glamour girl.
Let's hope they lead to Loni getting the help she so desperately needs.
