Michaele Salahi Runs Away With Journey’s Neil Schon, Husband ‘Devastated

Michaele Salahi — former White House party crasher and “Real Housewife” of D.C. — has ditched husband Tareq Salahi for Journey guitarist Neal Schon, the Post’s Reliable Source and other outlets have reported. Tareq Salahi initially thought his wife had been abducted, but police and Journey’s publicist say she’s on the road with the band and Schon, a former boyfriend.


So many questions about this: is it a genuine personal issue that became public or another bid for attention on the part of the Salahis? Is Tareq Salahi now unable to listen to “Open Arms,” “Send Her My Love” and “Separate Ways” without weeping? And hey, do you remember the “Journey: Escape “video game? If they update it to include Michaele Salahi, maybe you can help she, Schon and the rest of the band head off somewhere in a spaceship.


Salahi's attorney, David Silek, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday that it's premature to say if the couple would get a divorce.
In an interview with TMZ Wednesday, Tareq Salahi believed his wife was still "Faithfully" in their marriage. He reported her alleged kidnapping to police after she failed to show up from a hair appointment.
Salahi said he got a phone call from Michaele late Tuesday from an Oregon cell phone number, where she said she was going to her mother's home nearby.


But Salahi said he was suspicious and called his mother-in-law, who told him she hadn't spoken with Michaele and was unaware of her plans. Fearing she had been abducted, he told TMZ he called the Warren Country Sheriff's Dept. to report it.


Salhia said authorities told him that Michaele had already contacted them to warn that she was fine and was simply working out some "family issues."
The WCSD confirmed in a statement that they received a call from Salahi on Tuesday night shortly before midnight, They said Salahi advised the department that he had last heard from his wife six hours before the phone call and was concerned because she had contacted him from an Oregon area code when she was supposed to be back in Northern Virginia.
WCSD said Deputy Mike Glavis then spoke with Michaele a few moments after the phone call from her husband. Deputy Glavis was able to identify Michaele by having had previous conversations with her. Michaele assured the deputy that she had left the residence with a good friend and was where she wanted to be. She also said she did not want her husband to know where she was.
She apologized that the Sherriff's Office had to be involved. Deputy Glavis then contacted Salahi and told him that he had spoken with Michaele and she was fine.


“Deputy Mike Glavis subsequently spoke with Mrs. Salahi by telephone a few moments later,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“Deputy Glavis was able to identify Mrs. Salahi by having previous conversations with her in the past. She seemed calm, was engaged in conversation, and assured the deputy that she had left the residence with a good friend and was where she wanted to be. Mrs. Salahi advised that she did not want Mr. Salahi to know where she was. Mrs. Salahi advised Deputy Glavis that she was very sorry that the Sheriff’s Office had to be involved, but she did not want to be home right now.”
The “good friend” turned out be “Journey” guitarist Schon, who was with Michaele in Memphis, Schon’s spokesperson confirmed to ABC News Radio Wednesday.
And with that, a new “journey” for the spotlight-seeking couple began.
Calling talks of divorce “premature,” Silek told “GMA” his client is just trying to figure out where to go from here.
“He’s so devastated there’s not a goal other than trying to figure out what is going on at this time,” Selik said of Tareq. “If there’s an opportunity for reconciliation, that’s something they can and ought to explore.”
The couple, who grabbed national headlines in November 2009, when they crashed their way into President Barack Obama’s first state dinner, tweeted a photo of themselves backstage with ”Journey” band members, including Schon, just last week.
A video posted yesterday on TMZ.com also showed Michaele Salahi partying with Schon in 2010.
“She told me, in effect, that he was one of the loves of her life,” author Diane Diamond, who wrote a book, “Cirque du Salahi,” about the couple, told “GMA” of Michaele’s relationship with Schon.
The latest drama surrounding the Salahis comes four days before the financially couple’s failed Oasis Vineyards winery is slated to be sold in a bankruptcy auction.
It also comes as the couple continues to face online threats against their safety, Tareq’s attorney revealed today on “GMA.”
“They were all about online threats that Tareq and Michaele had been receiving through Facebook,” Silek said, referring to reports of numerous calls placed by Michaele to local law enforcement over the past year. ”There’s an ongoing criminal investigation currently with the Warren County Sheriff’s Department regarding threats they’ve received online.”
“Not one of them involved a domestic issue whatsoever,” Silek said of Michaele’s calls to police.
Diamond, who spent extensive time with the couple, says there were, however, cracks in the relationship.
“She told me that she had had enough,” Diamond told “GMA.” “She was going to leave.”
Since Bravo’s cancellation of the “Real Housewives of D.C.” last year, after just one season, the Salahis have made multiple attempts to extend their 15 minutes of fame. This year, Michaele Salahi made an unsuccessful bid for a spot on “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” citing her struggles with multiple sclerosis, and released a single entitled ”Bump It.