White House crasher 'devastated'

FRONT ROYAL, Virginia (AP):

Celebrity White House gate crasher husband Tareq Salahi is glad his wife, Michaele, is okay but heartbroken that she's left home to be with another man, reported to be lead guitarist for the rock band Journey, the couple's attorney said on Thursday.

Tareq Salahi had reported his wife missing Tuesday night, telling authorities in Virginia he feared she had been kidnapped. Authorities, however, said ex-reality TV personality Michaele Salahi told them she was fine and didn't want to return home. Then celebrity website TMZ reported that a representative for Journey said she was safe and with guitarist Neal Schon.

"Tareq is devastated but he is relieved to know that Michaele is safe," Salahi's attorney David Silek told ABC's Good Morning America. "That was his first concern."

Silek said it's premature to say if the couple would get a divorce.

"He's so devastated there's not a goal other than trying to figure out what is going on at this time," Silek said of Tareq.

"If there's an opportunity for reconciliation, that's something they can and ought to explore."

Calls to Silek and to Journey's agent were not immediately returned. An Associated Press call to a number for Tareq prompted a recorded message that the line could not accept additional calls.

Diane Dimond, who wrote the book Cirque du Salahi about the couple, told the morning show that Michaele had been frustrated with her husband and that she had a previous relationship with Schon.

"She told me, in effect, that he was one of the loves of her life," Dimond told the show.

Warren County Sheriff Daniel T. McEathron told the AP that deputies believed Tareq's report was genuine and that authorities did not plan to press charges.

The Salahis burst on to the scene in 2009 when they crashed a White House state dinner. Michaele Salahi was a cast member of the reality show Real Housewives of DC last year, but the show was cancelled after one season.

The couple posted a picture on Twitter of themselves with Schon and other band members last week. TMZ posted a video of the couple partying with Schon at their embattled winery last year.

Aside from the couple's gate crashing troubles and failed reality television attempt, they have also experienced business problems. The winery filed for bankruptcy, and its assets are scheduled to be auctioned off tomorrow.

Michaele Salahi also released a single, Bump It, that was not successful and was thrown off the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew when it became apparent she wasn't addicted to anything.