Josh Mathews vividly remembers himself as a 12 year old sitting in a car driving back home with his parents. He told them that he wanted to win Wimbledon, and his father with his protective parental instincts and mediocre mindset said, “No one from India has won Wimbledon. How could you?” That was true at the time. No Indian had won Wimbledon, and there hasn’t been a singles Champion even today.
That was the mindset of most families in India at the time. They were a young country, very socialistic, and survival was all that mattered. Most parents wanted a secure future for their kids which meant that the only options were the family business, a doctor, or an engineer. Their dreams were encouraged as long as it fit into that stereotype.
But Josh was different, his goal was to build a career in sports by being a professional sportsman. The encouragement was little, and a 12 year old planning and structuring a career without a team to help him was eventually heading nowhere.
Now, fast-forward to 2002 when he was over 20 years old, and the dream was over. He hadn’t won Wimbledon, in fact he never won a single tournament in his entire life, not even at the club level. Here he was, no goals or dreams for the first time in his life. He had to explore and identify where he was heading. He finished college with a degree in photography; his options now were either starting a business like his father or getting a job. So he decided to take a break, go back to India for a 10 day holiday, and he ended up staying back for more than 10 years. He started a photography studio, exited the business after 3 years. It wasn’t as successful. Most people would think it was another failure but it was probably nature teaching him some important lessons.
Right from 2009, he’s been a floater trying many different things like film making, writing, organizing fashion shows, and parties. It’s been quite a challenge to identify who he really is anymore.
One day, while he was lying on his bed, it dawned on him. He thinks to himself, “What am I doing with my life? In the pursuit of survival, I’ve lost my true self. Deep inside, I always wanted to be the best at something. It didn’t matter what it was, I just wanted to be the greatest at something. It’s been 6 years since I exited my photography business, and all I’m doing is trying to make ends meet. In the process, I’ve forgotten my true values and my mission; it’s to be the greatest at something, anything in fact.”
After having dabbled through a lot of things through his life, He felt he should focus all his time and energy at being the best at photography. He realized that he has an eye for beautiful things, and fashion photography was his game. He invested all his time, energy and money into being the best fashion photographer in the world. Be the best, make money, save, invest, and live a minimalistic lifestyle. That was his mantra.
After several years, and thousands of hours spent on clicking beautiful women, Josh seemed like he’d finally arrived. He was invited to the Miami Fashion Week, New York Fashion week and the Milan Fashion Week, all in one year. At the Miami Fashion Week, he meets Sheila Latoon, who is one of the top models in the world. Sheila has also acted in a few movies, and is ready to launch a music album. Josh and Sheila are both attracted to each other. She invites him to come and shoot some photos for her album launch. Josh obliges, and the fairy tale romance seemed to have started.
After 6 weeks of courtship Sheila and Josh get married at a fairytale wedding in Vegas. As Sheila goes to her honeymoon suite, Josh decides to go for a walk, and catch up on a quick drink at a nearby bar. When he returns to his suite, he finds Sheila in a pool of blood – murdered. Vegas Top Cop Jimmy Nash arrives; a white, blonde, well-built man who is ready to take down the murderer. But who is the murderer? Prime suspect – the husband – Josh Mathews. Josh claims he has no clue what the cops are talking about. He is stunned that the police are naming him the prime suspect. Their story – nobody had a reason to kill except Josh because all the millions of dollars of Sheila’s was going to be his. The tabloids had a field day, some even calling Josh “the gold digging husband, who wasted no time in killing his wife for money.” Josh still claimed he was innocent.
He was now in police custody on charges of murder.
Sitting is his cell, he wondered how his life could take such a dramatic turn in such a short period of time. One moment, he was this best selling photographer married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and the next he’s in jail on charges of murdering his wife. Court battles go on for several years, and the detectives can’t solve the mystery. The tabloids, press, media are pressurizing the court to come to a speedy conclusion. The media was going all out to identify and prosecute the murder of one their most celebrated darlings.
Succumbing to the pressure, the court prosecutes Josh to 15 years in jail for the murder of his wife. Was this trial by media? Was Josh wrongly prosecuted or did he really murder his wife?
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