Neal Schon tells Access Hollywood that Journey’s new song “Resonate,” a video for which features loved-up glimpses of the guitarist and his girlfriend, Michaele Salahi, is in the vein of the 1980s megahit “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).”
“Jonathan Cain wrote the lyrics to this song and most of the music and I just kind of finished it out after he brought it to the studio,” Neal said of his bandmate, who plays keyboards and guitar for the ensemble. “When we were doing our last record… I said to Jonathan, ‘Don’t you have another ‘Separate Ways’?
“’Resonate’ is a song that he’s been working on for quite some time is what he told both of us and, and so it’s just ironic that the lyrics kind of fit our story,” Neal said.
“It’s a beautiful song,” Michaele, who left husband Tareq Salahi to be with the Journey guitarist, added.
Michaele explained that the song is meaningful to the new couple.
“[It’s] very moving, it’s energizing and, at the same time, the words meant a lot to me because it’s a feeling that I had as well and I think everyone’s had at some point — when you listen to the words, you know to follow your heart [and that’s] what I did and I’m looking for my happily ever after with Neal,” she said.
Tareq, Michaele’s ex and former “Real Housewives of D.C.” co-star, previously told Access Hollywood Live he was “blindsided” by Michaele leaving him last year when she ran off with Neal to go on tour with Journey.
When asked on Tuesday why she didn’t tell Tareq their relationship was over before leaving him so abruptly, Michaele said she just had to move on.
“Anyone that knows Tareq and myself, I’ve endured a lot and it was time,” she told Access. “There was no way to say goodbye and Tareq’s a very controlling person, so I wish him the best and I want him to let me move on with my life.”
But, in a new interview, Tareq defended himself against Michaele’s comments.
“Look, when it comes to controlling, as she says, that I’m controlling, well, when it’s $4,000 for hair extensions versus the mortgage on the house, yeah, I’m gonna be controlling about, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna pay the house mortgage? OK?’ So I’ll own up to that,” Tareq told Access. “Look, when it comes down to keeping the house or paying for hair extensions, I choose the house.”
In her interview, Michaele claimed she hasn’t yet received the document that will allow her to make her split with Tareq official.
“I just need the document that will allow me to do so and I’ve requested, you know… the six-month divorce and I hope that he just lets me move forward and I want him to move forward,” she said.
Tareq, however, said he actually is in the process of trying to divorce Michaele.
“It doesn’t make any sense does it? She’s talking in circles, like she did on the ‘Real Housewives,’” he said. “This is her M.O., but if she’s happy and she wants the best for me, then let’s get divorced so I can move on with my life instead of making a mockery of this divorce and making it so public. Most separated couples like to do this behind closed doors. She’s taking this a different direction.”
“I’m waiting for Michaele to sign off on the divorce,” he also told Access. “But they’re holding it up. If she really wants this divorce, she could end it any day, but she’s not.”
He also called the promotion of the “Resonate” video “distasteful.”
“For them to be coming out on Valentine’s Day, promoting a video of the band Journey, about a cheating love affair — on Valentine’s Day? I think it’s completely distasteful, and the interview is just full of lies,” he said. “If she wanted to leave the relationship she could have just talked about it at any time and left.”
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