why this code always evaluate to true?

Hi

I have the following php

public function checkEmail()
        {   
            // set the validation rules
            $this->form_validation->set_rules('checkemail', 'E-Mail', 'valid_email');
            $this->form_validation->set_error_delimiters('<br /><p class=jsdiserr>', '</p><br />');
            // if validation is passed
            if ($this->form_validation->run() !== FALSE)
            {
                $ids=array();
                $ids[0]=$this->db->where('email', $this->input->post('checkemail'));
 
                $query = $this->backOfficeUsersModel->get();
                if($query) {
             
                    $data = array(
                        'userid'      => $query[0]['userid'],
                        'username'    => $query[0]['username'],
                        'password'    => $query[0]['password'],
                        'firstname'  => $query[0]['firstname'],
                        'lastname'    => $query[0]['lastname'],
                        'email'      => $query[0]['email']           
                    );
                   
                    $message = "#successMailMessage";
                   
                } else {
 
                    $message = "#errorMailMessage";
         
                }
               
                $output = '{ "message": "'.$message.'" }';
                echo $output;
                    //  form validation has failed
            } else {   
                $errorMessage = "Wrong email!";
                //echo json_encode(array("success" => "false"));
                 
            }
        }  // end of function checkEmail 

Code (markup):

Now, here, if i output the output, result is correct, that is if the e-mail exists in the database the output is #successMailMessage, if not the output is #errorMailMessage

Now, here is the javascript code:

 $("#formSendPassword").submit(function(e){   
          e.preventDefault();
          var email = $(this).find("#checkemail").val(); 
          var url = $(this).attr("action");
     
      $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: $(this).attr("action"),
        dataType: "json",
        data: "email="+email,
        cache:false,
        success:
          function(output){
            console.log(output.message);
            $('#forgotPasswordForm').hide();
            $(output.message).fadeIn();
            // add those in the variable message somehow later
          }
        });
         
      return false;
      });
    

Code (markup):

Here, i always get successMailMessage in the console.log, hence the successMailMessage div fades in. If i disable the javascript, i get correct output in PHP
Can anyone help me with this?

Regards,zoreli