Profile of Tawny Kitaen on Famous Like Me

Tawny Kitaen (born Julie Kitaen August 5, 1961) is an American actress.

Julie Kitaen was born in San Diego, California to Jewish-American father Terry Kitaen, an employee of a neon sign company, and Linda, a former beauty pageant queen. Julie began using the name "Tawny" at the age of 14.

Career

She began her acting career in 1983 with a minor role in a television movie, Malibu. In 1984, she starred as the title character of the nudity-laden erotic action film the Perils of Gwendolyn (a.k.a. Gwendolyn), and also co-starred in Bachelor Party as the bride-to-be of a young Tom Hanks.

Kitaen soon became associated with the hair metal scene. Decked in black leather, she appeared on the cover of Ratt's breakthrough album, Out of the Cellar. In 1987, she appeared in the Whitesnake music videos "Here I Go Again", in which she famously did the splits and rolled around on the hood of a Jaguar in little more than a sheer white jacket, and the follow-up video "Is This Love." Kitaen married Whitesnake lead singer David Coverdale in 1989, and the two divorced in 1991.

Riding the attention from her music video appearances, Kitaen took on a number of television roles. She was co-host of America's Funniest People with Dave Coulier from 1990 to 1992, and a regular cast member on The New WKRP in Cincinnati from 1991 to 1993. She also guest starred in an episode of Seinfeld in 1991, and on Married... with Children in 1994. She also had a recurring role as Deianira in three of the Kevin Sorbo Hercules television movies in 1994, and in the regular television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. From 1992 until 1996, she provided the voice of "Annabelle" on the animated television show Eek! The Cat.

After her marriage to Coverdale ended, Kitaen was romantically linked to Tommy Lee, O.J. Simpson, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart. She subsequently married baseball pitcher Chuck Finley in 1997. She and Finley had two daughters together—Wynter in 1993 and Raine in 1996—and appeared in a feature on professional athletes and their wives in the 1999 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She is scheduled to be on the cast of the sixth edition of The Surreal Life, a reality television show on VH1. The show will begin airing in January 2006.

Legal troubles

On December 13, 2001, Kitaen was arrested in Newport Beach, California for allegedly keying another woman's car. On April 1, 2002, she was again arrested in Newport Beach and charged with domestic abuse and battery for assaulting Chuck Finley while he was driving the couple home. Kitaen reportedly kicked Finley several times with her high-heeled boots and twisted his ear, leaving visible marks. Finley filed for divorce three days after the incident.

Kitaen admitted shortly thereafter in court papers that she had become addicted to prescription medications for depression and migraine headaches. Finley was granted a temporary restraining order against Kitaen and temporary custody of their children, and as part of a plea agreement, Kitaen was required to undergo substance abuse counseling and make a $500 donation to a battered women's shelter. The judge also made her issue a written apology after she asserted on The Howard Stern Show in September of 2003 that she had been forced to plead guilty, that she had never abused drugs, and that she was actually the victim of her steroid-using and heavy drinking husband. Finley's divorce petition against her is still pending.

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