ROCK GODDESS
’80s video star, actress to appear at Albuquerque Comic Con
Before she was known for doing cartwheels and splits across on the hoods of pearl-white Jaguars for an ’80s rock music video, Tawny Kitaen had several movies under her belt.
Kitaen, who starred alongside actor Tom Hanks as his fiancée in the comedy “Bachelor Party,” released in 1984, took the lead role in the adventure film “The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak” and the horror film “Witch-board.” But she was forever interwoven into rock culture after appearing in several rock videos for the band Whitesnake. One of those videos featured Kitaen showing off her flexibility on the hoods of two Jaguar cars.
“It’s funny; when I look at Jaguars today, I look at the hood of the car and I think back, how the hell did I do that? Like seriously,” Kitaen said. “But back then it was just second nature. I was a gymnast, I was a ballerina, so I worked on the floor and the beam, so it was nothing. Not that it wasn’t difficult to do; it just was in my comfort zone; therefore, I was extremely comfortable in what I was doing.”
The director of that video, Marty Callner, had hired choreographer Paula Abdul to help Kitaen with some moves. But after Abdul saw what Kitaen could do, she turned to the director and said, “Marty, it’s nice seeing you again; she doesn’t need me,” according to Kitaen. The job was Kitaen’s after Callner met her with then-boyfriend and frontman of Whitesnake, David Coverdale.
“There was another girl up for it, and I came by just to hear the ideas with my boyfriend at the time, David Coverdale, and as soon as I walked in Marty’s door, he said, ‘That’s her; fire the other girl,’ ” Kitaen said. “I’m like, ‘Wait — what? What? What am I doing?’”
Later in Kitaen’s career, she agreed to be on the reality TV series “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew.”
“Every year, I guess they always have one person that is sober, because if you just have a show with everybody being drunk and passed out on the floor, there’s no antagonist, and it wouldn’t be fun to watch,” she said. “He said, ‘I know you don’t have a problem; I don’t care. Will you please do it for this amount of money?’ which I won’t disclose, and I said, ‘Sure, there’s no work anyway; I’ll do it.’ ”
Kitaen later had regrets for deciding to be on the reality show.
“I have to say five years after I did it, I regretted it because everybody starts to assume you had a problem and I can tell when someone hasn’t seen it because if they had they would know that I was the one who didn’t have a problem that season.”
Kitaen advises younger actresses to avoid making the same choice.
“You have to be strong,” she said. “I know it sounds trite, but you have to know who you are. I wouldn’t recommend it to a girl under the age of maybe 40, because you haven’t really come into your own yet, which is the beauty about getting old, which is the only beauty about getting old is the wisdom that comes with it. That was purely for a paycheck because the writers went on strike, and I did it for Dr. Drew. … We’ve been buddies for years.”
The reality show experience is now behind Kitaen, who continues to have a strong fan base and enjoys interacting with fans at events such as the Albuquerque Comic Con, which she will be at on Saturday.
“I’m kind of sewn into the fabric of ’80s rock, from the ’80s until whenever it dies, if it does die,” she said. “I know that I will be associated with that, and I’ve come to terms with it, and I’m honored. I’m actually honored. There was a point in time where I was like ... ‘Don’t pigeonhole me,’ then you just have to realize that’s how it was set up and be grateful. It’s a really sweet thing, whoever you believe in upstairs helped you achieve.”