TMS Muse of the Week: Tawny Kitaen

(Aaron Rapoport)

If there’s one person who is the reason the term ‘video vixen’ exists, it’s probably Tawny Kitaen. Model, actress, car hood ornament. Next to Rosanna Arquette, there isn’t a more famous rock girlfriend from the 1980s. To many Gen Xers, she is the attractive lady dancing around in a car lot during the music video for Whitesnake’s 1987 hit single ‘Here I Go Again.’ Born Julie Ellen Kitaen in 1961 to a Jewish family in San Diego, CA, Tawny actually came up with her stage name in middle school, thinking the new first name fit her personality more than ‘Julie.’ In 1975, while attending a Peter Frampton concert in 9th grade, Tawny realized she wanted to be a part of the rock music scene when she noticed Peter’s then-girlfriend enter the through the back of the venue with him, watch the show up close from the wings and receive other perks backstage. Being the pretty redhead that she was and with her new interest in rockstars, Tawny went into modeling and moved to Los Angeles by the time she was out of school and following going out with local musicians her age. Her first official pro rocker boyfriend was guitarist Robbin Crosby of the hair metal band Ratt in 1981-84. While dating, Tawny posed for the covers of Ratt’s 1983 self-titled EP and their debut album ‘Out of the Cellar’ in 1984. She also made her music video breakthrough appearing in the band’s vid for their 1984 single ‘Back for More.’ After Robbin, Tawny made use of her new showbiz connections and had flings with Motley Crue’s drummer Tommy Lee, bassist John Taylor of Duran Duran, and supposedly Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth—who bluntly claimed in his 1997 memoir Crazy from the Heat that Tawny had the best cocaine in LA during the 1980s. Around this time, Tawny branched out her career with screen acting, starting with Just Jaeckin’s smutty softcore flick The Perils of Gwendoline (1984). Though obviously cast because of her good looks, Tawny still managed to be the female leads in Neal Israel’s popular comedy Bachelor Party (1984) and Kevin Tenney’s cult horror film Witchboard (1986). On TV, she had substantial parts on NBC’s soap opera “Santa Barbara” (1989), MTM’s rebooted sitcom “The New WKRP in Cincinnati” (1991-93), Universal’s Hercules fantasy series and TV movies (1994-97), and a gig as the co-host of ABC’s “America’s Funniest People” (1992-94).

In 1985, Tawny began the most serious relationship she would have with a musician, one-time Deep Purple vocalist-turned-Whitesnake lead singer David Coverdale, which would lead to her making her official mark on pop culture history. Two years into dating, Tawny was chosen as the beautiful model for the music video of ‘Here I Go Again.’ Originally recorded for Whitesnake’s 1982 LP, ‘Saints and Sinners,’ the song was re-recorded as a single for their self-titled seventh album in 1987 and catapulted both the song and the full record to the top of the charts. As promo for the new release of ‘HIGA,’ the hard rock band shot a new video which intercut footage of the group performing and shots of Tawny dancing on top of two Jaguars XJ. Like the single, the video was regularly played on MTV instantly, and would go on to be considered one of the most memorable music videos from the ‘80s. Tawny apparently had natural rhythm as well, because dancer-choreographer Paula Abdul—who was hired to teach Tawny some sexy dance moves—left halfway through the filming day, claiming the model already knew what she was doing.

(Paragon Arts / Shout Factory)

Tawny would go on to be featured in three more Whitesnake videos, ‘Is This Love’ (1987), ‘Fool for Your Loving’ (1989) and ‘The Deeper the Love’ (1990), and actually appeared in the video for ‘Still of the Night’ seven months before ‘HIGA’ in ’87. David and Tawny tied the knot in 1989 but would get divorced only two years later, allegedly because Tawny had an affair with former football player and future criminal O.J. Simpson while he was married to future murder victim Nicole Brown.

From the 1990s onward, Tawny’s reputation continued to grow, but unfortunately in controversial ways. After her marriage to David, the ginger socialite was with second husband, former baseball player Chuck Finley from 1992 to 2002 while he was a pitcher for the Anaheim Angels and Cleveland Indians. The union resulted in two daughters, Wynter [b. 1993] and Raine [b. 1998], and influenced Tawny to move from LA to Orange County, CA for the rest of her life. In April 2002, Tawny was arrested for attacking Chuck with her stiletto shoe while high on painkillers and he was in the middle of driving. Only three days later, Chuck filed for divorce and requested a restraining order, stating he worried her substance-inspired mood swings would put others in danger. Near the end of the month during an Indians-White Sox game in Chicago, the music director of the game successfully sabotaged Chuck’s playing by cueing ‘Here I Go Again.’ Tawny ultimately agreed to 52 weeks of spousal counseling, substance treatment and anger management through a plea bargain. Sadly, the model-actress’ issues with drugs didn’t end there. Four years later in 2006, Tawny was arrested at home for possession of 15 grams of cocaine, with both young daughters in the house as the police entered the scene. This then caused the mother to return to rehab for six months to dismiss her criminal charge. In 2009, she was arrested for a DUI and sentenced to two days in jail and 64 hours of community service. Ten years later, the video vixen was charged with another DUI. This time she plead ‘not guilty’ and was scheduled for a pretrial hearing in May 2021, but died of drug-induced heart failure two weeks before the hearing. At the time of her death, Tawny was supposedly working with writer Colin Heaton on her autobiography; and throughout the 2000s, she was famously included on the VH1 reality programs “The Surreal Life” (2006) and “Celebrity Rehab” (2008) while dealing with her drug problems.

Tawny is one of the many tragic ladies who got sucked into the dark side of Hollywood. If there’s one bright spot in this bleak ending, it’s that her children didn’t seem to hold her issues against her and publicly honored her memory when she passed. It’s a shame she isn’t here to see how much she’s missed.