Tawny (
nee Julie) Kitaen is a former actress and
Whitesnake video star who made headlines in the spring of 2002 when she was charged with
spousal abuse for allegedly attacking then-
husband Chuck Finley, a
baseball pitcher with the
Cleveland Indians.
Phase 1: The 1980s
Kitaen made a name for herself in 1984 with the movie
Bachelor Party, in which she landed the co-starring role with
Tom Hanks. The movie was a
breakthrough hit, but it would be the pinnacle of her acting career. Her other movies — i.e.
Witchboard,
Corazon de cristal,
Instant Justice — were quickly forgotten.
However, Kitaen kept herself busy by immersing herself in the
Los Angeles rock n' roll scene. Soon after the success of
Bachelor Party, she dated
Ratt guitar player
Robbin Crosby and landed on the cover of their
Out Of The Cellar album. Later, she dated Whitesnake lead singer
David Coverdale and starred in four of the band's videos:
Still Of The Night,
Here I Go Again,
Is This Love? and
The Deeper The Love.
In an interview, Cloverdale once said of Tawny: "She's my
whore and my
inspiration."
The couple was married in 1989. They were
divorced two years later.
Phase 2: The 1990s
In hopes of re-starting her career, Kitaen landed a job as the
co-host of
ABC's
America's Funniest People in 1990. The show lasted for two seasons — not bad for the
television business — but Kitaen was unable to land any other
gigs other than a role on
The New WKRP in Cincinnati and a
recurring role as
Deianeira on the
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys television series.
Then, in the early 1990s, she met Finley, who was then a pitcher for the
Anaheim Angels. The two settled down in
Orange County, had a
child (
Merin Finley, born 1993), were married in 1997 and had a second child (
Raine Finley, 1998).
But Kitaen was not out of the news for good.
Phase 3: The 2000s
It
allegedly happened on
April Fool's Day,
2002.
As the couple was returning from dinner to their home in
Newport Beach, Kitaen allegedly attacked Finley while he was driving — twisting his
ear, striking him in the leg and arm with her
high heel and using the heel to pin Finley's foot down on the
gas pedal. The couple contiued arguing when they (safely) got home, and a neighbor called the police. Upon arriving, the officers found evidence of a
domestic altercation.
Three days later, Finley filed for
divorce, a
restraining order and
custody of their two daughters. (He was soon heckled by fans during baseball games.) Kitaen was also charged with
spousal abuse and was booked by officers. Her
mug shot quickly appeared on
thesmokinggun.com, and she soon entered
drug rehab.
On April 30, Kitaen pled
innocent to the spousal abuse charges. The next day, she filed a declaration in the
divorce case that Finley smokes
marijuana, keeps an unregistered
shotgun in the closet, likes to get into fights at bars, takes
steroids and is from an uneducated family in the
Deep South that drinks heavily and often uses the "
N-word."
Sources:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/kitaen1.html
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/tawnydrugs1.html
http://www.groupiecentral.com/gwltawny.html
http://www.socalnews.com/la3988.html
http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=Baseball&storyId=371855&topic=kitaen
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,9885,00.html
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Kitaen,+Tawny
http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0416/1369856.html