Causing a Scene: Celebs sex tapes frequently wind up in the wrong hands

Kirk Baird

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 8:16 a.m.

You're a celebrity with a new camcorder. You put the camcorder - and your significant other - to use in a homemade erotic movie. While you take great pains to hide the tape in a secure place - tucked away in a sock drawer or even a bullet-proof safe - the video still finds its way into unfriendly hands. So you hire top-flight lawyers to stop the release of the tape.

You issue a heartfelt press release explaining why you made the tape: "We're a couple in love, doing things that couples in love do."

Then you sit back and watch helplessly as the video is leaked to the Internet, meaning that millions of online voyeurs now have access to your most intimate moments.

End of a career?

Maybe not.

A honeymoon sex romp taped at Lake Mead certainly didn't hurt the careers of Pamela Anderson or then-husband Tommy Lee after the video was stolen and made public in 1998. Nor did a video of Anderson's sexploits with Poison frontman Bret Michaels.

"Whether or not these are good or bad for people's careers all depends on who you are and what these things say about people, whether they confirm why you are already famous or whether they go against it," said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.

"It's not like (Anderson) was building her career upon something that was the antithesis of that. She was most famous for having really large breasts. And a sex tape is not going to compromise or hurt that kind of thing.

"Those tapes, to an extent, should be put in her filmography."

And Paris Hilton's seemingly drunken sex video with a former boyfriend made her a household name last year, helping to generate loads of curious viewers for her first TV series, "The Simple Life."

Some have even gone so far as to suggest that Hilton's tape was leaked in an effort to further her career.

"You've got to figure that there are people out there who have figured out that with certain kinds of celebrities, letting one of these things out and acting like they didn't didn't know about it could be a Machiavellian career move," Thompson said.

"Why was (Hilton) a celebrity in the first place? For being a party girl. Therefore, the sex-tape thing only further confirmed that and further built up her reputation for being the very thing she had become famous for in the first place." But that can be a risky career move.

Laura Herlovich, owner of P.R. Plus, a Las Vegas public relations firm that specializes in entertainment, said sex videos are generally "catastrophic" to a celebrity's popularity.

"Certainly, when you have a client who passes away or dies an untimely death, that is at the top of the list," she said. "I would say having a sex scandal or a sex tape released is not far behind that."

But even while catastrophic, Herlovich said that a sex video wouldn't necessarily destroy a career.

"It could derail a career," she said. "It would just depend. If the person involved is talented enough in their field, they can overcome such things. If the person is a joke in their field or more of a B-rate celebrity, it could damage their career for a much, much longer time than an A-list celebrity."

Just look at Rob Lowe and Tonya Harding.

Lowe's tawdry sex-tape recording of a threesome with an underage girl and male friend helped sidetrack the actor's career for nearly a decade, until his critically lauded turn on TV's "The West Wing" erased memories of his past indiscretion.

Harding's career was never the same after a video of her honeymoon night was released without her permission.

Then again, considering her low-level celebrity status, the video may have had no impact on her popularity at all.

"Tonya Harding's career trajectory seemed to have been ordained," Thompson said. "She would have got that gig on 'Celebrity Boxing' with or without that tape."

While the videos featuring Anderson, Hilton, Lowe and Harding might be the best-known among sex tapes, they are by no means the only ones around.

A new wave of celeb-recorded sexual hijinks is making its way around the Internet, including: "Baywatch" beauty and former "Price is Right" model Gena Lee Nolin; "Survivor: All-Stars"' Jenna Lewis -- rumored to have been taped in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room on her honeymoon -- and Croatian pop star Severina Vuckovic.

Previous famous names linked to sex videos include Jayne Kennedy, Mimi McPherson (sister of supermodel Elle McPherson), R. Kelley and, perhaps the godfather of the celebrity sex video, "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane.

But it's not just celebrities who have been caught up in a sex-tape scandal.

Chu Mei-feng, a former Taiwanese politician and civil servant, was filmed by a secret camera having sex with her married lover in 2001. And several newscasters have quit their jobs after sexually explicit tapes and pictures came to light.

Though having such a private moment made public is certainly humiliating and might damage a career, many sex therapists consider the act of taping normal -- provided it's between consenting adults.

"There are a lot of couples out there who engage in this kind of light play," said Gerald Weeks, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor and board-certified sex therapist who specializes in sex and marital therapy.

"It's really common behavior (and) comes across all socio-economic levels. I suspect if everyone had a camera ... I would think a lot of people would use it for their own sexual pleasure."

While women may agree to be taped, Weeks said it's men who tend to drive the sex-video phenomenon.

"The visual aspect appeals more to men than women," he said. "Women are more interested in the emotional aspect as well as the pleasure aspect of sex."

But for those couples who elect to tape themselves -- whether celebrities or not -- Weeks offers this advice: keep the evidence in a secure place, such as a lockbox with a key.

"I've had many people who have had their children find their tapes, or pornography. They told me, 'I thought I had them really hidden well. But damn if the kids didn't find them.' Everyone is then upset. The client says, 'This is terrible. I've screwed my kids up for life.' "

Of course, sometimes a celebrity may want the tape to get out for personal satisfaction.

Or, it could simply be a case where the celebrity, in an act of extreme narcissism, believes he or she can film themselves having sex with no consequences.

"They sort of think they are above everything and that the normal rules of life don't apply to them ... and they are shocked when there are consequences," Weeks said.

Still, Weeks advises restraint before judging the celebrities harshly.

"If we label them exhibitionist, aren't we voyeuristic for watching?" he said. "If we begin judging them, we must judge ourselves."

But when a celebrity finds him or herself in the predicament of explaining a sex tape that's been made public, it's probably best for them to do as little as possible, recommends a longtime public-relations specialist.

"Have somebody make a statement on your behalf that says it was a private video, and that there's nothing wrong with a couple in love with each other taping themselves. That they're very embarrassed it got out, but they're not going to let it ruin their lives. And never talk about it again," said Cindy Rakowitz, a former corporate vice president of public relations for Playboy who now owns her own PR firm in Los Angeles, Rak N Roll public relations.

"And that puts out the fire."

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