Tawny Kitaen, ’80s music video star and ‘Bachelor Party’ actor, has died

Julie E. “Tawny” Kitaen, the ’80s music video star and Bachelor Party actor, has died aged 59.

Kitaen’s death was confirmed by the Orange County, California coroner’s office (per Variety), which revealed that she died at her home in Newport Beach on Friday morning (May 7). A cause of death has not yet been revealed.

Born on August 5, 1961, in San Diego, California, Kitaen’s first dealings with the world of rock was when she appeared on the covers of RATT’s self-titled 1983 debut album and 1984’s ‘Out Of The Cellar’. Kitaen was dating the band’s guitarist Robbin Crosby at the time.

After appearing in the music video for RATT’s ‘Back For More’ in 1984, Kitaen then went on to star in a number of other videos, most notably Whitesnake’s 1987 smash ‘Here I Go Again’. She also featured in the videos for ‘Still Of The Night’, ‘Is This Love’ and ‘The Deeper The Love’. Kitaen was briefly married to Whitesnake’s lead singer, David Coverdale, from 1989 to 1991.

Film roles followed, with her most popular being when she portrayed Tom Hanks’ girlfriend in the 1984 comedy Bachelor Party. She also starred in Witchboard, White Hot, Dead Tides, and she appeared in the Seinfeld episode ‘The Nose Job’.

More recently, Kitaen appeared in several reality TV shows, including Botched, The Surreal Life, and a season of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew, the latter of which was recorded in 2008.

Kitaen leaves behind two daughters she shared with baseball player Chuck Finley, to whom she was married from 1997 to 2002.

A number of tributes have begun to pour in for Kitean. Steelheart bassist Marten Andersson wrote: “Sad to hear about the passing of the Whitesnake video model (as well as Ratt cover model) Tawny Kitaen. A little bit of my youth died right now. Rip T.”

See more tributes to Kitaen below:

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