Tawny Kitaen Remembers Iconic Whitesnake Video
Whitesnake is set to release its new trilogy of albums “Red White and Blues,” featuring remastered recordings from the band’s expansive catalog, with “The Rock Album” arriving on June 19. Featured in the first release is the monster hit, “Here I Go Again,” which featured leader Dave Coverdale’s then girlfriend Tawny Kitaen in the iconic MTV video.
In a new interview with the podcast, “Ouch You’re in My Hair,” Kitaen looked back on how she wound up doing acrobatics on that Jaguar doing her best to heal “another heart in need of rescue”. The original plan was to feature Guess Jeans model Claudia Schiffer helping Coverdale make up his mind, but when Kitaen accompanied her beau to a dinner at director Marty Callner’s home, the “Bachelor Party” star got the part.
“Ironically, I started dating David. He was two million dollars in debt to David Geffen at that time. I was working and had more money than David at that time, so I kind of supported us a little. And when I heard the album and I was allowed to go in and help mix the album… You know how when you sing different tracks, they give you a piece of paper and you pick the word from the best track,” Kitaen told the podcast. “So I was able to do that. And John Kalodner, who was the biggest A&R guy in the business, who works for David Geffen, in my ‘E! True Hollywood Story’ called me Yoko Ono — because I picked the album covers, I picked the single, I picked the photographer. I made the rule that no girls were allowed backstage, so the groupies must have hated me.”
“I’ll tell you how I came to be in the video,” she continued. “Marty Callner, the director of all the Whitesnake videos, had it all planned out — had the girl, had everything. The night before the shoot, David said, ‘Will you come with me to Marty, the director of the video’s house? We have to go over the story boards.’ So we went over to his Bel Air mansion, and he opens up the door, and without even saying hi or hello, he pointed at me and he said, ‘You’re her.’ And I’m, like, ‘I’m who?’ And he said, ‘You’re the girl.’ And I was already an actress. I had turned down a couple of bands from not being in their video, because I was an actress. ‘I’m not gonna do a rock video. Are you kidding?’ That was the mentality. But it was my boyfriend at the time’s video, so I thought, ‘All right, I’ve already helped my boyfriend on all the RATT album covers’ — referring to her former boyfriend, late RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby — “why can’t I help my boyfriend in his videos?’ And so that’s how it happened. And this poor girl got a call that she was no longer gonna be in it, and here I was.”
The actress guest starred in other Whitesnake videos as well, including “Still of the Night,” and “Is This Love.”
Kitaen and Coverdale did marry in 1989, but divorced in 1991.
Relive the video below:
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