Linda Lovelace Interview With Phil Donahue Review

She convinced many; she convinced not enough. But for those who watch the clip today, the truth is as visceral as it was forty years ago. When Phil Donahue asked her if she regretted making Deep Throat , she didn't talk about art or money.

Lovelace appeared on The Phil Donahue Show on , to promote her autobiography, Ordeal . The book was a harrowing account of her life, detailing years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her then-husband and manager, Chuck Traynor.

By 1980, the cultural memory of Linda Lovelace was still tied to the 1972 release of Deep Throat , a film that became a symbol of the sexual revolution. However, Linda had spent years attempting to escape the control of her first husband and manager, Chuck Traynor. linda lovelace interview with phil donahue

"I did it to survive," Lovelace said flatly. "I was a hostage."

'Lovelace' a smart look at first porn star | Arts & Entertainment She convinced many; she convinced not enough

When you watch, pay attention to the physical space between Lovelace and Donahue. He keeps a respectful distance, yet she shrinks into the chair. Pay attention to the applause at the beginning—loud and curious—versus the applause at the end—sparse and uncomfortable.

Linda Lovelace's 1973 and 1980 interviews on The Phil Donahue Show Lovelace appeared on The Phil Donahue Show on

The is most remembered for the explicit nature of her testimony. For decades, audiences believed the fantasy of a willing star. Lovelace shattered that illusion in under two minutes.

When she returned to the Donahue stage, the mood had shifted from voyeurism to victimhood—and the audience didn't quite know how to handle it. This was no longer the bubbly girl next door who had accidentally become a smut icon; this was a woman who claimed she had been raped on camera for the world to see.

When Lovelace walked onto the set, she looked nothing like the glossy starlet of the 1970s. She was wearing a modest dress, her hair was dark and flat, and her face was pale. She looked, as one critic later noted, like a survivor of a war.