Linda Lovelace

Linda Lovelace (born Linda Susan Boreman; January 10, 1949 – April 22, 2002) was an American actress who became famous for her performance in the 1972 hardcore film Deep Throat. She later spoke out about the fact that her abusive husband, Chuck Traynor, had threatened and coerced her into participation, saying that ”if you watch the movie, you are watching me get raped”. In her autobiography Ordeal, she described what took place behind the scenes. She later became a born-again Christian and a spokeswoman for the anti-pornography movement.

Early life

Boreman was born on January 10, 1949, in The Bronx, New York, into a working-class family. She described her upbringing in an unhappy family, as the daughter of John Boreman, a police officer who was seldom home, and Dorothy Boreman (née Tragney), a waitress who was harsh, unloving, and domineering. She attended private Catholic schools, including Saint John the Baptist (Yonkers, New York) and Maria Regina High School. Linda was nicknamed "Miss Holy Holy" in high school because she kept her dates at a safe distance to avoid sexual activity. When Boreman was 16, her family moved to Davie, Florida, after her father retired from the New York City Police Department.

At the age of 20, she gave birth to her first child born out of wedlock, whom her mother tricked her into putting up for adoption. Shortly afterwards, she returned to New York City to live and go to computer school. There, she was in a car crash, sustaining injuries that were serious enough to require her to undergo a blood transfusion. The transfused blood had not been properly screened for hepatitis contamination, which caused her to need a liver transplant 18 years later.