Years ago, Tawny Kitaen was in the movie Bachelor Party with Tom Hanks. Years later, she owned the ultimate bachelor pad: an Irvine penthouse apartment with 2-story-high windows, Viking appliances, Kohler
fixtures, marble counters and a private balcony, within a condo complex with a concierge, state-of-the-art fitness
center and a junior olympic size pool.
Now, Kitaen has sold that residence and her 5-bedroom house in the guard-gated Belcourt community in Newport Beach–in short sales.
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A short sale means Kitaen sold the residences for less than what she owed on them.
The Orange County Register has the scoop on the sales, which both closed Oct. 29. The Belcourt house, which was bought in August 2007 for $2,700,000, sold for $1,810,000. The penthouse sold for $2,520,000, but the Reg's Marilyn Kalfus reports records do not show how much Kitaen paid for it originally. She did borrow $2,627,140 against the property from Washington Mutual at an adjustable rate in August 2007 (one would assume to pay for the Belcourt home).
That house was undergoing a major remodel and
featured soaring ceilings, a chef's
kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances and a lush tropical yard. A year after it was built in 1983, Kitaen starred in Bachelor Party, and later that decade was writhing on the hood of Jaguars in a famous Whitesnake video. She married Angels pitching ace Chuck Finely in 1997, had a couple daughters and seemed to settle into life as just another wealthy Newport Beach mom.
Then came the legal troubles.
In 2002, she was charged with committing domestic violence against Finley, who alleged Kitaen injured him while kicking him with one of her high heels as they
drove home after dining out. The case was later dismissed.
However, Finley filed for divorce three days after her arrest, and during the proceedings it was revealed Kitaen was addicted to prescription pills and shopped around to various Newport Beach physicians for fresh scripts.
The nude-sy photo shoot of Kitaen by photographer Jeanne Rice for the Weekly's Feb. 5, 2004, “sex issue” was detailed in Rebecca Schoenkopf's piece “Sex Kitaen,” which was surely the credit that sealed the VH1 deal that placed the model-actress in The Surreal Life cast that debuted in March 2006. Kitaen came off spacey that season.
Having moved with her daughters from Newport Beach to San Juan Capistrano, it was there a search of her home led county prosecutors in November 2006 to charge Kitaen with possessing 15 grams of cocaine. She entered a rehab for six months in exchange for the dismissal of a felony drug possession charge.
She went on to appear in the second season of VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which began in October 2008. Dr. Drew Pinsky is depicted that season expressing concern over Kitaen's use of the sleeping pill triazolam.
Kitaen's most recent brush with the law was in September 2009, when she was arrested in Newport Beach for driving under the influence. She pleaded no contest in July to misdemeanor DUI and was sentenced to a couple days in jail, ordered to attend a first offender alcohol program and required to perform 64 hours
of community service.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.