Deep Throat was sold as the ultimate expression of the sexual revolution. At its centre was Linda Lovelace, a woman who became one of the most recognisable figures in pornography almost overnight — and whose later account of how she entered the industry told a very different story.
The 1960s had promised a new attitude towards sex. The old rules were being challenged, and sexual freedom was increasingly presented as liberating, particularly for women. By the early 1970s, Lovelace appeared to embody that new freedom. She was famous, sexually outspoken and at the centre of one of the most talked-about films of its era.
The reality, she later said, was considerably darker.
Born Linda Boreman, Lovelace spent decades maintaining that she had never willingly chosen a career in pornography. She said her then-husband, Chuck Traynor, manipulated and coerced her into the business, first forcing her into prostitution before putting her in front of cameras for a series of 8mm “loops” sold through peep shows. Some of the material involved extreme sexual acts. Lovelace also denied involvement in a film involving bestiality that was later associated with her name.
In 1972, her reputation helped secure her the starring role in Deep Throat. The film became an extraordinary commercial success, attracting mainstream attention far beyond the adult industry. Lovelace was not simply its star; she became its public face, promoting the film as its popularity grew.
Years later, she gave a radically different account of the production. Lovelace said she had been threatened and physically abused by Traynor and claimed that he forced her to perform in Deep Throat, including allegedly threatening her with a gun.
Those involved in the film disputed her version of events. But one fact remains striking: Lovelace reportedly received only around $1,250 for Deep Throat, despite the enormous success attached to her name.
The offers that followed could have made her a permanent fixture of the adult-film industry. Instead, she largely rejected them. She appeared in Deep Throat Part II, which she later said she only agreed to after further threats from Traynor.
Lovelace finally divorced Traynor in 1975. By the early 1980s, she had walked away from pornography entirely and became one of its most vocal critics, campaigning against the industry and speaking publicly about coercion, abuse and exploitation.
The woman once marketed as the face of sexual liberation spent the rest of her life arguing that her story had been anything but liberating.
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Last modified: August 26, 2026
