Jayne Kennedy and The Men Who destroyed Her Wholesome "It" Girl Status
What if your man asked you to make an X-rated video for the two of you to enjoy as an anniversary present in 10, or 20 years of your relationship? What if that man was your husband? Would you do it? With the infamous celebrity sex tape scandals that the public has been exposed to, I think most women would be squinting their eyes or saying a hard no to this question, or maybe not. However, it was 1990 when this scandal happened to actress and sportscaster, Jayne Kennedy. She was at the height of her career and divorced from the husband she was supposed to cherish this special event with on their fiftieth anniversary when the tape was stolen and released to the public.
Because of their acrimonious divorce, it’s believed that her ex-husband, Leon Kennedy was the one who leaked the tape for revenge. When he came to her home that day to deliver the bad news to her and her husband, he seemed just as devastated as she was. He then asked her if she wanted to hold a press conference, which seemed pretentious but also he wanted to get out in front of this scandal before it destroyed either of their public personas.
Kennedy declined the press conference but following the release of the sex tape on the black market, she went into hiding. Jayne Kennedy who up until then was a household name and trailblazer for young, Black girls and women, withdrew from public life in shame and humiliation. Unlike how celebrities respond to this scandal today, with a reality show or a number of sponsorship opportunities, she felt like she could not continue as a model and entertainer, with that intimate scene viewed by the public.
What a shame? That a sex tape eliminated one of the most prolific and aspiring ladies of her day, to the point that it almost erased her trailblazing history from the books. Before this event happened, she was fired from NFL Today, after she took a gig with a competing network. At that time, she was the only Black sportscaster on a nationally syndicated TV show. This was also after she had posed for Playboy with her then husband, Leon Kennedy, which was poorly received by her fanbase.
When she married Leon at the tender age of nineteen, he was twenty-two, they were career oriented, ambitious, and worked towards their ten-year plan. They seemed like the “it” couple that others aspired to be. They attained the unattainable for Black people in those days; however, it seemed success was the catalyst of their demise. She talked about the undoing of their seemingly solid union in her autobiography; while not being too harsh to her ex-husband, but also introspective about her role in the deterioration of their once marital bliss.
It was 1990, and Jayne was living her happily ever after with her second husband Bill Overton, who they share three daughters with. Jayne said she made the tape with Leon fifteen years ago and had long forgotten about it when it was stolen. And when I say tape, I mean VHS tape. You had to have a VCR to watch it so though it made its way to bootleggers it was at a much slower pace than today’s social media and streaming abilities.
Jayne Kennedy had her share of scandals by this time: she was unexpectedly fired from NFL Today in 1980, in 1981 she appeared in Playboy to promote film, Body and Soul (1981), then she divorced her first husband, which was like breaking a commandment in Black Hollywood.
After Bo Derek appeared in the previous issue of Playboy, a month earlier, the public responded with outrage to seeing Jayne Kennedy grace the cover—although she did not pose nude—it was a betrayal to her “clean” image. Bo Derek was sixteen when she began an affair with then married man and director John Derek, who she eventually married; however, the public forgave her offense and her posing in Playboy ruffled few feathers. The same couldn’t be said for Kennedy. Apparently, infidelity is forgivable for a white woman but posing in Playboy as a Black woman is a sin.
Jayne said she only did the cover and exposé at her then husband, Leon’s behest, after he kept booking her for the photoshoot and she would later cancel. She had a talk with her mom, who told her as long as she wasn’t showing anything that would not be seen in a bathing suit, posing for Playboy should not be a problem. Finally, she acquiesced to her husband and Hugh Hefner, who thought she was now popular enough for the coveted cover. Leon’s career remained intact when the issue hit the stands in 1981, but Kennedy’s, as she put it, “Newspapers around the country were ready to slit my throat.”
Read more about this scandal and other lessons the legendary Jayne Kennedy learned while being a Hollywood professional in the 1970s and 80s in her autobiography, Plain Jayne.
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