VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Linda Lovelace Loved Working On ‘Deep Throat,’ Director’s Son Gerard Damiano Jr. Says

Deep Throat, a film known for pioneering the adult film industry in the early 1970’s, celebrates its 50th anniversary later this month. In celebration of the milestone, Damiano Films is heading out on tour with Deep Throat director Gerard Damiano‘s children sharing more insight into one of the most profitable films of all time.

WATCH: uINTERVIEW’s SECRET HISTORY OF ‘DEEP THROAT’

The controversial film starred Linda Lovelace, who later came out against pornography, testifying that her husband, Chuck Traynor, forced her into pornography at gunpoint and that she was raped on Deep Throat.

Gerard Damiano Jr., recently sat down with uInterview founder Erik Meers to discuss his father’s take on Linda Lovelace’s experience working on the film.

“Our father had an interesting relationship with Linda Lovelace,” he said.
“She was his muse in Deep Throat. It was after meeting her that he really wrote the script for her. He came up with the name Linda Lovelace which she adopted. In the early days right after the film, she enjoyed a lot of celebrity and was known around the world. Later it came to light that she was abused by her husband. She and Chuck were on the sets. They had a certain dynamic that was kind of a dominant submissive relationship that they were open about. He would order her to do things and she would do it. She was dutiful and quick to jump when he said. After the filming of Deep Throat, on the very last day, she came to out father and he tells this story over and over, but she came to to our father and cried because she didn’t want it to be over. It was the best thing that had happened to her. Now we recognize the symptoms let’s say, but she was in a very abusive relationship and on set of Deep Throat she was the star. She had never been treated with such respect.”

He attributed her negative account of her time on set to her abusive husband rather than her experience working on the film, adding that the status she achieved after the release of Deep Throat may have actually benefited her.

“By all accounts, [Traynor] was an asshole. He abused her and beat her up and did all kinds of things to her. Deep Throat was actually a path to get away from him. Once she got the notoriety and was surrounded by other people, other people said, ‘What are you doing with this asshole? Get away!’ Our hearts go out to Linda because she had a rough go of it, but it was mostly at the hands of her husband or other abusers. Her experience on Deep Throat, even by her own account, was a positive one,” Damiano concluded.

A documentary about Deep Throat, directed by Damiano Jr., is currently in production.