Linda Lovelace was born Linda Susan Boreman on January 10, 1949, in Bronx, New York, to a working-class family; her father was a police officer, and her mother a waitress. Raised in Yonkers, New York, she attended Catholic schools and was known for her religious upbringing, earning the nickname "Miss Holy Holy" in high school for her reluctance to date. In 1969, at age 20, she moved to Florida to recuperate from a car accident and met former Marine Chuck Traynor, a man 11 years her senior, whom she married in 1971 after becoming pregnant (she gave birth to a son in 1971, whom her mother placed for adoption without her consent). Traynor allegedly abused her physically and psychologically, coercing her into prostitution and adult films.Lovelace and Traynor made numerous low-budget porn loops in NYC filmed with other couples in grimy and tiny apartments. Many of the loops included extreme fetish and shocking material, including a 1969 bestiality loop she first denied ever making, until stills clearly showing it was her, began appearing in various skin magazines. Loveless claimed Traynor forced her into it by gunpoint, although the cameraman and actor Eric Edwards, who were present in the apartment, said Traynor was not there and Loveless performed the acts willingly. She also appeared in later loops with fisting and urination scenes.Director Gerard Damiano had filmed a loop with her and saw Lovelace deepthroat an 8-inch penis. He told Traynor that she deserved a bigger starring vehicle and wanted to film a movie around that act. In 1972, she starred in the landmark pornographic film Deep Throat, directed by Damiano, where she played a woman discovering her clitoris is in her throat, leading to her famous deep-throating scenes with Harry Reems. The film, made on a $22,000 budget in Florida, grossed over $600 million, becoming a cultural phenomenon and sparking the "porno chic" era, but Lovelace later claimed she was forced into it under duress, receiving only $1,250, which Traynor kept. "That movie made over $600 million and I never saw a dime out of it," she would later say.She enjoyed little of the success of Deep Throat and her life would become even turbulent. A follow up movie Deep Throat 2, would be a massive flop. Traynor controlled her life and money and would continue his abuse. She became dependent on drugs and alcohol. She claimed Traynor would also pimp her out to powerful people connected in Hollywood who wanted to have sex with "the girl who was in Deep Throat." Her marriage to Traynor ended in 1974 after she escaped with help from David Winters, who attempted to make her a mainstream star. The R rated comedy farce Linda Lovelace for President (1975) was his big attempt to play on the notoriety of Deep Throat and hopefully catapult Loveless into stardom. Despite a star-studded cast, the film was both a commercial and critical flop, and Lovelace's film career and attempt at mainstream fame were over.In 1976, she married Larry Marchiano, a cable installer, with whom she had two children, Dominic (born 1977) and Lindsay (born 1980), and moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1990 for a quieter life. Lovelace became an anti-pornography activist in the 1980s, joining feminists like Gloria Steinem and Andrea Dworkin, testifying before the Meese Commission in 1983 about coercion in porn, and authoring memoirs Ordeal (1980), detailing Traynor's abuse (including forcing her into bestiality and gang rapes), Out of Bondage (1986), The Complete Linda Lovelace (2001), and Okey (2001). She also wrote Christian books like Making Love...The Christian Way (1988) and You Can Do It (1997), advocating for women's rights and against pornography, which she claimed exploited women. In the 1990s, she worked as a medical receptionist and appeared in documentaries like Deep Throat Revealed (2005).Physically, she was 5'5", with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a natural 34-24-34 figure, with no tattoos or piercings, and was known for her innocent, girl-next-door look that contrasted with her explicit roles. Deep Throat co-star Harry Reems later said in a 1995 interview with The Railto Report, "a lot of people come up to me and say Linda Lovelace was very plain looking for an adult star, and I would say that was the point. If she looked likeMarilyn Monroe, the movie wouldn't have worked. That was her appeal."Fans (2024) praised her as “a stunning 70s icon,” noting her Deep Throat role (comment: “It is the ground zero of all porn movies,” user: rsilais52). A 2024 X post called her “a tragic pioneer who showed the dangers of an adult career” (@RetroPornFan). AVN (2002) described her as “a controversial figure who was porn's first icon.” Feminist Andrea Dworkin, in Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981), said, “Linda’s story in Ordeal exposes the coercion behind porn,” per Wikipedia. The Rialto Report lauded her “transformation from star to advocate,” cementing her as a complex icon in adult and feminist history."On April 3, 2002, Boreman was involved in a serious automobile accident, suffering massive trauma and internal injuries. On April 22, she was taken off life support and died at the age of 53. Marchiano and their two children were present when she died. Boreman was interred at Parker Cemetery in Parker, Colorado.