Traci Lords

She met Brook Yeaton on the sets of ‘Cry-Baby’ and dated him for a while before they got married in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1990. Five years later the couple divorced and went their separate ways.

Later she got into a relationship with American television and film actor John Enos, which lasted for two years. They broke up over an argument about their pets.

Thereafter, she got married to Jeff Lee in 2002. They were blessed with a son, Joseph Gunnar Lee.

Traci Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma in Steubenville, Ohio on May 7, 1968. Her father, Louis, was of Ukrainian descent and her mother, Patricia, was of Irish origin. Traci was raised along with her three sisters.

Her father was an alcoholic and worked in the steel industry. He would always come home drunk and abuse her mother, which resulted in their divorce, when Traci was seven years old. The girls were brought up by their mother in their grandparents' house. Her mother started working part-time at Ohio University to make ends meet.

This was just the beginning of a difficult childhood that she had to endure. When she was 10, she was raped by a 16-year-old boy at the birthday party of a friend. When Traci was 12 years old, her mother started a relationship with her new boyfriend and moved to Lawndale, California, with her children.

Her mother’s new boyfriend was no better than her father. He was a cocaine dealer and often molested Traci. Her mother broke up with him and moved on with another boyfriend. This time, Traci and her elder sister refused to accompany their mother. Traci attended Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California. Her childhood experiences made her rebellious and she blamed her mother for her plight.

She got pregnant at the age of 14 and went in for an abortion without the knowledge of her mother. She then got a fake driver's license by pretending to be 22, when she was just 15, and used it to apply for jobs.

She made her debut in mainstream cinema with a lead role in the movie ‘Not of This Earth,’ directed by Jim Wynorski, in 1988. She also signed a modelling contract for the magazine ‘Muscle & Fitness’ under her actual name, Nora Kuzma.

Her major success in mainstream cinema came in 1990 with the musical comedy, ‘Cry-Baby,’ in which she played the role of a rebellious teenager. She starred in action thrillers like ‘Raw Nerve’ and ‘A Time to Die’ where she proved her acting skills. She subsequently moved to London and began modelling for fashion designers like Thierry Mugler.

In 1990, she released her fitness video, ‘Warm up with Traci.' The video was further improved and a second version of the same was released under the title, ‘Traci Lords: Advanced Jazzthetics,’ in 1993.

She signed a contract with 'Radioactive Records' and recorded the song ‘Love Never Dies’ for the movie ‘Pet Sematary Two’ and the song ‘Little Baby Nothing’ by Manic Street Preachers. She also featured in a television film, ‘The Tommyknockers,' which was based on Stephen King’s book of the same name.

She released her debut studio album titled ‘1000 Fires,’ in 1995. Her lead single from the album titled ‘Control’ reached the second spot on the 'Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs' list. A remix of the number was used for the soundtrack of the movie ‘Mortal Kombat’ and was certified as double platinum.

Her major works include ‘Not of This Earth’ (1988), ‘Cry-Baby’ (1990), ‘A Time to Die’ (1991), ‘Serial Mom’ (1994), ‘Boogie Boy’ (1998), ‘Blade’ (1998), ‘Chump Change’ (2000), ‘Princess of Mars’ (2009), ‘Au Pair, Kansas’ (2011), and ‘Nightmare Nurse’ (2016).

Her autobiography, ‘Tracy Lords: Underneath It All,’ was published in 2003.

She released her studio album, ‘1000 Fires,’ in 1995, followed by her EP ‘Sunshine’ in 2004, and compilation album ‘M2F2,’ in 2012.