Leave it to the LA Times to leave the most interesting part of a man’s life out of his obituary.Ron Leavitt, a creator of Fox’s landmark lowbrow sitcom, Married with Children, succumbed to cancer Sunday at the age of 60. The Times dutifully describes how the show’s “racy content” was attacked in the late Eighties, as were we at A Current Affair, by the likes of Jesse Helms, the Christian Right and militant housewife Terry Rakolta-- and how, like A Current Affair, Married “kept Fox in the black for five or six years." (See Tabloid Baby.)
So it’s puzzling that the Times omits any mention of Leavitt’s companion, mistress and fiancée of the past fifteen years: the Christian Right scandal girl of the time, Jessica Hahn.
Jessica burst into the tabloid spotlight when her sexual encounter with televangelist Jim Bakker led the preacher to quit two and half weeks before Married with Children’s premiere. She wound up with a recurring role on the show, as well as a few Playboy spreads.
Jessica told Larry King about Ron two years ago: “He was the first man that took a chance with me on Married With Children. Nobody would hire me for TV, not that they should… and he said. ‘Jessica, come on in and audition.’ Nobody had the balls to do that.
And the last day of my shoot, he said,’ Jessica, come on, how about a cup of coffee, maybe some dinner,’ and he was a complete gentleman and we have been together 15 years and I have never been more in love in my life.“I was Al Bundy's shoe groupie. And between Ron Leavitt, Hugh Hefner -- I've got to tell you something: Church is great. It's great, but I've got to tell you, I found my church here. Hugh Hefner has been nothing but a gentleman. Ron Leavitt is -- been my... I think someday me and Ronnie are going to marry. I really do.”
The New York Times' website has an AP obit. The second graph reads:
“Leavitt died at his home in Los Angeles, said his fiancee, the model and actress Jessica Hahn.”
The LA Times’ reads:
“Leavitt died of lung cancer Sunday at his home in Sherman Oaks, said publicist Larry Winokur.”
What would raunchy Times owner Sam Zell think of this omission? We've got an email in to the reporter. We'll let you know if he writes back.
(When we met Jessica at the height of the PTL scandal, she was very sweet-- and fascinated by our office Elvis Shrine. Click here for some nice NSFW Jessica photos.)
