Tawny Kitaen Atoning in Rehab

The Bachelor Party star cuts a deal with prosecutors to avoid serving time for a drug possession charge; upon completion of a treatment program in June, the charge will be formerly dropped

By Natalie Finn Dec 14, 2006 11:43 PMTags

If Tawny Kitaen can keep her nose clean until June, she won't have to cool her heels in the slammer. 

The Surreal Life star struck a plea deal with Orange County prosecutors Wednesday in which a felony drug charge against her will be dropped next summer if she completes a drug treatment program, TMZ.com reported. 

Kitaen's attorney, Blair Berk, told E! Online that her client checked herself into rehab in May immediately after the cocaine was found at her residence.

Kitaen, 45, was booked on one count of possession last month after police, responding to a request to perform a "welfare check" on the actress, found 15 grams of cocaine in her San Juan Capistrano apartment. 

While the actress was not under the influence when officers searched her place, her two daughters with ex-husband Chuck Finley, Wynter and Raine, were at home with their mom at the time, authorities said. 

Kitaen, who has found herself on the wrong side of the law before, was facing three years in prison if convicted. The '80s-era music-video muse entered a guilty plea for assaulting Finley in 2002 and agreed to attend anger management counseling in exchange for a dismissal of the two misdeameanor charges against her. The former major-league pitcher had accused Kitaen of kicking and clawing at him while he was driving them to their home in Newport Beach. He filed for divorce three days after the incident. 

At the time, Kitaen admitted that she was struggling with an addiction to prescription meds, which she had been taking to treat migraines and depression. 

Kitaen starred as Tom Hanks' love interest in the 1984 romp Bachelor Party—after which, she got comfy on the hood of a Jaguar for Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" video. The former model then moved on to a series of guest spots in small films and fairly obscure television shows and scored a recurring role opposite Kevin Sorbo in a handful of made-for-TV Hercules movies.  

Most recently, Kitaen kept house with Sherman Hemsley, Florence Henderson, Alexis Arquette and others on the sixth season of The Surreal Life.

(Originally published Dec. 13 at 6:13 p.m. PT)