March 18, 2000 09:00am
Accused porn queen breaks her silence
Source: The Vancouver Sun
by: David Baines
(VANCOUVER, CANADA) -- Kathryn Gannon, a.k.a. Marylin Star, broke a two-month silence Friday to describe her struggle to shed her former life as a porn queen, deal with insider-trading charges in the United States and get married to Vancouver businessman Michael Gilley.
The diminutive 30-year-old described in an exclusive interview with The Vancouver Sun how, despite living in a luxury condo in the South Beach area of Miami, her career as an adult film star began to take its toll early last year.
"Marylin Star's persona had completely consumed Kathryn Gannon's soul," she said.
She moved to Vancouver where she met Gilley, who offered to help her develop a career in financial consulting.
"I said 'yes' without knowing the job description or the pay. Our chemistry was so electrical that I thought, sit down, shut up and take it. It was a very magical experience."
Gilley leased her a 2,000-square-foot waterfront condo with a 180-degree view of False Creek and English Bay. Within weeks, he left his home in North Vancouver, where he shared space and their four children with his estranged wife, Jane, and moved in with her.
The romance was buffeted in April when U.S. securities regulators alleged that Gannon had acted on tips provided by a former paramour, New York investment banker Jeff McDermott, and made $88,000 in illicit trading profits.
Gannon found herself pursued by reporters from Inside Edition, Hard Copy, People magazine and myriad other media outlets. She became a virtual prisoner in her 21st floor condo, and had to dye her hair and assume disguises just to walk her champion Maltese, Angel Face.
"The amount is minuscule. Everybody on Wall Street and Howe Street is laughing. This is like Peanuts or Cathy: It's the funniest cartoon ever, but because it is so high-profile, the media has blown it out of proportion," she said. "I am being victimized. I just want to get married and have a normal life. Why won't the media give me a chance? The irony is that for 10 years men loved and ogled over me, and now that I'm 30 and retired, they are exploiting what's left of my little life."
She declined to talk about the insider-trading charges, other than to say that she will not be in New York City when the trial convenes on April 3.
The romance has also being battered by a bitter custody battle over Gilley's four children.
Gannon says Gilley's former wife is using her past as a porn queen as a weapon to turn the four children against their father, and as a lever in the on-going custody battle.
She said she and Gilley had planned a fairy-tale wedding, complete with medieval theme, for Valentine's Day, but allies of Gilley's wife leaked the news to the media, causing the minister to bow out and the wedding plans to be cancelled.
Gannon said that the dispute has resulted in angry confrontations between her and Gilley's estranged wife, often with Gilley's four children caught in the cross-fire.
She said Gilley was supposed to have custody of the children during the spring school break, but his former wife had spirited them away, and that Gilley intended to file a complaint with North Vancouver police.
Despite the turmoil, she says she and Gilley are still planning to marry: "It would be nice to get married on April 12, which is my birthday, but the [insider-trading] trial would still be going on. That would really spaz people out," she laughed.
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