Hot Video Reveals Cover Girl ... and New Editor

PARIS—A little over a week ago, Hot Video, the venerable French magazine devoted to the Euro porn scene, asked readers to guess who was sharing space with sizzling starlets Jessie Volt, Liza Del Sierra and Jessica Belluci on its next cover. As promised, the results of the contest were released today—and it's a name that will resonant with porn historians: Tabatha Cash. Who is Tabatha Cash? The folks at Hot Video can answer that query. Back in the early 1990s, Cash entered the porn industry while attending law school in Paris; soon after, she was awarded a Hot d'Or award (Hot Video's equivalent of the AVN Awards) for Best European Starlet during the International Film Festival in Cannes. The following year she nabbed Best European Actress at the Hot d'Or ceremony. Then, just as suddenly as she appeared, Cash was gone, ending her adult career at age 19. After that, she set about conquering mainstream media. She was on French national TV (Canal+), and she got a daily talk show on France's national SkyRock Radio. French director Thomas Gilou cast her as the lead actress in the movie Rai. And her face and figure were seen on the cover of many magazines, including Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and GQ. Another transition—just as abrupt—came when she was 20. The former porn star married Franck Vardon—editor of Hot Video—and settled down to be a stay-at-home mom. Following the recent passing of Vardon, who founded Hot Video in June 1989 and the Hot d’Or ceremony in 1992, Tabatha Cash has come out of retirement. Two decades after after her last cover for Hot Video magazine comes the announcement that she is back in the magazine—as the editor in chief. In late July Cash took control of the Hot Video group, with its five branches: magazine, TV, web, mobile and VOD. Why? Because, Cash says, "The show must go on!"