Traci Lords Penthouse 1984 14 ((top)) -

Lords entered the adult entertainment industry in Los Angeles shortly after her 15th birthday. By the time the September 1984 issue hit newsstands, she was 16. Because federal and state laws strictly prohibit the production and distribution of sexually explicit material featuring anyone under the age of 18, the pictorial was illegal from its inception, regardless of the fake documentation she provided to the publishers. The 1986 FBI Investigation and Industry Collapse

It achieved mainstream notoriety for featuring the unauthorized nude photographs of then-Miss America Vanessa Williams—a scandal that forced her resignation. However, the issue later triggered a massive federal investigation when it was discovered that its Pet of the Month centerfold, Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma), was only 15 to 16 years old at the time the photographs were taken, rendering the material legally classified as child pornography. traci lords penthouse 1984 14