CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Ranae Shrider, the 22-year-old ex-girlfriend of Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer, told AVN in an exclusive interview that she has no idea who's behind an overseas website that released a sex tape of the former couple.
SexWithMiniMe.com launched earlier this month with the tape that has been the subject of a $20 million federal lawsuit and plenty of interesting rumors. The lawsuit, filed by Troyer against TMZ, a celebrity news and gossip website; celebrity sex tape broker Kevin Blatt; and SugarDVD, who publicized an offer to distribute the tape, has since been settled out of court with the defendants agreeing not to make the tape public. The problem was Troyer never had a copy of the tape, and was unable to prevent an overseas company from releasing the footage. Initially, the site charged $9.95 for one week of access to the video, but the price has since jumped to $19.95.
"I actually found out about the website when a friend of mine from college called and asked, ‘Did you know you can have sex with Mini-Me for $9.95?'" Shrider told AVN.
Shrider said she did not authorize the site and is receiving no money from the sales. She also set the record straight on earlier reports that she had sold the tape for $5,000.
"The story that I gave the tape to a guy who had approached me with $5,000 in a paper bag is completely bogus," she said, but declined to state the current whereabouts of the tape. "I have no idea how the person got the tape."
She said she is trusting her lawyer to work on having the site shut down, but added she doubts she and Troyer would ever join forces to fight the site owners over selling the video.
Shrider also said she is trying to take everything in stride, and added that while she continues to work toward becoming a mainstream actress, she is willing to consider following the path that is before her.
"It would be stupid for me to go to Steven Spielberg and say, ‘Let's put me in a period piece.' He would laugh at me," she said.
Though she admitted she's not quite ready to star in her own adult feature film, she is considering working with adult magazines to pose nude.
"Everybody has seen the tape already, so it's not like they haven't already seen me naked," she said.
In the meantime, she is wrapping up her latest project: a new book that details her relationship with Verne and the recent break-up.
The complete video interview can be seen at AVN Live.
