MaryAnn Sahoury, a New Jersey mother, is suing a parenting production company after an instructional breast-feeding video she appeared in was taken by a third party and spliced and edited into a pornography video.
MaryAnn Sahoury said she agreed to appear in the breastfeeding tutorial video because she wanted to help new mothers overcome their breastfeeding fears, after she herself had initially had trouble breastfeeding.
In January 2010, Sahoury agreed to demonstrate breast-feeding techniques with her month-old daughter in a video for Parents TV, which broadcasts original videos on parenting. The video was to be posted on the Meredith Video Network website as well as tv.parent.com and YouTube.
"I didn't get paid to do this. I didn't want to be some sort of celebrity," Sahoury, 35, told The Associated Press. "I did this to help other moms."
The video was later pirated and spliced into pornography, with Sahoury's name and her daughter's name in it.
"It went from me talking, to a woman who looked like me having sex. It was just a full porn video, maybe six or seven minutes long," she said.
Sahoury claims that the producer at Parents TV promised her that her last name would not be used in the video, but it was. The pirated version has been linked to dozens of porn websites.
Sahoury is suing Parents TV for breach of contract. Meredith Corporation, the parent company of Parents TV, issued the following statement:
"Meredith was appalled to learn someone misused a video meant to help new mothers...We took immediate action...Hiring specialists to file take-down demands and clear online caches."
Sahoury says that is simply not be enough for her daughter.
"She's almost 3 now and I think about what she'll be in middle school if one of her friends types her name and says, 'Oh look at you, you're on a porn site. How'd you get there?'" Sahoury said, adding that she fears the video will never be deleted.
Watch MaryAnn Sahoury interview video below:
