Hulk Hogan testifies: Even his character was embarrassed when Gawker posted that sex tape

Hulk Hogan is the character; Terry Bollea is the person. But both of them were “completely humiliated” when Gawker ran highlights from a secretly recorded video showing him having sex with a friend’s wife.

“I was embarrassed by what it did to me as a person, but it was even embarrassing as a character,” Bollea said on the stand Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla. “Hulk Hogan was embarrassed.”

The former pro wrestler spent about three hours on the stand Monday testifying in his $100-million civil suit against Gawker Media.

The suit alleges that the Gawker website violated Bollea’s privacy when it published the one-minute, 41-second video -- excerpted from a leaked copy of the tape and run under the headline “Even for a Minute, Watching Hulk Hogan Have Sex in a Canopy Bed is Not Safe For Work But Watch It Anyway” -- then refused to take it down despite repeated requests from Team Bollea.

The video shows Bollea having sex with the now-ex-wife of his now-ex-best friend, radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, a.k.a. Todd Clem.

In testimony that appeared constructed to stir up maximum sympathy for Bollea, the wrestler described himself as being self-conscious about his appearance as a teen and again as a balding adult, explained that he’s had trouble making close friends since becoming the famous Hulk Hogan, and cast himself as a man who is too soft-spoken for his own good and has trouble saying no to friends.

Gawker Media, a collection of blogs, says it is protected under the 1st Amendment. Founder Nick Denton has said the company doesn’t have enough cash on hand to pay a $100-million judgment, were it to lose in court.

In April 2013, the website explained (in its trademark, profanity-laden style) its decision to leave the video online despite a judge’s order compelling the site to take it down. It was eventually removed, “pending litigation,” though a link was included to where the video could still be seen. That link is now dead.

The judge sealed a lot of material related to the case last October, citing privacy concerns. The Gawker website in November announced a shift toward politics and away from gossip.

Bollea’s assertion that publication of the video wreaked havoc in his life is nothing new. He has said that he was persuaded to have sex with his friend’s wife in 2006 because his first marriage, to Linda Bollea, was crumbling.

“I was with some friends and I made a wrong choice and now all of a sudden it surfaces over six years later and it’s just appalling,” he said in October 2012, a few days after the video went up online. “It’s totally flipped my new life and my new role upside down.”

In the grainy, black-and-white surveillance video, Bollea is, among other things, seen without his signature bandanna, and based on his testimony Monday, that fact may have been especially hurtful, given what he says went down in his first marriage.

“When I was married to my first wife there were the normal things that would go back and forth, little arguments you’d have,” he said by way of explaining the difference between Hulk wearing a bandanna and Terry wearing a bandanna. And sometimes I’d hear, ‘You’re too old, too slow, too bald-headed, I’d like to find somebody younger.’

“The bald-headed thing kinda hit me because as I’ve gotten older, my hair has gone way far down, and I’ve got a really large head, so sometimes when I wear a bandanna as Terry Bollea, it’s just because it’s a self-confidence thing. Because if I don’t have the bandanna on, it’s hard not to look at how bald-headed I am and how big my head is, because I have an exceptionally large head. It’s like a confidence thing, or a personal thing.”

He continued: “Hulk Hogan is different, because when I’m Hulk Hogan and I wear the bandanna, it’s part of the wardrobe. The first thing I do when I get in the ring is, I rip the bandanna off, and I’m in costume as Hulk Hogan. It’s totally different because I’m out in the zone, as Hulk Hogan.”

But, as he said, even Hulk Hogan was embarrassed by the video.

Cross-examination that began Monday will continue on Tuesday. Bollea’s Monday testimony as well as opening arguments and a video deposition from Clem’s ex-wife can be seen in their entirety courtesy of Livestream.

The trial began last week, with Bollea, channeling pure Hulk Hogan, tweeting: “Time for the real main event!”I AM” going to slam another Giant! Hogan vrs Gawker! Watcha Gonna Do Gawker? Only Justice Brother HH.”

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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