Dampening the good spirits of nostalgic gingers everywhere today is news that actress Tami Erin, who played plucky ponytailed redhead Pippi Longstocking at age 14, has apparently appeared in a sex tape. Even more depressingly, the tape may or may not have been filmed without her knowledge by her male roommate in Walnut Creek, California.

The tape is "hardcore" and "X-rated" according to TMZ, who also disgustingly referred to Erin's 1988 role as "the famous firecrotch" (No, TMZ).

On the other hand, the tabloid website declined to make any mention of the 39-year-old Erin's allegations against her male roommate. Back in April, Erin was arrested for assaulting the roommate after a neighbor in the far-flung Bay Area suburb heard the two arguing and the man started screaming for help. According to Walnut Creek Police, neither party had any visible injuries after the altercation, but Erin released a statement saying she was defending herself after she discovered the illegal taping. According to her rep, Erin was actually dressed when she discovered the alleged filming, but she had no idea how long the filming had been going on.

"I'm in the San Francisco Bay area to support my father who had a stroke," the statement said. "I thought I was in a safe environment and my privacy was illegally violated. I caught this person filming me without my knowledge in my private environment and I was defending myself. He's 6' and I'm a 5'5" small girl. How much has he been filming me without my knowledge? The truth will come out."

Grain of icky salt here: there's no evidence to suggest the sex tape TMZ has seen is the same footage that the roommate (allegedly) filmed. Then there's also the recent reality that sex tapes are almost never an accident in an age when one's fading celebrity can receive a quick bump with a publicly available romp in the sack. At this point a sex tape is not so much an "accident" as it is a "career move."

Prosecutors are still handling any charges related to the surreptitious filming incident. In the meantime, Erin has apparently been biding her time rollerblading, taking glamour shots, hanging out with Third Eye Blind frontman Stephen Jenkins and tweeting underwear selfies.