Country singer Mindy McCready is the former roommate of Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart’s naked non-sex tape co-star, Kari Ann Peniche. Rumor had it that McCready was the one who leaked the tape, which she denied through her rep, who said “Her story will be told in due time. There’s a lot more to it than just the tape. She did not leak the tape.”

McCready is now reasserting her claim that she didn’t release the video along with making it clear that she really hates Peniche. She calls her “evil personified,” and in case that wasn’t strong enough McCready adds that Peniche “will hurt anyone she can to make money.” The way McCready phrases it makes it all sound a bit supernatural, as if Peniche has powers beyond us mere mortals. Maybe I’ve just been watching too much “True Blood”:

Mindy McCready apparently doesn’t have very fond memories of her Celebrity Rehab days, considering her roomie was the devil.
At least, that’s what the country singer called model Kari Ann Peniche, who’s now more famous for getting naked with Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart than for any solo success or foible.

“She is evil personified, she is evil in human form. She will hurt anyone she can to make money,” McCready told Access Hollywood in denying Peniche’s accusation that the troubled songbird was the one who leaked the graphic Dane-Gayheart-Peniche tape.

“I did not want to be dragged into all this,” McCready said. “I did not want to be a part of this.”

And neither did Peniche, who exclusively told E! News last week she is “not some swinger person or somebody you can pay to have sex with.”

Certainly good to know. Peniche told us she had no idea the tape was not in safekeeping until she got a call from Dane and his attorney asking, “You know the video we did? Somebody has it, and what to do we have to go to get it back?”

Dane, who was “obviously upset,” called her up and asked her something about McCready, as well, Peniche said.

Shortly after the tape hit the Internet, the swimsuit designer told TMZ.com that McCready vengefully stole her computer hard drive when the ladies were bunking together.

“If I was going to leak it, I would have done that a long time ago,” she told E! News. “If someone else was going to leak it, they would have done it a long time ago…I would never leak this tape.”

And by the way, she added: “There was no sex—he’s married! We were just having fun.”

Meanwhile, Dane and Gayheart opted to get out of town for the weekend. (Wonder why…)

The couple and their dogs drove up to Montecito, Calif., Friday for a stay at the luxurious San Ysidro Ranch. They returned to L.A. on Sunday.

[From E! Online]

That’s interesting that Peniche denies that she’s a prostitute, but doesn’t deny that she worked as a madam. Talk on the leaked tape reveals that Eric and Rebecca asked specifically for Peniche instead of one of her “girls.” The NY Daily News reported over the weekend that three sources were willing to go on the record and confirm that Peniche worked as a madam. McCready told the Daily News that it was true that Peniche ran a prostitution business. “Did she say she’d been a madam? She sure did.”

Another Daily News source, author Mark Ebner, revealed that he’s the one who gave the tape to Gawker and added that Peniche was a subcontractor for convicted Hollywood madam Michelle Braun. Were Dane and Gayheart just involved with the wrong sex broker? Is this leaked tape just an instance of someone using celebrities to try and take a Peniche down? Who else did Peniche service and will their names get leaked too? The LAPD confirmed last week that the tape is in their possession but state that they’re not yet sure if there will be a criminal investigation. It sounds like McCready certainly hates Peniche enough to tell the cops about her. Maybe she’s the one who gave them the DVD.

Mindy McCready is shown on 6/7/08. Kari Anne Peniche is shown on 7/15/08. Credit: WENN.com