Who is Heather Clem and where is she now? All about Bubba the Love Sponge’s wife who allegedly had an affair with Hulk Hogan

More than a decade back, Bubba the Love Sponge and his ex-wife, Heather Clem (currently known as Heather Cole), were involved in a legal feud with Terry Gene Bollea, popularly known as Hulk Hogan.

In October 2012, a s*x tape scandal of the WWE superstar made its way to the mainstream media. The release of the short clip featuring a private encounter between Hulk Hogan and Heather Clem was followed by a four-year-long legal battle. The wrestler sued the former couple and Nick Denton’s Gawker for the invasion of privacy and emotional distress.

As mentioned, Heather Clem, now 50, was once the wife of Todd Alan Clem, who is better known as Bubba the Love Sponge, and was a friend of Hulk Hogan. Heather and Todd tied the knot in 2007 but parted ways in 2011, a year before Gawker published portions of the tape that sparked legal action from Hulk Hogan.

Heather Clem is a fitness coach and a former model and, according to her Instagram profile, she is associated with Florida-based Crossfit Apogee. She also has a daughter, who was born before she started her relationship with Todd.

In 2017, Heather sought an order of protection against her ex-husband. According to the Tampa Bay Times, she alleged in her filing that:

Todd was "emotionally and physically" abusive to her.

Hulk Hogan opened up about the scandal with Heather Clem on The Howard Stern Show in 2012

Days after the s*x tape was publicly released, the WWE Hall of Famer opened up about his encounter with Bubba the Love Sponge’s wife on Howard Stern’s eponymous show. According to TMZ, Hogan admitted that he had Bubba’s permission before having a consensual relationship with Heather Clem.

A few years back, the YouTube channel NostalgiaMania - Wrestling reuploaded a compilation of clips from the interview. In the video, Hulk Hogan is heard admitting about his encounter with Heather Clem. He said,

“I'm not trying to make any excuse other than I was beaten down like a dog. [...] My wife, you know, had just made a decision that she'd gone back to California.”

He claimed that he was unaware of the being filmed at his former friend's residence:

“I just, you know, went by Bubba’s to say, ‘Hey, bro I'm going to hang out.’ And it just was one of those moments I said, ‘To hell with it.’ [...] It was a huge horrible decision. It's totally, you know, [I] never dreamed in a million years there would be a camera in Bubba's house. My family's been destroyed by stuff that has happened. And now I'm going through something.”

He mentioned pressing charges against whoever leaked the video and stated that he “got to find out who did this” to him. Hulk Hogan also added,

“I was honestly trying to be cool. When the pictures came out I took a huge hit. My wife Jennifer who's not part of this media circus, believe me she's not bro. [...] At the end of the day, you know, thank God it happened before it [meeting Jennifer], because bro I'm I'm straight up about there's no reason to hide anything now. It really rattled my world bad.”

Hulk Hogan also recounted Bubba and Heather Clem allegedly being “cool” with the private encounter and referencing it for two years,

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“For two years, Heather and Bubba were saying how cool this was. [...] Bubba was saying it's cool. Honestly, Heather was relentless. [...] When I'd be on the phone with Bubba, she'd grab the phone, and so, you know, I feel like an idiot.”

Days after the interview, Hulk Hogan sued Bubba, Heather, and Gawker. The Clems eventually settled outside, while the media company remained the only defendant in the case that it lost in 2016. The jury awarded Hulk $140M in damages, but he settled for $31M after Gawker declared bankruptcy.

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