Pop star Julia Alexandratou's sex tape gives Greece a welcome break from debt crisis blues

When the Greek pop star Julia Alexandratou released her anthemic 2007 single "The Target is Cash", she was seen as the definition of a good-time gold-digger in Athens' free-spending, credit-fuelled Noughties. The racy accompanying video helped the 23-year-old Greek-Briton to minor celebrity status.

But now Alexandratou has become known for another kind of video, after a porn film in which she stars went on sale. Instead of focusing on the state deficit, the public has welcomed the distraction of a bout of soul-searching over the nation's morals. The DVD has sold 240,000 copies in ten days.

"It's a big scandal in Greece, it's the first time a Greek celebrity did something like this and it got out," Alexandratou told The Independent. Sex-aids and Easter candles in her curvaceous likeness are now on sale. Twitter and the blogosphere are agog, and the row has even prompted remarks in parliament.

The 45-minute film features Alexandratou tottering into a whirlpool bath with a bottle of Dom Perignon, later used as a sex aid. She then pairs up with an as-yet unidentified man. Last week Alexandratou issued a statement requesting that the media "desist from reproducing science fiction scenarios around my stolen private moments".

Just as her story was fading from the front pages, her manager said she will marry a businessman, whose identity won't be revealed until the wedding day.