5 Porn Stars Doing Cool Things Other Than Porn

by Hannah Harkness

I’ve learned a lot about the world by being friends with porn stars.

At this point in history, we have more access to every single kind of porn than we could have imagined possible as recently as 15-20 years ago. This overexposure to porn makes major porn stars a weird underground kind of celebrity… millions of people have seen them (a LOT of them) but a shitload of them absolutely refuse to admit that.

So when I go out with porn stars, I get the hilarious benefit of witnessing people have the same reaction they do when they see a major celebrity but are forced to act as though they don’t know who they are, resulting in them holding in the verbal equivalent of diarrhea. I’ve seen men with their girlfriends do a double take, make a face like they’ve seen a ghost, and then lie to their girlfriends about who they just saw.

literally this

I went to a comedy special taping with a few of my friends in the adult industry and had the doorman immediately usher us into the VIP section with a “And of course I know who you ladies are *weird wink* …I’ve also seen people just waggle their eyebrows and whisper “heyyyy I’ve seen your videos” as if it’s a super exclusive secret and not something literally anyone can find out by clicking a link by accident. Imagine if someone went up to Nicole Kidman and whispered “Heyyy-I’ve seen your movies before.” I’d wager just as many people know who Jenna Jameson is as Nicole Kidman. You don’t have to yell on the street that you’ve seen a woman suck dick a million times (which I’ve also seen happen to my friends… gross), but don’t act like she should be ashamed of what she does or you know a cool secret. It’s 2019.

Congratulations for having eyes and being on the internet watching porn like practically everyone else?

But the thing that alarms me the most is when I talk to some people about hanging out with adult performers in passing, about going out drinking together or something like any other friend I have, and they go “Wow, it’s crazy, like I don’t think about porn stars as ‘real people.” Sometimes it’s the same tone as saying “Wow Bill Murray is so human I saw him pick his nose” or something, and that doesn’t bother me. Other times though, I can see a weird fear appear on that person’s face, and I realize that when they are watching porn, they were thinking about porn stars as just soulless objects. They didn’t realize how much they perceived them like that until I started talking about how I’m walking my friend’s dog while she’s doing a video shoot in Vegas. 

I understand that porn is a way for people to have a fantasy, but at the same time, I think they should be treated like humans. Like, oh I don’t know, any other actor that drags you into a fantasy world?

Pictured: A human with a life and feelings

So here’s five cool porn stars and some things they’ve done besides be your mental sex toy in the rest of their extremely human lives:

Stormy Daniels

Let’s start with the obvious. Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, has been all over the news the last couple of years due to her legal battles with Trump. She’s been gleefully roasting both him (Mario Mushroom dick!) and every slut shaming asshole that comes after her on Twitter. All of her shade throwing is funny as hell (my favorite moment definitely was when she folding laundry in her underwear during the State Of The Union address) so it’s no surprise to me that she’s been doing stand up comedy lately. She’s appeared on SNL and did Improv with Tim Meadows at Upright Citizens Brigade in LA. Stormy has also been a horse lover since she was a teenager and events horses under the name Stormy Crain, many of which have won blue ribbons. While researching this, I stumbled on a horse forum where someone posted “Did you know Stormy Daniels races horses” and someone else responded “yeah, she also is on these forums and posts a lot” and the third post was “Do we really need two threads about this?” Stormy Daniels! Porn star, equestrian, also human. 

Misty Stone

Misty Stone is a badass. Full stop. She has been in the porn biz since 2006 and has been in over 300 movies. Her throwback 70’s style inspired by Pam Grier and mainstream appeal has given her the nickname “the Halle Berry of porn.” She was the first African American performer to have a fleshlight male masturbator toy molded after her. But enough about her porn! Misty was on her high school varsity basketball team. She launched her own line of organic beauty products in 2013, which includes a body butter candle. Misty also voiced a character in Grand Theft Auto 5, in addition to appearing on several TV shows. She owns her own production company, Misty Stone productions. 

Alia Janine

Alia first started in the adult entertainment industry as a stripper and then later got into porn in 2009-2013 where she appeared in over 150 scenes. But before she was filmed having sex on camera over 100 times, she graduated police academy! She’s also worked as a private investigator, an armored car driver, and a security guard. Alia is now a stand-up comedian appearing regularly at comedy clubs and has her own comedy show production company Hardcore Comedy Entertainment, which tours nationally and has a monthly show at The Creek and the Cave comedy club in Long Island City. She’s had appearances on TV, radio, music videos, and feature films – and has hosted multiple podcasts. She’s also a vocal activist for sex worker rights and spoke routinely against Measure B in California. Sometime around 2014 an asshole comedian from Philly started crashing on her couch and annoying her while she was trying to complete another college degree. Later, this asshole would write an article featuring Alia for BrokeAssStuart.com

Asa Akira

The daughter of Japanese immigrants, this badass bitch started as a dominatrix and a stripper at age 19, and has been in over 500 adult films. But just like everyone else, she does not deactivate and stop existing after she stops fucking on camera! There is even a web series that was released in 2015 called Hobbies with Asa Akira where she literally does nothing but stuff that isn’t porn – including boxing, tattooing, ice sculpting, and taxidermy (there’s a joke to be made about stuffing here that I am not mature enough to ignore the possibility of but need to leave alone because too easy) (Did I say TOO EASY?) (shut up, Hannah). She’s appeared on several mainstream TV shows including Family Guy and The Eric Andre Show and has written/ published three books: Insatiable: Porn A Love Story, Dirty Thirty: A Memoir and Asarotica. 

Traci Lords

I coincidentally checked up on this legend’s career a month before writing this article after I picked up a T-Shirt of her iconic character Wanda Woodward from the John Waters movie Cry Baby at an Arts Market in Philadelphia. The owner of the store said she produced the shirts and dropped them off herself-cool!! 

Traci Lords was one of the most sought-after porn stars in the 80’s, but it was discovered late in her career that she had been performing under a fake ID, so all of her films were taken off the market with the exception of her last film, Traci, I Love You which was filmed 2 days after her 18th birthday. In addition to snarling “Beat It, Creep” in Cry Baby, she is a musician and has released one studio album, three singles, three promotional singles, and four music videos. Her debut single Control was number 2 on the Billboard charts in 1995.

Her music was on the soundtracks for Pet Semetary 2 and Mortal Kombat. She released a memoir in 2003: Traci Lords, Underneath It All and has been in several feature films including Blade, Serial Mom, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Traci has also voiced several video game characters. She’s recently been working in fashion as well, collaborating with Pin-Up Clothing and Helmut Lang. 

Want to hear more cool info about your favorite fuckers? Read their interviews! Also, you can check out the mainstream star category of the AVN awards (winners AND past nominees). Want to support them? PAY. FOR. YOUR. PORN. 

Or donate to their Patreons. Whatever you gotta do. *insert money shot joke*