Vegas model talks about how she got started in the porn business
It’s an interesting enough story that Vegas model Ariana Marie has been selected as a Penthouse Pet of the Month. However, more interesting is that she was tricked and blackmailed into the world of adult movies.
At first, she didn’t want any part of the sex tapes, but now she has become her own porn producer and was voted Vixen of the Month for her on-screen shenanigans. She was also nominated for Best New Star of the Year at the AVN Awards show, held in January at the Hard Rock Hotel and named Twisty’s Star of the Month and then Twisty’s Star of the Year. But Ariana is trying to cross over to mainstream reality television.
She told me: “I’ve done some reality show pilots, so I’ve done that kind of stuff, but nothing that’s on TV, yet, so I’ll just do adult films until something mainstream hits. I got the Penthouse Pet award after just six or seven months into the porn industry.
I was webcamming at first, and then I gradually got approached to do some film work, which at first I didn’t really know what it really was. It was a little sugarcoated for me, but then I came out to L.A., did my first shoot, and kept with it.
“The guys that got me into the industry — they weren’t licensed; they weren’t bonded; and they weren’t agents, but they posed as that. They were just trying to get girls to come in and make them some money, but I was 20, so I didn’t really know what I was doing — like if it was all legitimate — and it seemed that way when I met with them, but it wasn’t until I got on set and I realized it was like actual porn.
“I was like, “Oh, my God.” They told me that I was going to do some films, but nothing was going to be shown in the U.S., so I didn’t have to worry about my family knowing or anything like that. I was completely tricked.”
Q: What on earth went through your mind as you walked onto the set and realized you had to do what you were going to do?
A: I started crying, I was so upset. I think I was more upset because they lied to me and they didn’t tell me what it was at first. But I got myself together and it was weird because I felt like I was doing something wrong, but at the same time, I still wanted to do it. Does that make sense? I still had that little tingle about going and doing a scene or something. Maybe it was curiosity? I don’t know. I’ve always been kind of a shy, quiet person, but I’ve always been the one to go do something crazy, I guess you could say.
I never gave my parents a reason to ever question what I was doing because I was always like a goody-good. Then to my horror and shock, I found out the movie, Porn Pros was going to be right here.
Q: What ran through your mind right then?
A: I thought maybe I can keep it quiet, like maybe no one will obviously see it until it comes out. It was just a boy/girl/girl, and I had never been with another girl before. It was just a scene that I did. I got through it. Then the next day, I had another scene and another scene and everything, so I just kept going with it, but then I started realizing that the guys that had got me into the industry obviously weren’t good. They were no good. I left them after six months of being with them. I’d been completely bamboozled and they were taking 40 percent from me when I first started.
I was kind of bouncing around from agency to agency, because I was so traumatized by what I had been through. And then came Penthouse Pet.
Q: How do you go from being traumatized to — I take it — enjoying it?
A: It took me a minute. I had to go home for about a month and just kind of regroup and try to figure out if this is something I still wanted to keep doing or if I wanted to stop. Then those horrible guys blackmailed me. It’s a crazy story. They did that to some other girls, too. But yeah, they sent an anonymous letter to my parents’ house. That’s how my mom found out.
She was mad at me – and at them because they sent a picture, a degrading picture, and she had to see it, so she didn’t know if it was real or fake. She called me and she’s like, “Is this real?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” I didn’t know how to tell her though, like beforehand. Before they blackmailed me, I didn’t know how to tell her because how do you tell your parents that you’re doing porn? I was only 20 years old and that was four years ago.”
Q: How do your mum and dad feel about it now?
A: They’ve accepted it, Both my parents now know. They are supportive, but we don’t talk about it or anything. When I tell them, “Oh, I have work tomorrow,” they know what work is, but they don’t ask questions. They just want to know that I’m safe and like no one’s disrespecting me. I’m very safe about it all now.
Q: Where does this all take you to? What do you want to do as a result of this?
A: I want to start getting into production. I want to start shooting for my website. I travel a lot and I do a lot of feature dancing, so I go all around the country, pretty much. It’s hard to set time aside and start shooting content and all that, but it’s something that I want to do. I’m married now, and so my husband, he used to be a performer, like 17 years ago, so he’s kind of guiding me with all of that. But, we obviously want to have a baby at some point.
Q: You don’t hide the fact that you are a swinger with an alternative lifestyle? Your parents know that as well?
A: They don’t know that part. I mean, we’re in this industry. I feel like nothing really still surprises them at this point. I mean, they know I’m doing adult films and stuff. I talked to my mom, yesterday, and she’s like, “Oh, so how’s everything going?” And when she says it, I know she’s talking about work. I don’t think they know too much about that, but then again, I think that if they found out, they wouldn’t be too surprised. Because we’re in this industry, and I have to work with other people all the time.
My husband, Jake, likes to be more behind the scenes now. He has been on webcam with me. I do a lot of webcamming stuff, and so sometimes we’ll do a webcam show together. He doesn’t really perform anymore, but every now and then, I guess. For my husband, I mean, we’ve talked about it and everything. He’s been in this industry so long that he’s a little jaded from performing and all that. He kind of gets — I think he definitely gets a little turned on by it, but he doesn’t get jealous at all., There’s no jealousy.
Q: So where are you right now?
A: Right now I want to do more adult work, just because I’m more familiar with that. Doing mainstream would be cool. I just know it’s very hard once you’re labeled as a porn star, it’s kind of hard to transition over to mainstream. Some girls have done it, but it’s pretty hard.
Q: Before Las Vegas, you were born in Dallas and raised in Florida. You’ve described yourself as a shy, quiet person but were you also a curious person?
A: I was, especially during high school. I had boyfriends in high school and I was always trying to. … I had one boyfriend, I remember, he got me into. … I was always like a kind of straight-A student, and then this. Oh! My newest movie is “Passionate Raw.” But I think since I started it’s been around 170 adult films. I’m just guessing. Might be a little bit less than that, but I think so.
I’m having fun, but I’ve also realized that I need to be a little bit more strategic now, because I’ve been in the industry four years, and I don’t want to keep giving everybody content with me because we only get paid one time. And, I’d rather start shooting stuff with my own website, and I make all the money.
Q: You have to admit, it’s a very unusual journey.
A: Yes, definitely, but I’ve learned a lot. My husband and I, we started an agency because of all the stuff that I had gone through and pretty much the whole reason behind that was because I had gone through a really bad experience. I wanted to have something where adult actresses and model girls felt safe to come, and it’s female-run: Adult Star Models of Las Vegas.
Q: To wrap up, tell me how is the industry here in Vegas at the moment?
A: There are a few companies out here that shoot. it’s not as busy as L.A. (Los Angeles). L.A. is really busy, but I think everybody’s kind of gradually, slowly coming out this way, just because of real estate being a little bit cheaper and everything. The industry is slowly moving here from Los Angeles.
