I knew some characters while I was reporting on the porn industry. One of them Damien Michaels, a big talker, a hustler, a pimp.
He talked a good game. Like a lot of people in his world, he longed to be in mainstream Hollywood.
"What’s ‘mainstream’?" a TV reporter once asked me. He was confused. All these people in adult entertainment were talking about going mainstream.
That industry was a depressing place. We were all looking for our ticket out. Some made it, such as Evan Wright, who went on to publish two books and numerous essays in Rolling Stone.
I was extremely close with Kendra Jade from 1998-2001. We stayed in touch intermittently after that. For a few weeks, we were as close as a man and a woman can be.
Kendra loves to read. She’s smart. She’s obsessed with serial-killers. She knows how to use her body to get what she wants. She’s had a ton of therapy and is good at reading people.
I have not heard from her in about three years.
Darrah emails:
Your friend Rob Spallone was interviewed by the local media and there’s a video of the interview after porn star Damien Michaels was found stabbed to death in a Woodland Hills motel room. Rob was supposedly in a car crash with Joey Buttafuoco a while back but I never heard any updates after:
Kendra Jade will be on VH1’s new sex rehab reality show starting tomorrow night on VH1. They already have the first episode up on video for some reason:
http://www.vh1.com/video/play.
Luke says: I’d love to diss this show but it’s great. I love Dr. Drew. I wish I could diss him but he seems to be doing good work.
I wonder if I’m a sex addict? Wow, what a painful question. I don’t think so. I’m nowhere as bad off as any of the people on this show. I’ve never cheated on a relationship. I don’t look at porn or masturbate for hours a day. I’m a regular model citizen, a poster child for mental health.
Well, not quite. I have my demons. I’m lucky I’m so down and out, and rooted in my Judaism, or I might be out there chasing sex highs.
Here’s Kendra’s VH1 bio: "Kendra was sexually abused starting at age 2, and was raped in her teens. She moved to Southern California in her early 20’s and quickly became a superstar in adult films. She’s been a darling of the tabloids and linked to Hollywood’s rich and famous, using this notoriety to get out of porn and into feature dancing, but at the same time fell into heavy alcohol use. Kendra left porn altogether eight years ago and married Rockstar Supernova front-man Lukas Rossi. She now manages his career and runs an animal rescue. Kendra has previously cheated on every man she’s ever dated, and wants to break that cycle before she ruins her marriage, the most important thing in her life."
When Cathy Seipp finished reading my memoir, she said, "I don’t know why you didn’t end up with Kendra Jade."
Kendra was the heroine of my book.
She says on this VH1 show: "I was always in relationships with people who for the most part were scandalous."
Ouch!
"People accuse me of breaking up Britney Spears and Kevin Federline’s marriage."
"From an early age, I learned that sex equals love. So I used sex the same way some people use food or drugs or alcohol. That’s what validates me."
"I’ve cheated on everybody I’ve ever been with. I have to change…"
"When I was not feeling like I was worth much, I would seek out somebody to have sex with me so that I could feel like…"
