Joanna Angel was raised an Orthodox Jew and went to yeshiva. James Deen grew up in an assimilated Jewish family.
A Jew tells me:
You are correct about Deen growing up in an assimilated Jewish family. In fact, his father is not technically Jewish. Sevilla is a Sephardic name, but Grandpa Sevilla married a non-Jewish woman. Deen is Jewish because his mother is from 100% Ashkenazic stock. She never took the name Sevilla, but in any case, Deen’s parents split up in 2001, shortly before he turned 15.
Assimilated or not, Deen did attend the Chaim Weizmann Community Jewish Day School in Pasadena for a few years. So he’s had a modicum of Jewish education. The current Head of School was the Judaica principal at the time, and might have some recollections to share. He was very bright and charming, but had a dark side even then.
Deen has claimed in interviews that someone gave him a dirty magazine when he was seven years old. That person technically committed a crime, and might have contributed to young Bryan Matthew (Baruch Menashe) Sevilla becoming the monster he is today.
Daily Beast: In a radio interview Wednesday, adult actress Joanna Angel said her ex-boyfriend and fellow porn actor James Deen made her fear for her life.
“There were times that I did fear for my safety, but I felt trapped,” adult actress Joanna Angel revealed today of her allegedly abusive six-year relationship with fellow porn star James Deen. “I didn’t know what to do. I felt very worn down and beaten down.”
A shaken Angel went on the Jason Ellis SiriusXM radio show Wednesday to break her silence on Deen, who is facing damning claims from several women who have accused porn’s “boy next door” of rape and assault.
Angel, the porntrepreneur whose Burning Angel label frequently featured Deen after the two met at the start of his career, described Deen’s behavior while they were dating from 2005-2011 as extremely controlling and emotionally manipulative.
Her most harrowing story revealed a moment in which Angel says she feared for her life as she and Deen were having sex at home. According to Angel, Deen dragged her by the hair and held her head submerged in a sink filled with water as she tapped for air. “At some point he dunked my head underneath and it started to feel like forever. I started to think, ‘I’m gonna die here,’” she said.
“I started to get really scared and I was tapping and I was tapping, and finally he picked my head up. I started crying and he threw me on the floor and said, ‘You’re a horrible submissive. I’m bored, I’m gonna go fuck someone else.’ And he just left the house.”
She also remembered waking up on numerous occasions to find Deen on top of her. “More than once I woke up to him choking me in his sleep… He really is a scary person.”
“He got more violent and scary the more famous he got … He knows there’s something wrong with him,” she added.
Deen’s ex-girlfriend and scene partner Stoya was the first alleged rape victim to come forward last week, triggering an avalanche of testimonies from other women in the adult industry.
“James Deen held me down and fucked me while I said no, stop, used my safeword,” she Tweeted. “I just can’t nod and smile when people bring him up anymore.”
