LOS ANGELES — The Daily Beast published on Saturday an op-ed written by Maitland Ward entitled “How Porn Saved Me From Hollywood,” illuminating her journey from mainstream actress to award-winning adult performer.
The 2020 XBIZ Awards triple winner — for Best Actress and Best Sex Scene in a Feature Movie and for Crossover Star of the Year — explained how she maintained her fanbase during her transition into the adult industry.
“Today, more than ever, the dads are looking on,” Ward wrote. “And the kids that watched me in their family rooms on Friday nights are all grown up. They’re in their twenties and thirties, and are part of the porn generation, where internet access to viewing sex has always been easily accessible and readily attained. They’re parents themselves now, too. And while their kids may binge me on Disney+, the grown-ups are viewing me in a whole new way.”
Proudly standing by her choice to pursue an adult entertainment career, Ward recalled those who said her rise in the adult world was merely a stunt.
What makes her story different, she said, is her "genuine love for adult performance and for colorful cinema. My story is a journey rather than a cautionary tale. And I was ready to prove the naysayers wrong."
Speaking of her XBIZ accolades, Ward said “I can’t say there’s ever been a prouder moment for me than when I was recognized for both” acting and sex performances.
Ward’s op-ed described encounters with fans surprised that she is “so normal, as if porn, or the desire to perform sexually, is not.”
“They wouldn’t feel comfortable coming up and asking a performer they saw on the internet in a double-penetration gang-bang these questions, but they feel safe with me,” Ward wrote. “They know me. I was in their living room every week. And that means something. I’m happy to be that bridge; to normalize something that is absolutely normal.”
To read Maitland Ward’s ““How Porn Saved Me From Hollywood,” visit The Daily Beast.