NEW YORK — Veteran performer Ron Jeremy was interviewed for the new issue of Time magazine. The interview, by Andrea Sachs, reviews Jeremy's adult career from his initial still photograph in Playgirl magazine through his extensive adult-film career, mainstream parts and current book, "The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz," which just came out in trade paperback.

In the interview, he describes the atmosphere of making porn films in the '70s.

"In the '70s, it was a hippie-dippie-sexual-revolution-Woodstock kind of gig. Flower children in many ways. Pot smokers, though once in a while you would see cocaine or a pill. Most of them had been to college. Some have come from broken homes, some from abusive homes.

"What I tell kids when I lecture in colleges is that porn is largely a microcosm of Hollywood itself. There were kids who wanted to do something goofy and crazy. Some were actors who wanted to go for an acting career, like me, and settled for this because acting was just a murderously difficult thing to get into. It's thousands of people chasing so few jobs, with everyone driving a taxi, working as a waiter."

He also speaks of the particular problems of being an over-50 porn performer.

"As you get older, as you get into your 50s, it is more effort to get into liftoff. I'm 55, and it's a bit of a strain, but it's not to the point where it's a chore because then I just wouldn't do it. I don't have to do porn any more for economic reasons. However, I like to stay current. I don't want to be an ex-porn star."

The complete interview can be read at the Time.com website