Sex
may sell, but it is porn that pays. Many have felt up to the job, but
most last only a few brief minutes before fading back into obscurity.
For those that succeed in going the distance and making a career as a
porn star, a life time of on-demand, under the spotlight,
bring-me-my-sedatives pleasure awaits – as well as a small fortune. Here
is our handpicked list of the wealthiest porn stars in history, a
motley crew who have become cultural icons – celebrated and reviled in
equal measure – and who’ve educated several generations in all things
nasty.
7) Houston
Houston is one of life’s great
artistes,
renowned for tirelessly playing the lead role in the 1999 masterpiece,
‘The World’s Biggest Gangbang 3: The Houston 620′ – yes that’s right,
620 men, non-stop. Since being discovered in 1995, working as a stripper
at the Tropicana, Houston has gone on to porn stardom and the money to
go with it – reportedly earning well over $1 million a year. But it
seems this wasn’t enough for the sordid star. In 1999 (she got up to
quite a lot that year) Houston put her art before her body when she had
her labia surgically ‘trimmed’ to enhance her look during close-ups.
Fair enough you say: a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, but…
crazily she then decided to supplement her already massive income by
auctioning off said labia to a willing and perverted moron – for
$10,000! Priceless.
6) Hillary Scott
This
blonde bombshell claims to have had her first lesbian encounter at the
shockingly young age of 11, and aside from a brief stint selling
mortgages (what else…), has continued on with a life of smut to this
day. With a hatful of dubious awards under her belt – including ‘Best
Oral Sex Scene’ (2006), ‘Best Group Sex Scene’ (2007), and the coveted
‘Orgamsic Oralist’ (2006) – Hillary finally got the big one in 2007 when
she signed a million dollar contract with SexZ Pictures – the largest
porn contract in history. Now that’s something to tell your mom about…
5) Maria Takagi
Maria,
aka Rika Inoue, followed the well-trodden and timeless route to Asian
porn stardom: schoolgirl —> teen pop idol —> porn starlet. Today
she’s reached the dizzy position of Japan’s most famous and highest paid
adult star, and believe us, there’s plenty of healthy competition. Her
deal with production company, Max A, is for a whopping 300 million yen,
which is around $2.6 million. But just to show you that porn isn’t all
smut and sleaze, especially as far as the Japanese are concerned, Maria
scooped the award for ‘Best Conversation’ in 2003. Yes, that’s an
official Japanese porn award. Anyway, would we take up a life of all-day
sex and wild parties for $2.6 million dollars a year, you ask? Yes. Yes
we would.
4) Ron Jeremy
This
glorious hulk of a man, this sacred legend, sported one of THE all time
classic taches. For that alone you might argue he should be given a
salary of $10 million per year, bathed and washed in a golden bathtub by
the fairest maidens in the land, scattered with sweet-smelling garlands
of herbs, granted the freedom of New York City, and allowed to take tea
with the Queen whenever he damn well likes. But alas, Ron Jeremy will
have to make do with his $7 million fortune, amassed by appearances in
over 2000 adult films (he directed another 281). If Ron was still going
on today’s salaries, he would surely be the richest (as well as the most
oversexed) man on earth. So fearsome was this man’s reputation, back in
the day it was often joked: ‘The kinkier acts some actresses will not
perform are bestiality, sado-masochism and sex with Jeremy’.
3) Jesse Jane
Jesse
Jane’s explicit career began when she read an article on Tera Patrick
and thought: I’m grabbing myself a piece of that action. No, not of Tera
(although we’re sure this has happened…), but porn star glory. Her
first appearance was with the delightful, Devon, in the underrated ‘No
Limits’. From there she went on to scoop more awards then you can shake a
dubiously shaped stick at, introduce her own line of sex toys (not to
mention her ever-popular ‘Decadent Love Sex Doll’), star as the leader
of the ‘Pussy Patrol’ in the hit series Entourage, write a sex and
dating column answering reader’s queries for Australian mag, Ralph, as
well as maintain a glittering porn career worth over $8 million. How
does she do it? Oh and by the way, her favorite band is Slipknot.
2) Tera Patrick
Tera
has said: “When I got into the industry, I made millions for everyone
else. Now I make them for myself”. And she isn’t far wrong. This former
nurse holds the record for the fastest selling Hustler release of all
time, the cunningly entitled ‘inTERActive’, as well as owning her own
porn empire centered around her company, Teravision. The company is
worth a staggering $30 million, even though it only produces 15 titles a
year – clearly more evidence that when it comes to sex, it’s quality
not quantity that counts… In an interesting twist, a long, drawn-out
legal battle saw Tera sue Jenna Jameson – the Queen of the porn world –
in 2007 for failure to pay royalties. We’re sure we could think of a few
ways they could settle the dispute…
1) Jenna Jameson
The
Queen of Porn. Jenna Jameson has successfully crossed over into
mainstream culture as the representative for all things erotic, after
appearing in over 140 adult movies. In recent years she has concentrated
on growing her porn company ClubJenna, founded with her ex-husband Jay
Grdina, which has estimated revenues of over $30 million annually.
Playboy has since acquired the company for an undisclosed sum (read:
undisclosed
massive sum). Jenna claims she first got into porn
in retaliation at a boyfriend who cheated on her – quite the comeback,
we say. Her initial performances were girl-on-girl, apparently the way
many budding starlets are eased into this merciless industry, but she
quickly went on to bigger, more conventional things: her famous
‘signature move’ was…. well, we’ll leave that for you to discover in
your own time (be warned: it’s messy…). Quite simply THE porn legend.
