Lisa Ann: Her First Interview Since Retiring From Porn

There are very few pornstars who transcend the industry and make a name for themselves in mainstream popular culture, but Lisa Ann is one of them.

Known by most people as the world's most famous 'MILF', she has been one of the biggest stars in adult entertainment for more than two decades.

But it wasn't until until 2008, when she satirised Republican politician Sarah Palin in Who's Nailin' Paylin?, that she really made her name.

And almost 13 years since its release, the 47-year-old told LADbible that it's still her favourite movie that she's done.

"The very first Paylin movie was the most exciting," she says. "There was a bunch of mainstream reporters there and about 50 people in the room while we shot the first scene, all taking notes.

"I knew these were people who had never seen live sex, other than their own, and it was really exciting to have so many people on such a small set.

"I was giggling because I knew lots of them were feeling awkward, and that some of them probably didn't want to be there. They were all out of their comfort zone and that was so fascinating for me."

She added: "It was just really exciting to have these people in an environment that their boss had never let them be in before. And we were all sharing this piece of history, right, this pop culture reference that became such a huge thing."

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But while MILF porn is now well and truly in the mainstream and has become one of the most popular and most searched niches around, this hasn't always been the case.

And for Lisa, the movie came at a time when she says the industry was becoming a dangerous place.

She said: "When I got into the business, there really weren't any older women in porn, there were no girls shooting in their 30s. Then shows like Desperate Housewives started mimicking older women with younger men and it became a 'thing', and translated so beautifully into porn.

"I was super lucky to get the Sarah Palin opportunity when all of that exploded at the same time."

She added: "It was like stepping back into the 90s again because it was campier, it was happier, it was fun again. The MILF never had violence struck on her, she was always the aggressor, she was always the lead of the scene.

"So when I was just starting to get afraid of being in the business because it was getting violent, I was like 'oh, I've found this safe space again and I can hold on for just a little bit longer and I can enjoy it again'."

Lisa started out as a dancer in the 90s, learning the tricks of the trade from actors who worked in her club and took her under their wings, before she flew to Los Angeles to pursue her own career.

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Looking back, she says: "Being a pornstar in the 90s was very different than it is now. The girls were so valued. There weren't a lot who wanted to do this for a living, so (filmmakers) wanted to treat the ones who did so well.

"It was like being on a regular movie set, they would call you the day before to ask you what you wanted to eat and they made sure you only worked with guys you wanted to work with.

"We always met the guy beforehand. You would usually go for coffee or lunch and see if there was any chemistry, and if you didn't then the studio would get someone else. It was like going on a first date and working out whether you wanted to have sex with this person; it was very exciting."

But this meant Lisa only worked with people she wanted to and who she trusted - she never worked with inexperienced actors who may not be able to, let's say, control themselves on set.

She said: "I only worked with guys who are trained professionals, and that kind of thing costs the set too much money, so you really have to work with people who are good at it and you stay in that lane.

"It's a lot about the mind. I would always ask guys how they would stop from cumming and one of the guys loved his dog and he told me that he would just visualise his dog being hit by a car."

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This kind of control, Lisa says, is a thing of the past. While she would only film a few scenes a month, the explosion of internet and infinite free content meant women were having to do more extreme acts if they wanted to get work.

"In the early 2000s, it became aggressive," she says. "Where studios were shooting 30-50 scenes a week and it became like this McDonald's thing, a fast-food chain.

"Companies are doing things that weren't legal when we were only distributing by VHS; it wasn't legal in many states to have a girl choked or hit.

"The internet is just the wild wild west and now companies are saying 'we never got to beat up a girl before, why don't we do that? Somebody will watch that'. It's all about the shock value. And that shock value has changed the dynamic of the industry"

And if it hadn't been for Sarah Palin, she may have thrown in the towel a lot sooner.

She said: "(Before Who's Nailin' Paylin?) There were a lot of companies I didn't want to work for and it got to the point that there wasn't much work for me.

"I don't want to do anything violent, I didn't want to be choked, smacked or spat on, and when a company would call me for a gig I would look at the stuff they were producing and reach out to them and say 'hey, I don't do this and that' and they would tell me that I wasn't a good fit."

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In 2014, Lisa called time on her career, taking a break to write her book and kick off her new career outside porn, with her Fantasy Sports podcast on SiriusXM.

But while her army of fans thought it was the last time they would see her, Lisa surprised everyone when she came back last year to do her two final scenes, this time in Virtual Reality.

She says: "Right before I left he business, and no one really knows I'm fully retired now, I decided I wanted to do VR for my last two scenes, because I didn't want my career to be time-stamped by technology and I hadn't tried any VR scenes yet. One was a thanksgiving scene and one was a Christmas scene, and both will be embedded in the internet forever.

"I did them for WetVR and they're amazing because the technology is so cool, for example, the cameras have the ASMR ears so you can talk in one ear. But it's very different from a usual scene, it's much harder for the guy because he has to stay so disconnected, you can't touch him or kiss him like in a normal scene."

She added: "I'm just so happy I got to experience it and that I did it with a company that knows what I'm like as a performer.

"They allowed me to be a part of the decision-making of the scene and I was really proud of my last two scenes."

But now she's accomplished that, Lisa says it's time to leave her porn career, at least as an actress, behind.

She added: "I think dipping my toe back in the water for that year really gave me a sense that I had been in it at the perfect time for me and it wasn't really a fit for me anymore.

"I've done about 300 scenes, but if you look at the internet it says 500, which I think is because re-cut scenes. In my first years in the industry we only shot one movie a month and even then I only shot 4/5 days a month.

"I've outgrown it, I've loved it for everything it's done for me and still so happy to be invited to events and still be Lisa Ann, but at the same time it's grown to be something different.

"I needed to go back in for that year to see what's different in my life now and now I get to work with people who are inspired by what they do at SiriusXM."

Topics: TV and Film, Interesting, US Entertainment