Early this year the Duke University student body buzzed with a hot rumor: A bona fide hardcore starlet walked among them, meeting the school’s exorbitant tuition fees by fucking on-camera. After the resourceful freshman was outed by a male student who saw some of her work online, the hating began. “She deserves to be raped” was one reaction, along with the usual brands of “slut” and “whore.” Proudly owning her own scarlet letter, Duke’s most scandalous pupil wrote a piece for xoJane.com responding to her bullies and revealing that her porn name was Belle Knox. The media storm built fast, with Knox soon landing on CNN’s Piers Morgan Live and a slew of other outlets hungry for a clickable headline. Meet porn’s new unofficial spokeswoman.
How did you start in porn?
I needed a way to pay tuition. My options were to take out loans and probably pay off my debt for decades, or pay the tuition on my own. I didn’t think there were a lot of ways for me to do that with a normal job, so I was looking online at how much porn stars make, and I could tell that they were making more money. So I Googled “how to be a porn star” and submitted my photos to a bunch of agencies. Within days they were contacting me.
Did you watch porn when you were growing up?
Yeah, I watched porn all the time. When I was about 12, I got my own laptop, so that’s when I was really able to start Googling porn. The first porn video I ever watched was a bunch of girls getting fingered in an orgy. I remember how it made my vagina really wet, so I basically was like, I want to keep watching porn. I love watching porn. My roommate has even walked in on me a few times. I try to make my porn and vibrator schedule match with her class schedule, but sometimes she comes back early and we have some awkward moments.
When you were growing up, did you ever think, That’s what I want to do for a living?
As a teenager who was super horny, I totally wanted to do porn. I totally wanted to do some kind of sex work because it just seemed to be super fun to have sex with guys all the time, and there was something about the porn stars who I saw on the screen—they had kind of an empowerment to them, and their sexuality was really alluring to me. But of course I was always told that I needed to get a conventional job, so I never seriously considered being a sex worker.
Do you have a favorite porn star?
Sasha Grey. She is 100% my idol because she is so fucking kinky and so naughty but also incredibly intelligent and also this incredible businesswoman. I feel like we would have amazing sex.
