From the Gene Files Mexico, October, 1999: Bridgett Kerkove has been in the adult business since last January and is maybe one of the most active performers at the moment. She said she works about four or five times a week, has been in over 160 titles, many currently for Nic Cramer, and that Kerkove is her real last name. She says she decided to add the name when she got confused with other Bridgets in the business.

G. Ross: “I’m sure you didn’t want to get confused with Bridget the Midget.”

Kerkove: “She’s cute for a midget.”

Kerkove is as adorable as they come, but she ascribes her popularity, instead, to the fact that she’s always on time. “I come totally made up and ready to go,” she says. “They never have to wait on me, and I’ve never canceled a shoot.” Well, almost. Bridget nearly passed out during a scene in Mexico and had to be iced down.

“I guess I was getting heat stroke,” she said. “I didn’t feel it coming on. I was in the grass doing a scene for Mike McCormick and my hands started going numb. My lips started going numb. I started crying. I couldn’t help it. It was like I was going in shock. They dragged me off to a sprinkler and started pouring water over me. I had been drinking water the whole time during the scene. It was just really weird how this just came over me. Mike wanted to stop, but I said we’re going to finish this scene. We did.”

Kerkove said she got into the business on a hoot. Her husband Skeeter said their sex life at home had become so “aggressive” and constantly “experimental”, they thought they’d do well in porn. According to Skeeter, Bridgett did her first-ever scene, a girl-girler for a Japanese company.

“Then we met Mark Speigler right way,” Skeeter recalls. “He was really nice and always honest with us. He told us exactly what was going on. Then Bridgette did this d.p. for Metro. They were concerned if she could do it. I told Mike McCormick I do it at home with a toy and myself. What was great is that it wound up being an editors’ choice. Then her reputation started building on how well she could do “A” no matter how big the guy was, no matter who the guy was.”

Bridgette Kerkove said prior to meeting her husband she was pretty much sexually naive. “I went to private school for 12 years. I’m crazy but innocent. I love sex. But anal sex? No one in high school ever talked about it.”

G. Ross: “It’s not exactly part of the higher education curriculum.”

Bridgette: “Well, it was actually me. I started on myself. I started with my pinkie and after months and months finally worked up to a cock.”

G. Ross: “Your words are truly inspirational to women everywhere.”

Bridgette: “Thanks to him [Skeeter], I did it very slowly. He said it’s like doing splits, you got to go slow or else damage yourself. Now it’s easy for me.”

Skeeter was asked where in the world he came up with the incongruous name, particularly since, with his shaved head and prodigious accumulation of upper body tattoos, he’d be at home in films like Con Air and The Rock.

“He got the name from his parents when he was two,” Bridgette giggles. “I didn’t know my real name was Arlen until I was about five,” Skeeter Kerkove adds. “I like the name but I’m just used to being called Skeeter.

“One good thing came out of the tattoos,” he continues. “I’ve been able to prevent a lot of people from getting them. I got them when I was really young and thought it was cool. Now I have this big mess on me. It’s not like piercing an ear when you can take it out and it’ll be okay.”

G. Ross: “Judging from them you’ve got a lot of stories to tell. It’s like the Illustrated Man.”

Bridgette: “And he’s got such a baby face. You’d never think that he was covered all over.”

Skeeter: “Until two weeks ago I had really long hair which I’ve cut off. That’s another step towards maturity for me.”

Skeeter says they met shopping. “We started talking. I took her out on the first date for coffee. I didn’t realize it then, it impressed her. We hit it off really good.”

“It was like Kismet,” Bridgette Kerkove agreed. “It was like I knew him my whole life. Like finding a lost relative.”

Skeeter runs a pool and spa business on the side. “My mom and I opened up a shop when I was 18. I’m 35. We really struggled the first couple of years. Then it started to take off real good. Then I bought commercial buildings as an investment for my retirement so that there would always be a stable place for the family business.”

Bridgette Kerkove says she’s having so much fun being a porn star, she doesn’t want it to end. “I want to have fun. I want to ride the wave and keep it going.” Despite the fainting spell, she said she was having a blast in Mexico. “It’s been wonderful.”

G. Ross: “It’s got to be wonderful. Face it, you’ve been socking it away, if you’re working four, five times a week.”

Skeeter: “She doesn’t go on shopping sprees, ever. I don’t either. We get our bare necessities. We want to have something really nice to show for it. We want a big home and a large piece of land. Escrow closes November 3d, shortly after we get back. So we take all the pool and spa money, pay all our bills and taxes, then Bridgette puts away all the money she can.” Skeeter, from time to time does a scene with her, and, when the situation calls for it, has stepped in to stunt cock, free of charge. The Kerkoves have done a total of 14 scenes together. “You can’t have too much husband and wife,” Skeeter observes. “I also believe that husband and wife are so close with each other, that you’ll get the best scenes out of another male performer. I really believe that. But if a company needs my kind of look for whatever reason, then I’m there. But she can do better performances without me. That’s for sure.”

Bridgette said she really appreciated the attention she got from fans down in Mexico. “I appreciated it SO much. One guy said he wished he could have brought a tape for me to sign. I said here’s my address, send me the tape I’ll sign it and send it right back to you. That makes you feel so wonderful. These are the people that are making the industry go when they appreciate you so much, and like what you’re doing.”

Bridgette said she’ll wait until after CES before making future career decisions, including those concerning dancing. To date, she hasn’t been on the road. She loves dialogue, acting and story-driven vehicles, but, so far has turned down contract offers. “She was offered $7400 a month,” says Skeeter. “But she’s been making over $20,000.”

“But if a company has a worthwhile contract that would really benefit me, I can go for that,” Bridgett explains.

As noted earlier, Kerkove has been working a lot for director Nic Cramer. “Nic Cramer’s so funny,” she says. “If a director’s happy, and a director can make me laugh, that’s bliss for me. I love happy sex.”

Skeeter: “Our schedule is we get up early every day, get the children ready for school, go do our thing then check in with the pool and spa store. No matter what set we’re on, I get the children situated then come back and deal with the business issues.”

G. Ross: “Have you ever been on a set and realized that the pool is one of your accounts?”

Skeeter: “One time in Sun Valley. When we pulled up I realized I had been there earlier working. Another good blessing was one time Bridgette was doing a feature for New Century Cinema and they were really stressing that no one could get the pool heater or spa to work. It was freezing. Then they needed her to pose on the boxcover under the waterfall which wasn’t turned on. I just happened to have the tools in the back of the truck. I got everything going.”