Porn Valley- Holly Halston didn’t sound like a happy camper during her interview with The Sports Swami today. The swan song was playing as Halston, tangoing her way out of the business, https://www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=4786 lent some impressions about Mary Carey and other subjects that were of sore nature to her.
As always, Swami comes in loud and clear, but on the other end of the line you needed a stethoscope to hear the other person. Halston was asked about the status of her masters which she claims have been stolen. Halston said she’s got attorneys working on it to have them returned to her as promptly as possbile.
“It’s the fans that are being hurt the most right now,” she states. Halston explained that Anthony Coviello was buying into her existing production company. “We already shot Holly Halston’s Tea Party- it was an existing company that was already formed. He asked to buy into it. I agreed after his convincing me that everything would be on the up and up,” she said. Halston said agreements were made and a price set. “He did not maintain his end of the deal so he had the option one final time to cough up what he agreed to. He said he didn’t want to be a part of it.”
Regardless of that situation, Halston said she had made a decision to retire after next year. Without naming names, Halston voiced displeasure that she didn’t get any real support from performers or her companies in her battles with “people who screwed her over.”
“I can’t fight the industry and Mr. Coviello at the same time,” she said. Swami pointed out that Gauge stood by her guns in her battles against Metro. “She walked out- they’ll replace her with somebody else; somebody younger and more willing for the money.” Swami wondered who in the industry would have power to wage a similar fight. Halston then started complaining about porn companies taking business out of the country to save money. “That was with the all AIDS scare,” she said. “You fly out of our country to go to a country where the girls do it for half the price. Now look what happened. The companies are going to have to be held responsible for their actions. There’s talent out here in our country who have worked hard but they continue to use talent that is less expensive for their bottom line.”
For her part, Halston said she was willing to pay the price by getting talent like Nicole Sheridan and Voodoo for her own video line. “Because they are the best couple.” Halston said it was all for the fans anyway. “And I know that they appreciate it and continue to give support to our industry.” Halston said eventually the onus is on the fan to demand better product. “We’re not buying this gonzo crap. We don’t want to see 17 year-olds from another country getting banged in the ass. We want our American women- the ones that we know- in our movies. It’s all in the fans’ hands. They have the control. They just have to uses their voices.”
Making a good point, Swami asked Halston how much could she expect fans to sympathize with her. “You get paid probably more in one shoot than most Americans get paid in two weeks. Adult film stars get paid a lot better than what the average Joe Shmoe makes.”
Not according to Halston. “It depends,” she says. “There’s a lot of deals that are cut. I don’t make as much as I’d like to and I still pay taxes like everybody else does.” Swami kept pressing the issue about porn stars still making more in a scene that most people get in a week. “And they have taxes taken out.”
“They have a job to go to every day,” Halston replied. “They have medical benefits. They have retirement funds. They have 401K plans. I have nothing. I have no medical insurance. I have no coverage. I have no health benefits. I have nothing.” Halston also points out that her babysitting bills are a killer. “Other people come home at 5:30. I’m gone for a week at a time. Try to find a babysitter and a live-in that’s not going to cost you at least $2,000 a month.”
For that reason, Halston said it was time for her to leave. “I’ve never been in a hole before. And for the first time in my life, financially, I’m extremely in the negative.” Halston said there’s a lot of drawbacks to working in the industry from a financial point of view than most people realize. “We have to pay for our own advertising. We have publicists that we have to pay for. We have to pay for our own costumes. We have websites. We have webmasters. It is a business. It is a corporation of problems.”
Swami gave Halston a what-if scenario, supposing that a company like Vivid would come to her with an offer similar to Tera Patrick’s. “They’re going to put you on boxcovers and YNot Radio. They’re going to make you into the next big thing. All you have to do is work with another guy and they’ll pay you a high six figures.” Even for that, Halston said she wouldn’t consider the deal. “If something’s not broke, don’t fix it,” said Halston, claiming that there is a comfortability level she has with her husband that allows her to shoot the types of scenes she shoots. For that reason, Halston said she couldn’t have the same level of sex with a guy that she just met in a bar. “Why would I give that to the fans?” she asked. “It would be a robbery. I could not give a 100% to the camera, to the fans, to the company, to myself and the other person working with me.”
Swami said he heard that another reason that Halston’s leaving is because she hasn’t gotten the big break that people like Jill Kelly, Carmen Luvana and Jenna Jameson got.
“It seems like you’re one of those never gets that break. Does that bother you?” Halston replied of course it bothers her.
“I’ve spent 12 years in the industry giving everything I have to everyone else and asking nothing in return,” she said. “All I’ve got in return is a lot of gossip and a lot of unwarranted crap being said about me that’s definitely not true.” Halston said all of it has hurt her desperately. “I’ve never been anything but a support to my industry, but it’s not supported me back.” Halston said she’s spoken up on behalf of women in the industry being in custody cases, such as her own. “I’ve spoken for freedom of speech.”
Halston said she’s met a lot of men and women in the industry, who are like herself, and to them it’s a job. “And I’ve met people in the industry who live a lifestyle of destruction.” Halston said while she loves Jill Kelly to death, Kelly was a girl-girl performer for a long time. “To this day I will always look upon Jill as a friend- I’m very happy and proud for her that she has a production company. I wish her nothing but the best.” But it also galls Halston that she didn’t get the recognition she feels she personally deserves. “I never fit into a clique,” said Halston. “I’m not here to be somebody’s girlfriend or cute little toy or have sex with them. I’m here to make my money, go home and take care of my children.”
On the issue of Mary Carey, Swami pointed out that Halston was very critical of her. “You were one of the people who said she embarrassed the industry. To your chagrin, Mary threatened a lot of people.” Swami said he also felt the alleged Carey ire when he was told that if he brought up the subject she’d walk off his show. Swami asked Halston if it didn’t rile her that people liked Carey. “The village idiots seem to get that publicity, seem to get that benefit.”
Halston said that’s one of the very reasons that told her it was time to leave the business. Halston said her frustration for men and women in the business is at an all-time high. “Someone gave her [Carey] the funding to do what she did. And to use it in a negative way- making us all look like idiots. But not a damn woman in the industry stood up with me and said what the hell are you doing? That’s a prime example of why I cannot do this any more. It’s okay if you want to run for office but why are you making it a complete mockery? It gave our industry bad publicity.” Then, said Halston, came the AIDS scare. Halston said she didn’t want to be pointed out on the street as being in the porn industry and “one of those women who take their clothes off in front of children.”
Halston said she wanted to be recognized as an actress and entertainer who gave a lot to the couples of the country who need to know that it’s okay to have good sex and be married after ten years.