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Adam Wilcox at www.xxxwasteland.wordpress.com posts:

Aurora Snow is a walking, breathing contradiction to most of the general public’s perception of what a “porn star” is.

Since arriving on the adult scene in 2000, Snow’s delightful attitude and enthusiasm has earned her masses of fans and industry awards. The charming blonde actress achieved a career highlight when Adult Video News named her its 2003 Female Performer of the Year. Aurora’s success in the porn world has also allowed her notable face time in several mainstream films, including the 2007 blockbuster Superbad, and a few years later the starlet’s life was the subject of Carnal Comics’ Aurora Snow: True Stories of Adult Film Stars.

However, it is Snow’s personal life that sets her apart from most individuals. As one website accurately wrote, “The background story is about challenging stereotypes.”

In February of 2009, Snow’s brother Keith was almost fatally injured in a motorcycle accident. The incident rendered the 24-year-old single father of three a quadriplegic.

With nobody else able to raise her nephews, Snow halted her life and left California to dive head-first into the role of parent. For the past few years, Aurora has continued to assist in caring for Keith’s children while remaining the main advocate of his cause and doing everything possible to raise donations for his physical therapy and rehabilitation equipment.

Please visit Keith’s HelpHOPELive page here www.helphopelive.org/find-a-patient/profile/index.cfm/patient/06AD45D1-BCF3-1560-5B0DAA3893E15E0E
to read his story and make a tax-deductible contribution to his recovery. Keith, Aurora and their family greatly appreciate all donations.

Snow is also a proud champion for the adult industry and pens an occasional column for The Daily Beast commenting on various issues facing the adult industry. In 2010, she covered John Stagliano’s obscenity trial for AVN and offered her views on the case here and here.

You can visit Aurora Snow online at her newly revamped website, www.AuroraSnow.com and follow her on Twitter (@MissAuroraSnow).

Snow has also launched an official YouTube account at this link www.youtube.com/user/AuroraSnowHD/feed and her FreeOnes page can be found here. www.freeones.ca/html/a_links/Aurora_Snow/

Aurora Snow is represented by Mark Spiegler. For bookings, please contact [email protected].

I had the pleasure of interviewing Aurora on the evening of March 20, where we discussed her reflections on a decade-plus career in adult, California’s newly instituted mandatory condom law for porn shoots, her brother’s inspirational story, presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s “war on porn” and more.

Aurora Snow is a remarkable person and true credit to the adult industry. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed conducting it.

Q: Let’s start at the beginning: Can you give us some background on your entry into the adult industry?

I was going to the University of Irvine at the time. I was looking for a job I could do where I could also go to school – that didn’t require a lot of my time – but that I could pay back my college loans, which was a big concern of mine. I saw this ad in the Orange County newspaper – a big ad – that said, “Girls: Earn Two Thousand Dollars a Day Nude Modeling.” So I called that ad, got in touch with an agent and he sent me out on a few photo shoots. And of course, I got talked into doing video work and I never had any intention of doing that.

I thought, “Okay, I can do this for a year, make a lot of money and then get out and pretend I never did it.” Which, ten years later, I’ve done quite a bit of stuff (Laughs), one year turned into ten and I ended up really liking something that I didn’t expect to like.

Q: As you mentioned, you have been in the business for a decade. What are some of the standout memories of your career?

Wow. (Laughs) Definitely working for Playboy for a few years. That was a really neat, fun job. In this business, you see so many different people on set. You see so many different faces and they rotate out every so many years. When I worked with Playboy, I had a work family – I’m seeing the same people every week for years. And that was a very good bonding experience. So that was neat, in that term.

And then traveling. I love that I’ve been able to travel everywhere with my job. I’ve been to Japan, Berlin, Prague – all for work. And it’s been amazing.

Q: For sure. In regard to Playboy, you were referring to your Private Calls program, right?

Yes. I did Private Calls and I was also on Spice Clips at the same time. I would do Private Calls and then I would come into the studio a few times a week to do Spice Clips, which was on the Spice Network, but (recorded) in the Playboy studios.

Q: You just wrapped filming for a Family Guy parody by LFP Video, is that right?

I did, yeah. I played Lois. I was so excited to get that. I auditioned for it – actually, it was a phone audition because the director already knew who I was and he had a certain set of girls that he was looking at for that part. So, we all had to do a phone audition and I was so nervous because I had watched Family Guy and absolutely love it. So, it was very exciting.

I did the phone audition and he said, “That was great. I’ll call you back and let you know if you got it.” And I remember just staring at my phone waiting. And two hours later, I got the call back and he was like, “You got it. It’s yours.”

Q: Very cool.

Yeah. He was very concerned about the voice because he wanted to have that voice down.

Q: You yourself have transitioned into directing quite a bit. Is that something you enjoy?

I love directing. I love the creative process of coming up with a vision and bringing it to life – every part of that. So, I really love directing and I love writing. I did quite a bit of directing for a little while and lately I’ve been doing a lot of writing.

Q: Scriptwriting for films?

Scriptwriting, I’m also working on a book. And of course, I’ve written a few things for The Daily Beast and Newsweek.

Q: Right. You mentioned writing a book – is that your autobiography?

It’s my book, yeah.

Q: Nice. In 2009, you had a comic book devoted to you (Aurora Snow: True Stories of Adult Film Stars from Carnal Comics). What I thought was cool about it is that the books are biographical, is that right?

Yes. Actually, I wrote a lot of that too.

Q: Nice.

Yeah, and there were a few different artists who illustrated it. They would illustrate it and I would add my own thoughts and writing.

Q: How did it feel to have your own comic book?

I love it. It was so exciting. One of my favorite parts about it was going to Comic-Con. I am such a geek – I love going to Comic-Con and seeing everyone walk around in their costumes. It’s kind of a reversal for me because I’ll be running up to people saying, “Hey, can I get a picture?” And it’s neat. It’s neat to be part of that group and I love the kind of spirit that I see at Comic-Con.

It’s something really cool to be in a comic book. When I was a little kid I used to read comic books … I don’t know, there’s something really special about that.

Q: Absolutely. You mentioned writing for The Daily Beast and there was one article just before the holidays last year where you addressed the Sasha Grey school controversy.

Yes.

Q: When I saw that, it was really what made me think, “Wow, I have to get an interview with this girl.” (Laughs)

Thank you.

Q: The article really personified what I believe and the word I try to spread about the industry. It bothers me when people retain what I suppose you could call an outdated view of the adult business.

Yes. They see the industry and they see something very negative. And I don’t know if it’s because they’re afraid of it or if it’s just because they are uneducated about it. When you are uneducated about something, you fear it because your mind will go to the worst place possible. That’s just what we do.

It’s a business just like any other business and I feel like we’re all very open about what we do in the business. It’s funny because I was watching Nancy Grace the other day and she was really laying into the schoolteacher who was let back to work – the male schoolteacher who they decided to hire back and decided the fact that he had done 25 movies in 5 years really wasn’t a big deal. And that doesn’t sound like a big deal – that’s what he did in his private time. He was on there and Nancy Grace just laid into him. She was like, “The ‘industry’ – you can’t call it an ‘industry.’” In fact, that’s exactly what it is: It is an industry. It’s an entertainment industry with adult people making very adult choices – most of whom go home and they have families and they have lives. They are not these degenerates that that old way of thinking makes them out to be.

Q: Yeah.

It’s sad. Sometimes people in the business that I know are more responsible with their bodies and communicating with their sexual partners than some acquaintances of mine who are not in the business.

Q: Definitely. You mentioned in the article that you yourself are enrolled in college and take care of your brother’s children because he was in a terrible accident.

Yes, he was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. He was in a coma for a long time. And my brother is a single dad. He has full custody of his three kids, so at that time – this was about three years ago – his kids were six, four and one. I was in and out of the hospital with him and my mom was in the hospital, and all of a sudden, I had these three kids. I was the only one in my family that had such a flexible job that I was able to drop my entire life in L.A., go on up there and have these kids: Take them to school, put them to bed and care for them. All of a sudden, they were mine twenty-four hours a day for a very long time. And then we integrated him back into the house and I learned how to be a caretaker for him. He’s now a quadriplegic and as a quadriplegic male, his mind is still very much intact, so he is able to be a very good dad to his kids mentally, he just needs some physical help. And kids do require some physical tasks, so I did end up taking care of them.

I don’t think there was anything in my business that made me ill-equipped for that job. If anything, it gave me flexibility so that I could be there for my family. If I had any other job, I don’t think that would have been the case.

Q: Yes. The question you posed in the Daily Beast article was, “Because I am an adult film actress, does that make me unfit to be around children?” Many people would probably laugh if you were to word it in the context of somebody forever being unsuited to be around kids because they once made adult films, but when you think about it, that is essentially what they were saying (in regard to the Sasha Grey controversy).

A lot of people think that, too – they think, “Oh, you’re an adult actress, you must be some kind of sex offender,” or “You must have something wrong with you to do that,” when in fact, it’s more about being open-minded and a free spirit.

Q: For sure. You have a foundation set up for your brother as well, is that right?

I do. (HelpHOPELive) help us collect donations and they take about three percent, but that way we don’t have to set up our own 501K. So we do it through them to help with medical equipment because he does have medical insurance, but insurance does not cover recovery, they cover maintenance. And that is so sad because if insurance companies would cover recovery, it would probably cost them less in the long run. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

And because of that, for certain equipment, standing machines, E-stim gloves and all of these things we’ve been raising money for. A lot of what we raised money for we were able to buy him two E-stim gloves for his hands and that has actually helped him get back some arm movement and a little bit of wrist flex movement. He doesn’t have his fingers yet, but I think given enough time, the right kind of physical therapy and equipment, he is going to get those back eventually. It might be another five years or longer.

Q: It is wonderful to hear that he is progressing nicely.

Yeah. I would absolutely love to plug his site for donations and they are tax deductible.

I’ve gotten to do a lot of really neat fundraisers for him. I did a wine tasting. It was in Southern California and there was this really sweet couple – they drove from Arizona to Southern California just to come to that fundraiser just to pitch in and help.

Q: Oh, wow.

Yeah. I guess the husband had been in a motorcycle accident many, many years ago, so he felt very deeply moved by what had happened to my brother. I thought that was pretty neat.

Q: Yeah, it definitely is. I also wanted to ask – because you have strong and intelligent views on the industry …

Thank you.

Q: I wanted to get your opinion on a couple of the top stories currently involving the adult business: One is the newly ordered mandatory condom law for California porn shoots. The other would be a presidential candidate by the name of Rick Santorum, who has promised a “war on porn,” as he calls it, should he be elected.

I mean, why launch a war on porn? We have so many other issues. We have a broken system. I think anybody who wants to focus on porn is just looking to make a mountain out of a molehill. It’s not a big deal. If anything, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that contributes to taxes, and taxes should be helping our broken system because we are a nation that is in debt. And so, that kind of seems like the wrong thing to attack. If anything, it’s a very negative way of looking at things – “I want to have a war on porn.”

(Santorum) is also anti-birth control, I think. That doesn’t make any sense. In some ways, I feel the birth control issue is sort of an attack towards women. Because women should still have a right to go out and have sex when and where they choose and with whom, and be able to take birth control so that they’re not getting pregnant, so they’re not bringing in kids they are not ready for. It just seems so silly and it doesn’t really matter to men. But that’s a whole different issue. (Laughs)

But his war on porn just seems pointless. I don’t understand how it’s going to bring about anything intelligent or good. If that’s the best issue he’s got and that’s his war, I don’t think a guy like that should be running our country. It’s already doing poorly. We don’t need to run it into the ground even more.

Q: Whenever I hear a phrase like “war on porn,” I always think, “War on what, exactly?”

Right – a war on what? People making choices? The people that make (porn) are making the choice to make it. It’s a form of entertainment. It’s a creative vision brought to life and it’s a very intimate form of acting. You are definitely performing for a camera. And the people who are buying it are choosing to buy it and are choosing to watch it – nobody’s making anybody watch that.

So, it sounds like it’s a war on choices, not a war on porn. People can’t make their own choices? Aren’t we supposed to live in a country full of freedom? Where’s the freedom?

Q: Right. If you want to live in a free country, you have to take the things you may personally not like with the things that you do.

Right. That’s part of it: You have to take the good with the bad. Your freedom can’t mean limits and control on someone else’s freedom. It just has to be freedom across the board.

Q: Agreed. How about the new condom mandate?

That one is a tough issue for me because I can see two different sides to it and I’m not really sure which side I’m on because it’s just so tricky. On one hand, I do think people should be free to make a choice and it shouldn’t be mandated – people should not have to wear condoms if they don’t feel like it. They should be able to make that choice.

However, I do understand that in the adult industry there is pretty much only one company that uses condoms and that’s Wicked. All of the other companies don’t. So if you are a performer in the adult business and you choose to use a condom, it really limits you to one company because other companies aren’t going to hire you over somebody who is not choosing to wear a condom.

However, it should still be a choice and I don’t know that it always feels like a choice. And I do understand the safety issues. While we do have testing, there is such a thing as STDs and I imagine that condoms will certainly protect against that – with condoms and testing, that’s probably going to be a very safe environment. But I do understand that might detract from the creative vision that a producer or director has for their film. And I understand that might detract from the people buying it because sometimes when you’re buying porn, you’re buying a fantasy. And maybe you have to use a condom at home, but you want to have that fantasy of not using a condom. So I’m really split on that.

Q: I see both sides of the issue as well. You have been in the business for over ten years. We did touch on this earlier, but what are some other common misconceptions about adult that bother you?

Tons. There are a ton. I feel like I’m a pretty decent human being. I’m pretty responsible. And for some reason when you get into porn, all of a sudden there are a few misconceptions. It goes from you could have been a perfectly good person, have no history of thievery – pretty honest. And then all of a sudden when you get into porn and people find out you’re in porn, they automatically assume you have become a liar and a thief.

And I think that’s so strange because I’m not really sure where that comes from. All of a sudden you’re a liar, you’re a thief, you’re probably on drugs even if you don’t look like it or act like it – but after all, that’s why you’re in porn: To “support your drug habit.” I feel like a lot of people think that. And there are a lot of healthy, responsible people in the business.

Q: You have accomplished so much in your career, including being named AVN Female Performer of the Year in 2003.

Yeah. I’ve won quite a bit of awards. And I just recently got into the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Q: Very nice. Is there anything left you wish to do?

I don’t know. I do want to write. That’s what I’m working on, that’s my next big project is writing. But I’ve done a little bit more mainstream. I’ve done a few TV pilots and I have a production meeting in the middle of April to sign on for an action movie, which should be pretty cool. So I’m expanding my career and I feel like in terms of scenes I’ve done just about every type of scene I’ve ever wanted to do and I’ve even done more than that. Some scenes I never would have thought of and directors and companies would come to me and say, “Hey, would you be interested in doing this?” And I would go, “Well, I’ve never thought about that, but sure – why not?”

And I even tested my own personal limits. I did some bondage stuff – you know, the stuff that Kink does. Pretty much, I got beat. I wanted to see if that was something that interested me and it was not my thing. But I did try it out because I wanted to see, because I was curious. And that’s kind of been the method for my whole career: I’m curious and I want to see if I like something. And I’ll give it a fair shot. I will do something quite a few times before I determine, “Well, did I really like that or did I not like that?” And then I’ll make up my mind and not regret it. Even if I don’t like something, it’s not something where I’ll say, “Wow, I wish I hadn’t done that.” Because the only way I’m going to find that out is by doing it.

Q: Can you tell us where you were born and raised and how you would describe yourself growing up?

I was raised in California out on the Central Coast. When I grew up it was a very small cow town. I lived on a cul-de-sac and it was right across the cow pasture to go to school. (Laughs) It was very, very small where I grew up.

I was a very quiet kid. During lunch breaks, recess or things like that, I always had my nose in a book. I was always reading. It was funny because this started at a very young age. I was reading by the time I was three and I just never could put down books. I cared more about books than about making friends. I had no interest in making friends, I just wanted my books. And my mom actually got called in. She would have meetings with the principal and they were like, “We don’t understand. We think she should go play. Every time she has recess, she just sits and reads her book on a bench.” And my mom was confused. She said, “Well, I thought that was a good thing. Aren’t you supposed to encourage kids to read?” And they thought I read too much.

I still am an avid reader. I love to read. But now I’ve learned how to be a little more social.

I was very, very quiet and shy, pretty much including when I went away to college. In high school, I was very shy. I got involved in drama and when I got up on stage – when I was able to get into character – I was able to become a lot more alive and social and extraverted. But when those lights went down and I walked off that stage, I was back to being just me: Very quiet and very shy. So, in some ways, the adult industry helped make me into a more social creature because it made me more comfortable with myself and helped me get over my shyness in a big way.

Q: What are some of your interests and hobbies away from work?

I love to cook! My favorite room in the house is my kitchen. All I want to do is cook and I cook pretty much every day. I love to try and put a healthy twist on fun food.

Recently – and I have never gardened, so this is going to be a brand new hobby – but a few days ago I started putting soil in my garden beds and planting seeds. And I’m learning how to do all of these things – planting seeds indoors, letting them sprout and then I’ll move them out. I have a lot of non-GMO seeds from Baker Creek and I want to plant an entire well-rounded garden. And I’m thinking about getting chickens and guineas.

Q: Oh, wow. (Laughs) Kind of like a mini-farm.

Yeah, kind of! I have a lot of land, so I was thinking I should be putting it to use, I should do something very rewarding and it’s rewarding to be able to go outside and pick fruit and vegetables from your own yard, bring them back into your kitchen and eat them. I love that idea.

And the chickens, mostly … I hate spiders. I was reading somewhere that chickens like to eat spiders and so I thought, “Wow, this is a great idea.” So I’m secretly hoping that the chickens eat all the spiders and that the spider populations goes down. I know that’s a little nutty, but I hate spiders. (Laughs) I’d rather have chickens than spiders.

Q: (Laughs) For sure. Is there one thing about yourself that you think would surprise most people?

Hmm … I’m a bit of a homebody. If given the option to maybe go out and party or hang at home and read my book or watch South Park, that’s what I would rather do. I’m more of a one-on-one person than a group person. I love my girlfriends and I like to go out, but I can only go out for a limited amount of time before I’m done with that social crowd and I want to go home where it’s quiet.

Q: Are there any upcoming projects in the works that you would like to mention?

Mostly I have been really focusing on my website. I’m really, really proud of that. It’s taken me a long time to get that up and I’ve put a lot of work into it. I had been burned by so many webmasters before that I gave up. I was like, “You know what? I’m not having a website unless I can do it myself.” And it took me a very, very long time to learn how to do it myself. And now I run everything and do it all and it’s fun. I’ve been doing a lot of really fun stuff on my website. So that’s my focus.

Q: I’ve heard quite a few stories as well about performers getting burned by webmasters.

It’s horrible!

Q: Yeah.

But I put a lot of work into my website. I’m on it all the time and I love it. It’s such a good feeling to see this site that you’ve put a lot of work into – that you’ve created – that’s actually functional and fans seem to love.

Q: For sure. That’s a great thing about the Internet era and something performers of the past didn’t have: That … personal connection with fans, I guess?

Yes. That’s what I love about Twitter, too. I love to use Twitter to communicate with my fans. I do movie nights at my house and usually I’ll have three different options and so I’ll ask on Twitter, “These are the three movies I’m looking at. What do you guys think?” I love it. They have picked out some good movies for me. (Laughs) It’s awesome.

Q: To finish up, is there anything you wish to say to readers?

Please come and see all of my hard work at www.AuroraSnow.com, of course. It’s a very personalized website and so I really love it when people check it out and give me feedback because, of course, I’m learning and always looking to improve.

And I just started a YouTube channel – it’s www.YouTube.com/AuroraSnowHD. Those are the two places I would love for people to check out.

Q: Awesome. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me today, I really appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Q: And on a personal note, I really admire everything you do for your brother and family – taking care of your nephews and all that you’ve done for his cause. Everybody should have someone they can depend on, so that’s really great.

Thank you. I didn’t know I was going to do that. It was one of those weird things that if somebody had asked me if I would do something like that, I wouldn’t have known if I would have.

I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t do anything but that. It’s nice that he’s doing a lot better now.

Q: Definitely. And from an industry standpoint, you are someone defenders of the adult business can point to as a good example when people trash the industry.

(Laughs) Exactly. Thank you.

Q: But I certainly commend you for all of that. Thank you again for the time.

It was great talking to you. Have a good night!