Becoming a professional actor is tough, and even once performers have landed major roles,
it doesn't permanently secure them spots on the A-List.
But there's always another option.
Whether because their Hollywood dreams didn't pan out or they simply love the erotic genre,
these mainstream actors turned to the adult industry.
Tom Sizemore was once a Hollywood heavyweight who starred in blockbusters like Saving Private
Ryan and Black Hawk Down.
But then he became a tabloid regular thanks to countless run-ins with the law and a spiraling
drug addiction.
That personal downfall translated directly to his faltering mainstream career and a debut
in adult films.
He recounted the low point in his memoir, By Some Miracle I Made It Out Of There, writing
that his illicit film was the result of two things: being broke and "hopelessly addicted"
to meth.
Of the tryst, he wrote,
"It was disgusting, disturbing and shows you what methamphetamine does to your judgement.
Honestly, out of all the ridiculous things I did, that's the one I most want to take
back."
"I needed money."
"Right."
"You should never make any kind of choices when you're under the gun and you need money."
Sizemore headed to rehab soon after, but it took him nearly a decade to get fully clean
for real.
Since then, he's managed to get his career back on track, as he's had some luck landing
new high-profile mainstream parts, including the long-awaited Twin Peaks reboot in 2017.
In 2019, former Boy Meets World star Maitland Ward left her family-friendly roots behind
in favor of racy adult entertainment.
As she explained to TMZ,
"I've been opened up to so many more opportunities because I do this.
I think I would be limited if I stuck in just a certain typecast situation."
Ward knows that she's definitely been turning heads with this career change.
She's advertised her work on her Instagram page, which has led to some fan confusion
about whether or not she's actually an adult film star.
Ultimately, she's loved the transition into her new industry.
In September 2019, she told In Touch,
"It all started when I started doing cosplay, which I really genuinely love doing and people
started giving me attention for it, and I wore sexy outfits.
I have always sort of been an exhibitionist…I started doing this kind of film, professional
stuff, not very long ago...I felt ready."
She also noted to TooFab that she took baby steps with her career change.
"It was all tiptoes, over this five-year journey.
It was all tiptoeing to the next thing, dipping my foot in the water.
And each time I liked it, so I dipped more until I was just completely submerged."
1991's Miss USA Kelli McCarty had a promising career in the TV spotlight, lighting up screens
in a variety of series.
Her best-known role is probably Beth Wallace on the supernatural soap opera Passions.
As it turns out, it was the cancellation of Passions that led McCarty to turn to the adult
industry.
In 2009, she told Tarts,
"I enjoy acting, and I really like sex, so this was the perfect opportunity to combine
two of my passions.
It was a pretty easy transition, I think mainstream television is definitely starting to merge
with the adult world anyway."
"Once I just got into it, it was fun, and I had a great time."
Although McCarty shrugs off her career change, it's definitely come with some raised eyebrows.
Speaking to Business Wire in 2009, she revealed,
"Men I've had only platonic relationships with over the years are now definitely viewing
me in a more erotic way and one old friend suggested that I spend the night with him
and his wife."
Requests like that probably come with the job.
Jaimee Foxworth rose to fame as a child star on Family Matters, playing Judy, the youngest
of the Winslow kids.
But as the show started to center more around annoying neighbor Steve Urkel and less around
the Winslow clan, Judy got pushed aside and written out of the show after the end of the
fourth season.
She found herself unemployed and desperate for work.
At the age of 19, she turned to the adult industry to make ends meet, all while struggling
with drugs and alcohol.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey years later, Foxworth detailed how her foray into the seedy industry
all began with a swimsuit calendar.
From there, she realized she could make so much more on camera, agreeing to shoot an
explicit scene with another actress.
As she recounted,
"It was, to me, the quickest money.
I was so naïve, and I was drinking…When I was on Family Matters, I thought the money
was never going to stop.
I thought I was never going to be broke.
So I say to young girls, always have another option."
As a teenager, Scott Schwartz had an iconic role in the holiday classic A Christmas Story
as Flick, who memorably got his tongue stuck to a flagpole.
The actor later shattered childhood hearts worldwide when it was revealed that he was
working in the adult industry.
Although Schwartz prefers to remain mum on the subject, he decided to spill the beans
in a 2011 interview.
As he explained,
"In the adult film industry, I worked for a talent agency, a production office, a video
salesman…It came down to dollars and cents, it was paying my bills and it was whatever
it took to take care of putting a roof over my head and food on the table, that's what
I did."
As for why Schwartz couldn't continue to find consistent work in mainstream Hollywood, that
had a lot to do with getting older.
As he explained in another 2011 interview, when puberty hit, his face changed, but his
body, not so much, as he remained 5'2" in his later teenage years.
He also noted,
"I never decided not to act anymore.
Again, the powers that be just didn't hire me."
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