As far as porn stars go, few have had longer and more successful careers than Greg, the subject of a mini-documentary by Fight the New Drug.
Greg is a former porn actor and director who has appeared in approximately 1,000 adult feature films over the course of a 23 year career. Appearing in his first porn film in 1987, Greg went on to become one of the porn industry’s most successful male actors of all time. He was a 4-time winner of the Adult Video News Best Actor Award and in 2002 was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.
However, it was only after Greg left the porn industry in 2011 that he was able to share the reality of why he started doing porn and how deeply 23 years of doing it negatively impacted his life.
Watch his story below.
Desperation Strikes
“Back in the early 80s, I went to California to pursue acting,” Greg says in the beginning of the video. “Well, then the writer’s strike happened. Everything in Hollywood shut down.”
Greg then talks about how in order to subsidize his income during the strike, he pursued modeling work. “At one particular job,” he recounts, “the makeup artist handed me her card and said, ‘If you ever want to do any nude work, give me a call. You could make some money.'”
Recalling the day he realized that all he had in his cupboard was one can of beans and one can of potatoes, Greg made a decision that would drastically change the course of his life. “After about a month of starving, I decided I was going to make that call. They said to be at this place at a certain time, so I jumped on my motorcycle the next morning and I went. And I made my first porno.”
“I walked out of there at the end of the day with four crisp brand new one hundred dollar bills,” he says about his first porn shoot. “I got on my motorcycle and I drove home. I was thinking how easy that was. But I also remember thinking, ‘What have I done?'”
The result of his decision?
“I became the most popular, most decorated male adult film star of all time,” he recounts.
Greg’s story, above, reveals that his quick rise in the porn industry contributed to his drug addiction, ruined his relationships, attitudes about sex, and finally how it almost ruined his life.
Bottom line? Porn isn’t worth it.
Your Support Matters Now More Than Ever
Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 12. By the time they’re teenagers, 75% of boys and 70% of girls have already viewed itRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy —often before they’ve had a single healthy conversation about it.
Even more concerning: over half of boys and nearly 40% of girls believe porn is a realistic depiction of sexMartellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J. R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2016). “I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it”: A quantitative and qualitative examination of the impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children and young people. Middlesex University, NSPCC, & Office of the Children’s Commissioner.Copy . And among teens who have seen porn, more than 79% of teens use it to learn how to have sexRobb, M.B., & Mann, S. (2023). Teens and pornography. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.Copy . That means millions of young people are getting sex ed from violent, degrading content, which becomes their baseline understanding of intimacy. Out of the most popular porn, 33%-88% of videos contain physical aggression and nonconsensual violence-related themesFritz, N., Malic, V., Paul, B., & Zhou, Y. (2020). A descriptive analysis of the types, targets, and relative frequency of aggression in mainstream pornography. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(8), 3041-3053. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01773-0Copy Bridges et al., 2010, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis,” Violence Against Women.Copy .
From increasing rates of loneliness, depression, and self-doubt, to distorted views of sex, reduced relationship satisfaction, and riskier sexual behavior among teens, porn is impacting individuals, relationships, and society worldwideFight the New Drug. (2024, May). Get the Facts (Series of web articles). Fight the New Drug.Copy .
This is why Fight the New Drug exists—but we can’t do it without you.
Your donation directly fuels the creation of new educational resources, including our awareness-raising videos, podcasts, research-driven articles, engaging school presentations, and digital tools that reach youth where they are: online and in school. It equips individuals, parents, educators, and youth with trustworthy resources to start the conversation.
Will you join us? We’re grateful for whatever you can give—but a recurring donation makes the biggest difference. Every dollar directly supports our vital work, and every individual we reach decreases sexual exploitation. Let’s fight for real love: