‘I’ve been covered in custard and spent hours being tickled’: What being a pornstar in the UK is really like

At £1 billion, the UK’s porn industry is worth a minuscule five per cent of the global industry giant, but is one that’s been alive and kicking since the 17th century.

We spoke to two UK-based porn stars, who were willing to share their experiences of working in the adult industry.

Carly Rae Summers, a Manchester Met grad, has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Brazzers, Digital Playground and Private. Beth Bennett, also a uni grad, has worked with Fake Taxi, and is a regular on TV channel Babestation. She’s been in the industry for a few years and has no plans to leave it any time soon.

Getting into the industry is surprisingly easy

Carly started off in the industry whilst studying for her degree in Fashion Design from Manchester Metropolitan University, making some extra money on the side selling pictures of herself. She first got into the industry at 19 years old. “I’ve always been a bit of an attention seeker, but this developed into a fetish as I loved being filmed doing the deed. So progressing into the adult industry was a natural progression”, Carly told The Tab.

She initially started out in the industry by selling pictures and videos she already had on her phone, and then moved on to webcamming which helped to establish her name.

Beth first came to the UK five years ago after finishing university. She worked at a bar, but hated getting bad money for long hours. She came across Babestation, and saw they had a banner advertisement across the bottom of the screen. “They asked if you thought you had what it takes to be a ‘babe’, and if so to apply to ‘Babestation apprentice’, so I sent some mirror selfies in”, Beth said.

It’s impossible to keep it from family and friends

Luckily, Beth’s mother is a pretty liberal person, so she never thought to keep it from her. Beth said: “I never made a secret of it, there was never any drama, as long as I’m safe, that’s my mums concern”.

Carly’s family also know about her career, commenting: “This industry isn’t something you can keep a secret. Once you’ve worked for an established company, there’s no going back.

“It wasn’t long before my career came into light. It was two months to be exact before I received a phone call from a friend. It was a massive shock for my parents. Hearing that your child is working in porn isn’t something any parent wants to hear.”

It can make romantic relationships tricky

Whilst Carly finds it hard holding down a relationship working as a pornstar, Beth presses that it’s “not really a case of porn affecting your relationship, it’s about the person you’re in a relationship with”.

Beth currently has a boyfriend who’s got no issues with her work, however she only does solo, or girl-on-girl work, never with men.

However, this doesn’t mean there haven’t been jealous ex-boyfriends in the past. Beth said: “An ex would bizarrely look me up on Pornhub so he could make himself angry. Some guys can’t handle it and that’s totally understandable, but they imagine the line between work and play blurs a lot more than it actually does.”

Carly has previously quit the industry for an ex-boyfriend, and tells us that it’s always the same case: “Everyone loves the idea of dating a pornstar, but the reality is far from perfect”.

They get recognised in the street

Having strangers come up to you when you’re out in public is not really something anyone gets used to, and Carly says she’s “always very taken aback if anyone recognises me in real life”. It never fails to shock her. Luckily, she’s never had any bad experiences with fans, but Beth has come across some intense ones. “Some of my fans I’d count as real life friends, and they even know my real name, but then there are some who believe in the character of ‘Beth’ and those I find exhausting”, Beth said.

They’ve experienced some really weird stuff

As pornstars, the girls are often expected to go beyond ‘normal’ sex, to dress up in bizarre costumes or be or be covered in food. Beth said: “I’ve dressed up as an adult baby, as a giant, been covered in custard and spent hours being tickled. The list goes on”.