For a brief period at the dawn of porn’s video age, there seemed to be a sex superstar for every male fantasy. One turned out to be underage, two were blond—both surnamed Lynn—and one was Christy Canyon. She burst onto the X-rated scene with a fresh, young face, a sizable chest (her own), an hourglass figure and offered sex performances replete with whimpers, moans, groans and an enthusiasm that commanded attention and hard-ons from smut fanciers everywhere. Her popularity was instantaneous and as immense as her bustline. Christy performed in over 50 hardcore videos and films in the nine months she worked in the adult entertainment industry (her more notable efforts include Black Throat, Battle of the Stars, WPINK-TV, You Make Me Wet, Savage Fury, Swedish Erotica #58, Educating Mandy, Perfect
Fit and Wild Things). She got out while the gettin’ was good, and four years later surprised everyone with the announcement of her return to sexvids in Video Exclusives’ Christy Canyon Is Hot in the City. Interviewer Larry Furst, tape recorder in hand, trekked deep into Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley—Pom Valley, as it’s known in the biz—to ask one of the sweetest young things to hit the skinflick bigtime why she’s chosen to return for another round of rutting and reaming.
HUSTLER: What are your measurements?
CHRISTY CANYON: You know, I’ve never had my measurements taken. I know that my chest size is 36D, but I don’t know what my hips or my waist are.
HUSTLER: Were you an early bloomer?
CANYON: God, yes! It happened when I was 11. This other girl and I were the only ones who had breasts. I’ve always had a large chest. And they’re really sensitive too. I’ve never come from breast stimulation, but I’ve been real close. I get that really hot and wet feeling. Directors really play them up in the videos because they’re big and real. My breasts don’t have stretch marks, and they bounce on their
own. They don’t just sit there like the silicone ones do.
HUSTLER: What do you think your sudden popularity was due to?
CANYON: Well, first of all, I have a decent body. I’m fairly good looking for the business. And I was in HUSTLER and Penthouse first. So that helped me take off. And my chest size certainly didn’t hurt. Plus, I always had a good attitude. There are so many girls who absolutely hate what they’re doing. They just loathe what they do. They’re in it for the money. I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s fun and different.
HUSTLER: When you were young did you ever envision yourself getting into this business?
CANYON: Never! Before I started as a performer, I had only watched one porn film. I’ll never forget it. It was Hal Freeman’s Valley Girls. I was over at a guy’s house. I felt so young at the time.
HUSTLER: How old were you when you started in pom?
CANYON: I had just turned 18. There are all these stories about how I got into the business. The real truth is. . . I was living in Hollywood, and I was waiting for a girlfriend to pick me up at this bus stop. I didn’t have a car at the time, or it was broken, or something like that. This guy pulls up in this brand-new white Trans Am. He gets out and says, “God, you’re so pretty. You’ve got such a great body. How would you like to make a lot of money.” I said, ” I don’t even know your name!” And he says, “I’m Greg Rome,” like I should know who he is. He gave me a card from Jim South’s modeling agency and went on to say, “It’s figure modeling. There’s some nudity, but nothing else. No sex or that kind of thing.” I took the card thinking, I’ll never call. But I never threw the card out because I was 18 and was working three
different menial jobs just to get by. I couldn’t afford my bills. One day I was down to five dollars in the bank. My rent, car, insurance—everything was overdue, and my phone was going to be turned off. So I found the card and gave a call. I went in two days later, and Jim had me working the next day. And I worked for nine months straight after that. I did still shoots for about two months. Then I had a two week break. The next time I went back to work to do stills there were video cameras everywhere. I called Jim South to find out what the hell was going on. He said, “You know, darlin’, I told you it was a video shoot.” There was no way I would have ever done it had I known. He pressured me, and I thought to myself. Okay, I’ll just give it a try. $500! Gosh, I can pay this off and that off. I hated it! Everything on the set was really dirty, and afterwards I felt really dirty. And the scene was with Ron Jeremy. Icckkkk! It was really tough. I had just turned 18, and I had only been with a few guys. I called Jim and told him I hated it, that it was the worst experience of my entire life. He said, real calmly, “You know, darlin, you’ve got to do one tomorrow. You’re already signed up. The shoot’s been booked. After this, if you
don’t like it, I won’t get you anymore work.” I thought. Okay, Til do one more and that’s it. If I don t like it, I’ll just leave. I got there, and it was for Paradise Visuals, and the producer was a guy that I would
end up having a relationship with. It was so different, like 180 degrees different. It was great. All the really good people were there: Traci, Ginger, Peter North, Tom Byron. It was just sooo different. I really
found myself getting into it. And the rest is history, I guess. But the first time, man, it was hot, they were running ten hours behind schedule, the people Ugh! I wondered if this is what everybody I was supposed to work with was like. After the first time it was different. Nothing was ever as bad as the first time. That was the absolute worst.
HUSTLER: You worked quite a bit with Traci Lords, and the two of you were friends at the time. Did you know she was underage?
CANYON: Oh, no! God, no! That girl knew more about sex than the whole porn industry put together. I never would have guessed it. But I knew that she was a compulsive liar. One day she would say she was born in New York, then the next week I would hear her say she was born in Las Vegas. Her story was always changing. I just thought she was a complete liar. Nobody thought she was trying to cover her tracks
and couldn’t remember. I guess we all thought she just didn’t want her parents to find out. She was really nice. We would go out once in a while, but she would never let anyone go to her place. She would always meet you somewhere. She never really talked about her family. Traci kept everything really light all the time. She wasn’t one of those friends you could call at two o’clock in the morning for help. Traci and I were about as close as friends get in this business, which isn’t very close.
HUSTLER: A lot of the girls in the business are bisexual. Ginger and Amber sure were. What about you?
CANYON: I’m not at all. It’s fun at work because it’s something I don’t do in my personal life. When I do it on video, it’s like acting out something that’s a curiosity to me. I never go out and think, Ooooh, that girl is really pretty. I’m gonna pick her up. If it happened, it’s not like I would be opposed to it, it just hasn’t happened. Being with a girl is not the main objective in my sex life.
HUSTLER: What was the worst thing that ever happened to you on a pom set?
CANYON: It happened on the set of Alex DeRenzy’s Wild Things. Alex was wonderful to work with and so was his assistant, Katherine, but there was this girl, Ali Moore. She was so immature. Ali really hated being there. And she let everybody know it. She kept screwing up her lines and asking, “How much longer.” My feeling is if you don’t like what you do, then do something else. That was the worst time for me other than the first shooting.
HUSTLER: Were drugs a big part of working in the business? Are they now?
CANYON: When I first started I had done drugs a few times. After a few months in video, I ran into the wrong crowd and got into coke for about two months. But it was two solid months. It quickly got to the point where I was on the verge of ruining my reputation. I was showing up late to shoots after being up all night. Then a friend of mine called me up and told me he knew I needed to get out of that scene for awhile. He said, “Hey, I’ve got an extra ticket to Hawaii. Do you want to go.’*” I jumped at the chance because I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing. And it was Christmas. I couldn’t imagine spending my holidays that way. I slept most of the time I was there. There were points when this guy couldn’t even wake me up. I would get up and eat and fall back asleep again. I went back happy and knew I wouldn’t go back to that scene again. That was the only thing I could honestly say I hated about porn. It made me unhealthy and unhappy. I wasn’t doing the right thing.
HUSTLER: Which starlets do you remember as hating pom?
CANYON: Oh, boy. Heather Wayne hated it. She disliked it more than anyone I ever met in porn. Traci and Ginger always liked it. Tamara Longley couldn’t stand it, hated it with a passion. She was strictly in it for the money. But, gosh, it’s been five years. I tend to forget negative things. Oh, you know who really hated it? Stacey Donovan. She probably hated porn even more than Heather Wayne.
HUSTLER: Was there a big rivalry going on between you and the other starlets?
CANYON: Not for me, no. I always got along with everybody. Traci and Ginger hated each other. Amber didn’t really hang out. I didn’t really know her that well. She got really wrapped up in the drugs. And, when I was working, a lot of people wouldn’t hire her because of it. She needed to get herself together. I’m glad she finally did. A lot of the girls who were on drugs would bring their problems to the set. When I would show up, I became Christy Canyon and liked who I was. I would do my job, go home and show up the next day to do it all over again. Toward the end I got so burned out, nothing mattered anymore; I was sick of it. It’s not that I decided I wanted out and would never do it again; I just needed a rest. And I was seeing someone at the time who was also in the business, the producer from Paradise Visuals. He was trying to force me out. You know, the quit-or-I’m-goingto-leave-you type of thing.
HUSTLER: But wasn’t this the guy who hired you for your second shooting?
CANYON: Yeah. And I went on to do three more movies for him. He was really a hypocrite. He didn’t want me in it. It gnawed at him. It really ate him up when I would work with other guys. On the other hand, it bothered me when he would go off to make movies. I didn’t know what he was doing. And I certainly knew what a lot of these girls were like.
HUSTLER: So he was really the reason you got out?
CANYON: Yeah, all because of him. I thought at the time I really cared about him, and he was the one for the future. I was tired though. And I had done too much in such a short time. In the back of my mind, I knew I would always get back in—eventually. I never disliked it or wanted to quit on my own. It was because he wanted me to. And I wanted to do whatever he wanted me to. I never closed the door on coming back though. Not in my own mind. I stayed in touch with some of the people I liked.
HUSTLER: What did you do when you got out?
CANYON: For the first year I didn’t do anything. Nothing. I would sleep in, work out, get some sun. That kind of thing. I had saved a lot of money. The year after that I traveled non-stop. Then I signed up for college and flaked out on that. Then I got a job in a clothing store. If I needed a few extra dollars I would go back and do stills. I always liked to keep my foot in the door. I kept up on who was the hottest, who was coming in or getting out. The whole industry is a turn-on to me. I find it very interesting and fascinating. I don’t think of it as sleazy or bad.
HUSTLER: Was AIDS ever something that scared you?
CANYON: When I quit, it was like a week later that it became a Big Thing. Even now people ask if I’m worried about AIDS. I figure that eventually I’m going to be sleeping with somebody on a regular basis. I’m certainly not going to marry someone, then have sex with him. So I’m taking a risk whether it’s in the business or in my personal life. I think it’s less likely in porn because the guys don’t actually come inside. And you wear these little sponges, that kind of thing. Hey, I could walk out of here and get hit by a truck. I don’t really worry about those kinds of things. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t go out to bars and pick guys up. I am selective. I get tested every six months. And I got tested when I first left the business. I’m very healthy. I don’t do drugs. I work out. I eat healthy.
HUSTLER: You’ve just finished your comeback video. Hot In The City. How different is it now than it was a few years ago?
CANYON: I got right back into it. It was like five years hadn’t even gone by. At first I was nervous, didn’t know if I could handle it. That morning I wasn’t sure if I could go through with it. I was really scared while I was in makeup too. But once the cameras started rolling, it was like nothing had changed. I was working with the same people I worked with five years ago. I really like being back into it again.
HUSTLER: Do you have real orgasms on screen?
CANYON: Ummm, 50% of the time I do. Sometimes it’s really difficult when they put you in the kitchen sink and you’ve got a faucet sticking you in the back. If it’s with somebody new I do. Like there’s this
new guy I just finished working with, Johnny Ace. He’s really good looking, has a really good body. There was just this chemistry there from the first moment we saw each other. The first time I ever had a real orgasm on camera was with Mike Horner. This was like two months after I’d been in the business. And to this day, Mike is one of the hottest guys for me. There is something about him I am so in lust with. I don’t know what it is. When we worked together in Battle of the Stars, gosh, it was the best thing I think I ever did. That and Savage Fury. I think it was because Now Showing and Video Exclusives were the only companies who never complained about paying me or tried to talk me down in price. When that happens, you know they’re really happy to have you there. They really want you. And they never worked me like 20 hours a day, always had decent lunches. It’s hard to believe, but it usually isn’t like that.
HUSTLER: Do you have any favorite guys?
CANYON: If I had to pick three guys, I’d pick Mike Horner, Billy Dee and Peter North. I did a scene with Peter North in Black Throat where I was a dominatrix that was great fun. That’s not something I do in my personal life. It’s like being with girls for me, fun to act out on film.
HUSTLER: Are you actively involved in the casting process now?
CANYON: They always ask me who I want to work with. They picked the talent the last time, and I was very happy. Hey, face it. What other job do you get to run around naked and flirt with everybody? To me, it’s a turn-on to turn on the crew. I don’t know about the other girls, but I think it’s so much fun to walk up to them and sit on their laps. Not to do anything sexual, but totally blow their minds. That’s half the fun, turning them on.
HUSTLER: How does it make you feel knowing that out there your audience is largely guys beating off to you having sex?
CANYON: It’s a compliment. I know the first time I watched a porn video I got turned on.
HUSTLER: How did you lose your cherry?
CANYON: I was 15 at the time. It was to a guy I was going out with for about six months. I figured I had better give in or I’d lose him. We went out for about two years after that. Then we graduated from high school and went our separate ways. I remember coming home and wondering if he would ever call me again. I was scared, nervous. It hurt. But after the second time I really liked it.
HUSTLER: Do you touch yourself a lot?
CANYON: Yeah, I really do. I masturbate a lot. I really haven’t had a good lover in a long time.
HUSTLER: What do you look for in a lover?
CANYON: I like someone who can take charge. I hate to be the one to initiate sex or start talking dirty. I hate guys who are scared to try anything different, to get the vibrator out. I like guys to be big and strong, pick me up caveman-style and toss me around. I like things to change all the time. I really hate things to be predictable. Sometimes when a guy is going to come, I say, “Pull out and come on my face!” I like to keep things interesting.
HUSTLER: Do you like the taste of cum?
CANYON: If I’m deep in lust or love with a man, I love the taste of cum and to swallow it. On screen, once in a while I’ll do it if it’s somebody I really like. Maybe 50% of the time.
HUSTLER: Who do you admire in the X-rated industry?
CANYON: I admire the way Ginger Lynn made a big name for herself. She went after her stardom. She started her own video company, formed her own fan club. She went at it full force. Ginger had a lot of energy because she enjoyed what she did so much. She still uses her name in her personal life. I think of her as one of the only female performers that loved what she did 100%. I respect the people who don’t blow their money the same day. There are some people who’ve been fucking for ten years and have nothing to show for it.
HUSTLER: What do you want out of all this?
CANYON: I don’t know at this point. I really love to travel. I love the Orient, Europe. I went to Africa a year ago. Eventually, I’ll get some kind of job where I travel. I want to finish my schooling. You know, a year ago I never thought I’d be sitting here right now. I never know what I’m going to do from week to week. And that’s how I like to live.
HUSTLER: Do you get recognized a lot?
CANYON: Uh-huh! I love it. People recognize me at banks all the time for some reason. I always have people recognize me at dance clubs. People always come up to me and ask for my autograph.
HUSTLER: Do you hope to cross over into legitimate films?
CANYON: Nah! It’s never been my goal in life. It’s not what I want. I don’t have the patience, energy or time to walk the beat. There’s too much competition out there. And, hey, I’m Number One in this business, and I don’t want to be just one of a million. I really believe it’s who you know and who you sleep with.
HUSTLER: Did you encounter much of the casting-couch syndrome in pom?
CANYON: No, never. From the first day I met Jim South, it was instant success.
HUSTLER: How do you feel about anal sex?
CANYON: No. I’m not into that. And definitely not in my personal life. I don’t like pain. I tried it, and it’s just not for me. I don’t care if they offer me a jar of Vaseline. It hurts.
HUSTLER: What about oral sex?
CANYON: I really like oral sex. Giving it and getting it. I never really knew how to give head until I got into the business. When I was younger, it was like—no way! But right before I got in the biz, I was seeing this guy who was much older than me, and he would teach me things. He was 45 or so. Before him it was all young boys and lots of “wham-bam thank you ma’am.” This guy showed me how to do it and enjoy it. From there it just snowballed. I used to be shy about it. I thought you had to do it because the guy liked it. I didn’t know it went both ways.
HUSTLER: Is cock size important to you?
CANYON: Bigger isn’t necessarily better. I’ve been with some guys who had big cocks, and they wouldn’t know what to do with it if it hit them in the face. The only thing I hate is when guys come too fast. There’s nothing worse than that. One of those five-minute jobs. Yuch!
HUSTLER: Is the money a big part of making you happy in pom?
CANYON: A big part. A really big part! That’s why some of these companies really pissed me off. They had the nerve to offer me what I got when I quit the business—$1,200 a day. They said, “You know, it’s not like it used to be.” And I said, “Get me on your set, and it sure will be.” Not that I’m stuck up, but I know how much my tapes sold and still sell. And I’ll do my part in the public relations department. I know girls don’t get anywhere near that much these days. I’m sorry for them. I get five times that for my work. Plus, I have a royalty situation. Then there’s the box cover, personal appearances. I’m the only girl under contract with Video Exclusives. They made a lot of money from my movies and still do. And they know a lot of money will be made from my new movies. They’re not too cheap to pay me what I’m worth. C’mon, I know what kind of money is made in this industry. They’ll take care of me. I’ll be starting up my own fan club, and they’ll handle it for me. My fans can write to me at Video Exclusives, 6617 Independence Ave., Canoga Park, CA91303. If they order my movie Hot in the City, I’ll autograph the box and send them an autographed 8×10 photo. The phone number is (800) 334-8248, but they shouldn’t ask for me. I’m never there. You know, a lot of fans think the stars hang out at the video companies. I feel sorry when they call and people who are working get mad at them. But, c’mon, do you really think I’m sitting at a desk with a wall of my tapes behind me all day waiting for the phone to ring. Get real!
HUSTLER: What makes Christy Canyon special?
CANYON: The other night I went to a porn awards show, and so many of the other girls were taking their clothes off, letting people take their pictures. To me that’s porn at its worst. Why not have a little integrity, give it a little class. I’ve never been one of those girls to go around with my tits hanging out. And boy, if anybody could get attention doing it, it would be me! I may get a little sleazy when I go out dancing, but it’s fun to get sexy. I’ve never brought guys up to my place and fucked them for money. I’m not like that. People have this vision that all porn stars are like that. Maybe that’s what separates me from the other girls in the business. I’ve never turned a trick. Print that.
HUSTLER: Who is the real Christy Canyon?
CANYON: The real Christy Canyon goes out there, does a great sex scene, turns everybody on, makes it look hot. But the other side of me is different. I’m not a Virgin Mary, don’t get me wrong, but I like to keep things separate. It makes the on screen Christy Canyon more wild and crazy because I’m saving something for the videos.
HUSTLER: Do your parents know what you do?
CANYON: Yes. It was tough for them when they found out, but they accept me for it. I’m not dishonest about it. It is my body after all. I’m not hurting anybody.
HUSTLER: How would you like to be remembered?
CANYON: I would like to be remembered as Christy Canyon, the one who always gave it her best and always turned the audience on. And she got out while she still looked good.