Maitland Ward says becoming a porn star saved her from Hollywood

Actress Maitland Ward, who found fame on teen comedy Boy Meets World, says she is not ashamed about transitioning into the world of adult entertainment.

Ward, 43, who rose to fame during her two seasons on the ABC/Disney Channel show between 1998 and 2000, now appears to be making waves in a new career as a porn star. 

She even notes that there is something of a crossover in the audience when it comes to loyal fans. 

Kids that watched her on Boy Meets World 22 years ago are now in their twenties and thirties and watching her take on far more risqué roles.

‘They are part of the porn generation, where internet access to viewing sex has always been easily accessible and readily attained,’ she notes. 

‘It was a big deal when I starred in my first hardcore adult feature,’ she writes in an article for ‘The day Drive, the film I made for Deeper.com, was announced, the site’s traffic skyrocketed. Subscriptions for the site went wild. The headlines were international and viral. I trended No. 1 on Google all day, topping Bernie Sanders’ heart attack (the joke was that I gave it to him).’ 

Ward says she is now making far more money as a porn star than she ever did working for the Disney Channel show and is proud of her career move.

‘Many expected my rise in the adult world, including many in the adult world itself, to be a flash in the pan. It was a stunt. I wasn’t serious. But that’s what makes this story different: my genuine love for adult performance and for colorful cinema,’ she writes.

‘My story is a journey rather than a cautionary tale. And I was ready to prove the naysayers wrong.’

Ward, who also sells online content across various platforms, said on average she earns a five figure salary. Her biggest month in 2018 saw her earning $62,000, but that was before she had fully immersed herself in adult entertainment. 

‘So when people say she had to turn to porn I laugh, because this is a good thing and I’m making more now.

‘I thought I’d be more nervous, but I wasn’t,’ she told the last December.  ‘It’s been way easier and I’ve enjoyed it so much more than I’d expected. And I’m good at it. It feels natural to me. If you talked to my younger, more virginal soap-opera self, I never would have seen this coming out of me.’

She is hoping that her presence may go some way in making porn more accepting as an art form.

The exposure in the film Drive bumped her Instagram followers from 500,000 to 1.4 million 

‘I’m playing roles that I want to play. I can be dark and twisted and sexual. I’m afforded the freedom to find my voice, and that isn’t something mainstream often allows you to do. I have porn to thank for that. It’s time for porn to be mainstream and mainstream to accept porn,’ Ward writes.

Last year, Ward received two nominations at last years AVN Awards – commonly known as the Oscars of Porn, for Best Three-Way Sex Scene and Best Supporting Actress.  

They were in relation to her role in Drive, an erotic thriller that has a running time of three-and-a-half hours. 

The film, directed by porn actress Kayden Kross, sees Ward play the role of an innocent woman coming out of her shell. 

‘I won six awards at XBIZ and AVN—not only for the acting, but also the sex. I can’t say there’s ever been a prouder moment for me than when I was recognized for both,’ Ward writes. 

Despite having only starting working in the industry last August, Ward has quickly become one of the industry’s A-listers, having been dubbed the face of Deeper – a porn website.  

Ward says that she is not ashamed of what she does and the path she has chosen noting that she enjoys watching people’s reactions. 

‘I like that people ask me questions about what I do now. Whether it be total strangers or shell-shocked friends, it usually starts out in a whisper, like if the words are at full volume one of among us mod might die. People are curious and a little afraid. 

‘A typical comment is, “Wow, you’re so normal”—as if porn, or the desire to perform sexually, is not. They wouldn’t feel comfortable coming up and asking a performer they saw on the internet these questions, but they feel safe with me. They know me. I was in their living room every week. And that means something. I’m happy to be that bridge; to normalize something that is absolutely normal.’

Ward explains that there are far more things in common with porn and Hollywood than people would like to believe. 

‘Porn sets are run much like mainstream. The same lights. The same cameras. Just different actions. People will ask me if I fear that the adult industry has ruined me for mainstream. It’s quite the opposite. Mainstream ruined me for mainstream. It became limiting and I was bored.’ 

Echoing similar thoughts in an earlier interview with 

‘I never knew there was anything in adults or porn or whatever that was this well done,’ she said referring to her appearance in the erotic thriller. 

‘I read the script, and I was like, “This is really, really well-written.” This has so many themes in this and just my character is so different than anything I have portrayed before.’ 

Aside from her time on Boy Meets World, Ward has also played parts in a number of TV series and movies, including Boston Public, and a comedy film, White Chicks. 

After her on-screen career she moved to New York to study theater and screen-writing, before her latest foray into the porn industry. 

She has hosted sexy cooking sessions and a ‘corona dance party’ in her shower

Ward said her goal is to help fans take their minds off of the coronavirus crisis by offering them sexy, personal interactions

After the coronavirus pandemic saw led to the halting of all new porn production after studios were forced to close, Ward has still been able to make money by hosting private video sessions and charging fans for explicit online content.  

Ward told  that having premium social media accounts on platforms such as Snapchat and OnlyFans have ‘just put so much control in the hands of the performers.’ 

She launched her OnlyFans page last August. She went from having 8,000 paying subscribers at the beginning of 2020 to 15,000 in mid-April thanks to the pandemic giving her business a boost. 

She explained that her goal is to help fans take their minds off of the global crisis by offering them sexy, personal interactions, whether they be conversations or more explicit content.  

Although the porn stars are losing money on studio work, popular performers also have the opportunity to make even more cash by offering their OnlyFans subscribers private sessions through video services, phone calls, or custom content at an added cost. 

While there is plenty of free porn for people to sift through online, people are willing to pay for more personal experiences with their favorite actors. 

Ward says she has hosted livestream karaoke parties, video sessions with other adult entertainers, sexy cooking sessions, and a ‘corona dance party’ in her shower.

‘There’s a human on the other end of it that’s reacting to you, and back and forth, so it’s actually comforting to talk to everybody,’ she said. ‘It’s just very communal.’