Image Credits: Entertainment Weekly

It’s not every day that a young actress gains success on a much-loved American TV broadcast sitcom, then steps unabashedly into making adult films. But this is the path Redhead beauty Maitland Ward took. Landing a role on The Bold and The Beautiful as a teen, then playing “Rachel McGuire,” on the ‘90s sitcom Boy Meets World Maitland made headlines (and quickened heartbeats) stepping into her adult film career in 2019.

Since Maitland has won AVN, XBIZ, and XRCO awards (to name but a few of her accolades), has published her memoir My Escape from Hollywood, and as an avid cosplayer also enjoys attending comic conventions to meet her fans.

Maitland has also been vocal about the empowerment she’s found in her transition from mainstream acting to adult entertainment, her embrace of the porn world representing a refreshing departure from traditional narratives that tend to frame the adult industry as an inherently exploitative environment from which performers, especially female ones, are desperate to flee.

More than most, your ‘entrance’ into adult work was highly publicized because of your stepping from high-profile mainstream TV work into porn. Although you knew they’d would come some brouhaha, did you ever expect such a big Bru-haha-ing?

I absolutely knew that my doing adult films would get attention, but I had no idea how viral the news of my first film would be. The film “Drive” I did for Deeper.com got more eyes on it than some Netflix launches! I was really happy that it got so much attention and for the most part so much positivity, in the press. The site broke down a few times because of the traffic.

I’m thankful because all of it led to an amazing career for me in adult entertainment being the face of the Deeper.com brand. I am very proud of the films we have made that have really knocked down the walls between porn and mainstream.

In one interview you said, speaking about mainstream “…they could only see me as this person who was on a famous sitcom and they wouldn’t give me a chance to play anything else.” Is this the double-edged sword of all actors…hoping you land a good, steady job, but fearing it could pigeonhole you if the show or your character becomes too popular?

As an actor being on a show that is so loved by the public is the dream, but also can be the curse. In no way am I saying I wish I hadn’t done Boy Meets World. It has given me opportunities, especially now, that most people only dream of and I loved being part of such an amazing, iconic show. But it is so hard to be seen as something other than the character that made you famous. For many years I had a tough time being seen as anything other than Rachel or that type of character. I was never given the opportunity to try for anything else. 

And speaking of being pigeonholed…did you see the Deeper Pigeonholed movie as a way to make a statement on the above?

Yes, very much so. Kayden and I collaborated on that piece specifically to speak not only to what I faced in my career and life but what women of all walks of life face; being put in boxes and holes drawn up by society. It was a piece about breaking through societal norms and defying expectations and ultimately reclaiming your power to create the life you want. 

Was it the ubiquitous light bulb over the head moment when you said, “I want to go shoot adult content,” or did it slowly come upon you that to play more complexly sexual women this was where your work was leading?

It was a long process that coincided with my sexual self-discovery. It took a long time for me to feel confident in my body and my sexuality but once I started breaking through all the walls I put up and embracing my sexual freedom that’s when the journey into adult began to take shape. People think it was a calculated plan on my part but it was honestly just my own authentic journey that I showed the fans. It all started with Playboy-type pics and as I got braver and more curious and excited it developed from there. And then ultimately it was my dream to make a real film with a great script and high quality and pair it with great sex. And that’s how I got to making “Drive”. 

How close are the contacts in the mainstream acting world and the adult one? Was it just a matter of you reaching out to some contacts you had in your mainstream acting to get into adult?

No one in mainstream helped me get into adult, unless you count the photographers who got me press and attention from my cosplay and sexy photo setups that were instrumental in growing my social media. But mainstream people would be discouraging and no one could see the possibilities I saw. They saw porn as shameful and dirty and I saw it as exciting and fun. In many ways, I had to do this in spite of everyone and show them what could be possible, even when I had no clue what was ahead of me. I just followed my gut. I detail in my book how I met Kayden Kross and how we set forth to do some really groundbreaking things in porn. I came from mainstream and she was the Queen director of porn and we joined forces to merge the two and create something special. 

What do you most want the mainstream world to understand about porn that they don’t?

That it’s more like mainstream than you could possibly imagine. The only difference is we’re having sex on screen. At least on the sets I work on there is a full crew, cameras, lights, and scripts. There’s this idea that there are drugged-up orgies going on all day, which could be further from the truth. Also, the people are normal, working people. They have lives, families, and pets. It’s very popular with wilder people in the mainstream for sure. 

What’s coming up for you in the near future?

I’m working on two books, one fiction and one non-fiction and I’m working on developing my memoir into a TV series. My focus coming up is to really bridge porn back to mainstream. I want all the walls to come down with my hammer. 

Find more Maitland here: Maitland Ward Baxter (@MaitlandWardx) / X

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