EDGE Rewind: What is it Like to be a Gay Adult Star? Woody Fox Explains It All For You
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Former gay adult star Woody Fox, who hails from Australia, joined his industry colleagues on an edition of the Australian Broadcast Company's "You Can't Ask That" to talk about the ins-and-outs of the industry.
The lean, bearded 33-year-old performer, who retired from the industry in 2019, offered insights and advice from his years working in porn. He joined a number of his colleagues, both male and female, in the segment.
Over his career, Fox worked for such companies as Falcon, Hard British Lads, Hot House, Lucas Entertainment, Men.com, Raging Stallion, Naked Sword, and more.
He has an OnlyFans account, where he describes himself as "masc, Aussie, acrobat with a cheeky past."
Fox discussed his first porn shoot, which was reported by the Star Observer.
"I didn't know if I was going to get hard," he joked. "I didn't know if I was going to poop myself." My first shoot was terrifying."
Fortunately, he continued. "The first one didn't have a script. Here's some mats, here's some positions."
"We had about 10, 20 minutes to get to know each other. As in like 'Hi, how are you? Where are you from? If I bite your ear is that going to be a turn-off?' Just really, really quick. It was more about making sure he was comfortable, sliding in."
He also said that despite the content, the main thing about working on a porn set "is that it's not sexual."
"There'll be moments where you're starting to connect with a scene partner," he said.
"And then there'll be a voice saying, 'Just turn out,' or, 'Hey, we need make-up on the hole.'"
Fox discussed an embarrassing moment while filming a rimming scene.
"I've pulled these cheeks open and I've been sprayed with douche water," he said.
And he admitted that there are definitely size requirements in the industry.
"So you'll never really see someone below eight inches in porn," he said.
He noted that performance-enhancing drugs are part of the mix, and not just Viagra, but the drug Trimex that is injected into the penis.
"At first, the injection definitely hurts," he said."But after about three hours, it's almost like your entire genitalia is one giant bruise. And someone's just clapping their hands on that bruise."
He also remembered when he had to do some real acting.
"I had this romance porn where I had to look into this person's eyes and say, 'Oh, you're beautiful,' and, 'I love you.' and I love everything about you." And I hated this guy's guts."
He added: "We did the scene and the fans loved it, so we got invited back to do three more romantic scenes with each other. Every time we'd walk into the room we'd look at each other and it would be like, 'You again.'"
His work also helped him define the boundaries between sex and romance.
"I don't think it ruins sex in any way, but I think it changes how I see sex," he explained. "I've definitely taken sex and romance and moved them away from each other. So I now look at sex like I would going to the gym."
Watch the clip from the Australian show ""You Can't Ask That" featuring porn stars discussing their career experience.
In a 2020 interview with The Daily Telegraph's Sydney Confidential (link behind a firewall), Fox said he has had sex with as many as 5,000 people during his career and personal life, since being head-hunted by American producers.
"I don't go usually a week without having sex with a few people," he said.
"Also, for me, sex is very different to a lot of people because I have worked in the sex industry and I don't see sex as this romantic intense connection. I see sex as having a conversation with someone but you are just using your bodies."
Fox told the show that while he does some eye-popping positions on camera, he prefers much more vanilla lovemaking in his personal life.
"For me personally I just like really boring bed sex because I've done everything really wild and crazy," he said.
He also cautioned newcomers to the industry about their visibility.
"The thing that I like to say to anyone entering the industry. That one person that you don't want to find out is going to find out."
"So I knew that if I'm doing porn my parents are going to find out. My grandparents are going to find out. I've got a gay brother as well. He's accidentally seen them. I'm sure there's been that moment where it's panning up and then, 'Arghh, my brother.'"
But "My dad flipped out," saying he was "freaking out" when he found out about his son's "disgusting and sick" career.
"But over time [my parents] got more open-minded, the more we spoke, and now he's definitely come around," he said.
He also described how he strategized when he went into the industry having been advised to only "top." He was told to "never bottom" so he could get paid a higher rate. He did go on to bottom in one of his final filmed scenes.
Fox admitted that he had a naive idea of how porn would change his life, seeing the job as a way to "pay for everything and actually be somebody."
But soon came to realize that the industry was "cutthroat," and the average life span of a gay porn star "will last two years, max.
"You want something else. It's like being a professional party boy. There's only so long you'll want to party," he said.
And added a cautionary note:
"You're going to get so much hate thrown your way.
"It's not because you're doing anything bad, it's not because you're hurting anyone. It's because we've been taught that sex is this horrible, evil thing."
He also said to Sydney Confidential that "half of gay porn were heterosexual, after being attracted to the job for the high pay cheques."