Tony Farinella of www.411mania.com sat down with Tera Patrick for an exclusive interview about the adult entertainment industry and her career.

TONY: While researching this interview, I couldn’t help but notice your versatility. You’re always trying something new, and you’re always exploring new business ventures. Where does that passion come from? Were you born with it?

Tera Patrick: I’ve always wanted to pursue everything possible … I’ve always wanted to have a clothing line, and when I first started in the industry in 2000, I wasn’t setting out to be a world famous porn star per se, but I just wanted to have fun and make some extra money. But I started as a model when I was young, and it was not really by accident, but I had always wanted to travel the world. I grew up in the military, and my dad kind of instilled in me that the best way to learn about the world is to travel the world, and it makes you a more open-minded and more tolerant person of everything around you. And I grew up in a very warm and open-minded household when I was kid. So, I feel kind of grateful that I’ve been able to travel and meet new people and experience different cultures and go to school and open up new business ventures.

TONY: What was it like being a model at such a young age? How did you handle the pressure?

Tera Patrick: Looking back now, to me, it’s almost like, “Wow. How did I handle all the travel, and how did I handle being in the public eye?” And I think today, even now, it is very stressful, and it’s probably one of the small downsides to being in the pubic eye, but, at the same time, I think that anybody who chooses to be a model or an actress obviously loves the spotlight and obviously loves the attention. I mean, I’m a Leo, so I’m the one at the party that’s dancing on the table. I’m the one that’s like, “Look at me, everybody!” I mean, I love to be the center of attention, and I love to be in the spotlight, and there is a lot of pressure that comes along with it, but fortunately I never fell prey to any of the drugs or anything like that when I was younger. I think I had really good guidance, and I always had a really good manager, and my dad’s always been in my life, and he’s always been there to give me guidance and help me through things and talk it out.

TONY: From doing a lot of these interviews and from talking to you right now, the thing I’ve noticed is that whenever a celebrity has parental guidance, it makes things so much easier in Hollywood. Personally, how much did it help you, and how much does it help in general?

Tera Patrick: It is really helpful, and I think that that’s the one thing that a lot of these quote-unquote young starlets really lack. It’s this whole idea of, “Where are their parents?” It’s not even the parents, because they surround themselves with people that just don’t really care about them, and when I started my company five years ago, when I started working in the adult entertainment business and I think that it could be any business, not just the adult business, but I think it’s probably worse in mainstream, I learned that you have to surround yourself with good people, and you have to take care of yourself. And, for me, it’s taken me about five years, because I can honestly say today, right now, that I have the best staff of people working for me, and everyone that works for me is not just super cool and super open-minded but super hard-working and super-dedicated and just all around really good people. And, like I said, it took me a few years to get that really good staff going, but my best friend is my assistant, and people always say, “Oh, you probably shouldn’t have your friends working for you.” But I found it to be the complete opposite. I found that it’s a trust issue with me. I’ve been able to work with my friends, and there’s a lot of trust there, and, plus, I’m in a really good marriage. I have a really, really wonderful husband who is extremely intelligent and who wants only the best for me, and he’s so smart and so talented, and he came from his own career. He had his own career, so when we both met up, it wasn’t like one was leeching off the other. We were able to put both of our careers together and make something really beautiful.

TONY: How do you find that trust with your staff? Do you know right away if you can trust someone, or how does that work? What’s that like?

Tera Patrick: You know, sometimes you don’t. I think that one thing about being in this industry is people gravitate towards it, because there’s just that excitement there. People are like, “Ohh, I wanna hang out with porn stars, or I wanna hang out with famous people and go on free trips.” And there’s just people that hang onto you, and they just wanna steal your thunder in a way, and it’s really, really hard. You have to have that trust there, and you have to be a really good judge of character. I’ve gotten myself into situations before where I’ve trusted people, and they’ve turned around and stole even clothes from me or little things like that. And it makes you not trust people so much anymore, but my husband is a really, really good judge of character, and I remember when we first met, I was like, “Oh, my gosh. How do you know people so well?” He was like, “Honey, I grew up in New York.” So, I told him, “Oh, I grew up in California.”

TONY: I’ve always found it fascinating how you’re always trying new something, and you’re always expanding your horizons. You’re always thinking ahead, and you always have a fall back plan. Do you think a lot of actresses in the adult entertainment industry fall apart because they don’t have a fall back plan, and they put all their eggs in one basket?

Tera Patrick: I think it’s definitely that, and I think it’s also definitely that people are very close-minded. They don’t open themselves up to new opportunities, or I think there’s a lot of fear. I think a lot of people have a lot of fear about the unknown and about something that’s not very familiar to them, I guess, in a way. For me, I took a giant leap when I started my clothing company. I mean, I knew absolutely nothing about clothing. All I knew was that I loved clothing and that I wanted to be a designer, and I did my research. When you start a new business venture or when you start something that’s new, you have to do your research. You have to look up every possible thing, you have to get an attorney, you have to know what your rights are, and you have to look over contracts. A lot of this stuff I didn’t know, and a lot of this stuff was given to me by my husband, who’s also my mentor. He managed his own band and his own career for twenty years, so I really trusted him, and I really looked up to him when it came time to pursue other things that I really wanted to pursue. And he helped me take that giant leap of faith.

TONY: After doing so many different films and being on the cover of so many different magazines, how do you keep it fresh, and how do you keep it interesting?

Tera Patrick: I always come up with new ideas, and it also helps that I have a really great fan base and have a lot of really great fans, and I get a lot of emails. I get everything from, “Oh, Tara, I would love to see you work with Aria Giovanni” to “Oh, Tara, I would love to see more fetish. I would love to see you in stockings.” I even have fans email me and say, “Oh, I would love to see you smoking,” and that will never happen, because I don’t like to smoke. But it’s really great to have such an interactive fan base. I’m very interactive with my fans. I have about five websites, and I constantly interact with my fans. I run my myspace with my assistant, and it’s really nice to have that interaction, because you do tend to run out of ideas. I’ve been modeling since I was 13-years-old, and I’m always inspired by even something as simple as clothes. I’ll go into a store and find some beautiful lingerie, and I’m like, “Ohh, that would make an amazing shoot.” So, I’m always inspired, and I’m always looking for new things to shoot and new things to do, and it’s nice to get the offers. I just worked with a company called Fire TV in Miami, and they flew me out to Miami to do a commercial for an Iptv Server, which is really cool. That’s where the business is heading to is watching VOD on the Internet, and it’s nice to be a part of technology and a part of new things.

TONY: Do you ever worry about your fans becoming too intrusive? I know you have a close relationship with them, but have you ever had any bad experiences?

Tera Patrick: I’m really, really lucky … I’m very lucky, because I have very respectful fans. I’m half-Asian, so a lot of my fans are really cool, young, hip Asian kids, and they’re very respectful. I mean, I went over to Japan, and I felt like I was the Beatles or something. They were like, “AHH, Tara! Tara!” I mean, it’s so cool. I’m feature dancing right now at The Spearmint Rhino, and I think that a lot of my job is to put on a show and put on a fantasy. A lot of people see me, and it’s like, “Oh, Tera Patrick, she’s the fantasy.” And I think that people don’t cross the line, because, for them, well, they see my husband, and they wouldn’t wanna get hurt. (laughs) But, no, it’s really cool. I have really, really cool fans and really, really nice fans. And I have a lot of female fans. A lot of my fans are women, and I’m noticing this trend where a lot more women are watching porn. Women wanna learn things and see new things and experience it. Hey, women love sex. I think, actually, women are crazier than the guys.

TONY: It’s funny that you mention that. When I interviewed Carmen Electra, she was telling me how a lot of women are buying her Aerobic Striptease DVDs.

Tera Patrick: Oh, yeah. Women are definitely crazier than the guys, for sure. It’s so true. And it’s funny that you mention that, because I’m actually doing a video, an aerobic video, called Fit For Sex, which is with the same company that Carmen Electra did her video with. So, mine should be out in the spring.

TONY: If someone is reading our interview right now and they went to break into the adult entertainment industry, what’s your advice? Outside of their looks, what do they need emotionally to be in the industry? What kind of tools do they need to be ready for it?

Tera Patrick: This industry, it’s a lot of fun, and you can make a lot of money, but I think that what a lot of people don’t realize is you give up a lot being here. I’ve always said this: You give up a little piece of yourself, and you give up your privacy. There really is no way to prepare for it, because you don’t really know what to expect. I think, for me, I’ve just had to roll with the punches. I didn’t realize that when I first started working in the industry a couple years ago that I was gonna be on the cover of Playboy and Penthouse and FHM, and everybody was gonna see my work and everybody was gonna know who I am. It’s funny, because I’ve done a few trade shows where ex-boyfriends will come up to me, and they’ll be like, “Oh, my god, Tera! You look amazing.” And I’m like, “Oh, I am so not getting back together with you.” It’s really funny, because everybody knows who you are, and everybody watches porn and sees who you are. So, I’d say just keep your head on straight. It’s fun to party and stuff, but don’t let it get too out of control.

TONY: You mentioned earlier how you get a lot of fetish emails from your fans with different ideas for you. With the Internet right now and so many different websites, does anything shock you anymore?

Tera Patrick: Yeah, sometimes. I mean, sometimes I get like,”whoa,” but most of the time, I think that with the Internet and with everything that we have available to us out there, because porn is becoming so mainstream, it’s almost like, you’re right, nothing shocks me. I always say to myself, “Yeah, I’ve been there, done that.” But it’s always exciting, and it’s always new. I meet so many people every day, and I come across so many people in my everyday life, and I imagine how many people Paris Hilton meets, and I’m thinking, “Oh, my gosh. I’m not even Paris Hilton.” But I still meet a lot of people, and it’s still really fun for me, and I hope that I still have a really, really long career ahead of me, because I wanna stay in the industry for a really, really long time. And I’ve been able to crossover and do other things like Spike TV and FHM and all kinds of shows. I get offered all kinds of fun stuff, and it’s really fun to just be a part of this industry, because it’s booming right now.

TONY: What I’ve always found fascinating about the adult entertainment industry is the fact that a lot of people involved in the business are extremely intelligent people. I think sometimes people might think, “Oh, they’re just a bunch of sleazy perverts.” Do you think a lot of people in the adult entertainment industry get a bad rap?

Tera Patrick: I think that that’s definitely true. I mean, I say to people that there’s definitely a stigma attached to being in this industry is that a lot of people assume, “Oh, she must have been abused, or she must be a drug addict.” But I always say that in my line of work and for what I’m trying to promote out there is I always say empowerment over exploitation. For me, I’ve been able to start my own business, and I made the best of what god gave me, which was my looks, and I think that I’ve been able to kind of propel being a porn star into being a sex symbol and just being intelligent and making people realize that there’s all sorts of advantages to being in this industry. It’s great money. I think that I’ve been able to be recognized as another Marilyn Monroe of my time. I mean, Marilyn Monroe posed nude, and Betty Paige posed nude. I mean, back then, there was such a stigma. I mean, think about all these Hollywood actresses who have posed nude and have done nude scenes in movies. Nudity shouldn’t be such a stigma. It’s a beautiful thing. The human body is a beautiful thing. And if Kim Basinger can do a hardcore and full-on nude sex scene in Nine 1/2 Weeks, well, then I’m just taking it a step further.

TONY: What’s it like being on the set of an adult entertainment shoot? Is it pretty relaxed?

Tera Patrick: It’s very relaxed. I mean, my sets are very relaxed. We have a small crew, and everybody knows each other, and everybody’s worked with each other for a very long time. Most of the sets on the adult business, I mean, I’m sure there are a few out there, but most of them are very calm, and everybody’s excited to work. It’s just like being on a Hollywood set, but everybody’s getting naked and having sex. Well, not everybody. (laughs)

TONY: Who are some of your friends in the industry?

Tera Patrick: Well, I’m really, really good friends with the Vivid girl, Savanna Samson. She’s an awesome chick, and I did my first girl-girl scene with her, and she’s really, really cool. And I love Stormy from Wicked. Stormy’s really, really awesome. And I’m good friends with Chi Chi LaRue, the director. He directed a couple of my first Vivid movies, and that was such an amazing experience, and he’s a really talented and cool guy. And I’ve got a lot of friends in the industry, and I get along with mostly everybody. Everybody is really fun. It’s like a family. I’ve been working with the same people for such a long time now that when we’re on the set, we always joke, and we always talk about our families. You’d be surprised, because a lot of people in the industry are married with kids and this is just their career.

TONY: Let’s talk a little bit about Broken, which you just released through your company, Teravison. How did that whole project come about with David Navarro directing it?

Tera Patrick: Well, David Navarro and Evan, my husband, they’ve been friends in the music industry for quite a long time. I don’t know if they’ve ever performed together, but they have performed at a lot of concerts and at different festivals together, and Dave had actually come up to us at Erotica LA and said, “Hey, I think it would be really cool to do an adult film, and I would love to work for your company, and I really like what you guys do. You guys do beautiful stuff, and you guys put our really great films.” And we were like, “Yeah, awesome!” You know, the chance to get a celebrity director is really, really cool. So, we brought David in, and we kind of held his hand through it a little bit, but he knew what he wanted, and he knew exactly the vision that he was looking for. He picked out the cast, and he picked out the location, and he picked out everything that he wanted for the movie. And I think he was an excellent choice. I love Sasha Grey. I think she’s a real up-and-coming star right now. Sasha’s an excellent performer and just a really, really cool chick. And Lisa Daniels and Jenna Haze. I mean, he couldn’t have picked a better cast.

TONY: What kind of films do you want to release through your company in the future?

Tera Patrick: We’re actually doing another interactive movie with a story. We did one called InTERActive with Hustler, and that one was really cool, because it allowed the viewers to kind of pick and choose what scenes he wanted to watch, how it begins, how it ends, the characters, the sex scenes, the position. And that’s a truly interactive movie. A lot of the interactive movies are shot on sterile backgrounds, and there’s really not much interaction, and you just get to pick one position. And this one has absolutely everything. And we wanna do another one of those, another interactive movie, and my next movie that’s coming out is actually the sequel to Teradise Island, which I did last year in Maui, Hawaii, and we shot the sequel also in Maui, Hawaii. And that one’s coming out I believe in January. It’s either going to be January or February. And we’d just like to continue doing very beautiful movies with the hottest, sexiest talent but also making the woman look the best that she could possibly look.

TONY: How much does it help to have a husband who’s also in the entertainment business? Do you guys talk to each other about different problems and whatnot?

Tera Patrick: Absolutely. There’s only one person who understands what I go through every day, and that’s my husband. I mean, he’s been there, done that. He’s toured the world and traveled extensively and played concerts and done countless interviews and done countless shows. I can come home and tell him, “Oh, my gosh. I did five interviews today and woke up at 6am and flew across the country,” and he totally understands. And he’s always there to give me a massage or always there to boost my spirits. And I think that people in entertainment need to be with people in entertainment, because there’s a little bit of jealousy there sometimes, and I think that people that are also in the entertainment business totally understand what you’re going through.

TONY: Finally, where do you see the adult entertainment industry in five to ten years?

Tera Patrick: Well, definitely the adult industry is becoming so much more mainstream. I mean, I’m hosting the 25th anniversary of the AVN show in January, and it is going to be broadcast on Showtime, so that’s really cool. I mean, that’s like a really big thing for us, and I think that that’s totally awesome now that 23 million people or maybe more are gonna be able to watch the AVN show. And it still amazes me that I get recognized in public all the time, and my husband always laughs at me, because I’ll go, “Oh, those people are staring at me.” And my husband will go, “Well, duh, they know who you are.” And I’m like, “Oh.” I mean, I still think I can walk around and people won’t say anything to me or know who I am, but it’s really cool and it’s really fun to be recognized and get recognition for your work. And all kinds of people come up to you: Housewives and lawyers, doctors, teenagers. I’ve got so many fans that are young guys that are just like, “Oh, Tera, I love you,” and they’re really shy and really funny. So, I think that more and more people are watching porn, and, as far as technology, we’re going to the Internet now. A lot of people are watching Video on Demand on the Internet. DVDs are eventually gonna go away.