From www.chicagotribune.com – After noticing the blank look on my face in the women’s shoe section of Nordstrom, Jesse Jane says, “You look bored.”
Lost, maybe. But not bored.
It’s hard to space out while hanging out with Jane, whose real name is Cindy Howell. She’s energetic, talkative and attractive. And while her love for shoes isn’t rubbing off on me on this Saturday afternoon, it is entertaining to see her get excited every time we walk into a store.
“I love shoes,” says Jane as she claps almost child-like in front of Neiman Marcus.
The adult entertainment star is in town for the 10th annual Porn on the 4th event at Crobar. Although she owns hundreds of shoes and already has an outfit picked out for that night, she feels she can’t visit Chicago without shopping on Michigan Ave.
Her husband, Rich Taylor, waits patiently as she tries on high heels. He gives her advice when she needs it but spends most of the time sitting down in the shoe department chairs.
“What did guys do before they had internet on phones?” says Taylor as he uses the web on his phone.
Jane and Taylor have been married four and a half years and live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They met through mutual friends when Taylor was an adult film star. She says people often make comments about their height difference since she is 5-foot-3 and he is 6-foot-9.
According to Jane, fans are surprised by her height when they meet her.
“The comment I get the most is, ‘You’re a lot smaller in person,’ ” she says. “They also ask, ‘Do you enjoy your job?’ and ‘Do you fake it?’
And then there are the more forward fans. Some ask when is she going to try a certain position. One offered to give her $3,000 if he could urinate on her.
“You have fans in this business who feel like they know you and have been intimate with you,” says Jane, who admits some can be creepy at times. “Still, I have the best fans in the world.”
The 28-year-old Fort Worth, Texas native says she made the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad in 2001 but had to back out because of a motorcycle accident. For Jane, the accident was a blessing in disguise.
Pirates II She went on to become one of the bigger names in the industry, starring in the popular “Pirates” series, which is loosely based on the Johnny Depp movies. Jane appeared on the cover of Drowning Pool’s “Desensitized” album in 2004 and had cameos in “Starsky and Hutch” and “Entourage.”
“When I got asked to go on ‘Entourage,’ I freaked out,” says Jane after trying on pink high heels that didn’t fit her. “I got on the set and was such a dork.”
Something tells me the “Entourage” guys weren’t thinking “dork” when they met her. Still, she does have a regular-girl aura about her that makes you occasionally forget what she does for a living. It helps that she’s wearing a Cubs t-shirt and hooded sweatshirt after coming directly from the Cubs game.
Jane travels often during the year and doesn’t like sitting in her hotel because she gets bored easily. She will head back home for two days on Monday and will then visit North Carolina, Atlanta and Detroit, where she will be a back-up dancer at a Kid Rock show.
“Bobby is my ex,” she says of Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie. “We’re still friends…he’s a real sweetheart.”
Jane and Taylor have made friends with a few celebrities after years in the industry — and not just rock stars. Taylor calls Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Chuck Liddell a friend and says he was supposed to join the couple in Chicago but had to cancel.
Jane feels fortunate to be in the position she is in. Still, she admits the constant traveling can get tiresome at times.
“The only time this job gets to me is the traveling,” she says. “Sometimes you’re like, ‘I want to go home.’ But I don’t think I could do a 9-to-5 job. I can’t imagine sitting in the same place all day.
“Like today, I go to the Cubs game, go shopping and then will party my [butt] off tonight. That’s my job. My job is to have fun. I’m lucky.”