Conversations with Bethany Sweet

Seattle, Washington- I had a conversation with Bethany Sweet recently. Sweet who describes herself as someone who takes control of a situation, took control of hers and began dancing when she was 18.

She remained in the adult industry until she was 29, has returned to the industry after a pregnancy and five years off.

During her first go-round in the business, Sweet appeared in Penthouse, won beauty contests then decided to get married and have kids.

“I got pregnant, took five years off, got divorced and got back into the business,” says Sweet summing it all up very sweetly.

She’s now 40 and says she’s in a place in her life where she’s happy and doesn’t care what other people think.

“My whole family knows what I do,” she says. “My mom knows. My grandma she’s 89 years old. She knows.”

But Sweet says there’s no ongoing family discussions about her career.

“You want to pay my bills? You can tell me what to do.”

Sweet says when she’d be on the road several weeks out of a month, she’d make a particular point of calling her mom telling where she was staying and where she was dancing.

And Sweet didn’t think she had any regrets about her first tenure in the business.

“I think I did everything I was going to do and by the time I was 29 I was feeling like I wanted babies,” she says.

“I really wanted children and that was important to me. I was happy to take the five years off. I’m just sad the marriage didn’t work out. What am I going to do, bawl about it every day for the rest of my life?”

What got Sweet started in dancing was a dare.

“My best friend in high school turned 18 and when I turned 18 I talked her into going to this club,” recalls Sweet.

“We went to an amateur contest. Not being particularly shy, I ripped my clothes off and danced around. I kicked my legs up high, did cartwheels and guys loved me. Of course I won, and the bar owner was do you want a job?"

The first porn scene Sweet ever did was a blowjob scene for Homegrown Video, a thing called Deep Throat Virgins.

“I was terrified,” she remembers. “Because if I’m not in control I don’t feel comfortable. I like to be the boss of course. Because of this guy- I worked with Jean Pierre- I felt it was cool and I could do this. I went back to Seattle after shooting that scene and thought about it for four months. In the mean time I kept fielding offers and thought, screw it. I’m doing this. I jumped in feet first. It’s kind of my style.”

Sweet was originally repped by the late Hal Guthu.

“That’s when I was doing Penthouse and Hot Body,” she says.

I remember Sweet from the days she shot for John Cross.

“That was not long before I decided to get knocked up,” Sweet laughs.

“Guthu’s place mysteriously burned down along with his parrot,” I remind Sweet who never heard the story.

“When I came back in and said who should rep me? Good ol’ Hal Guthu," she says. "I wondered if he was still in the business. I couldn’t find him. And by the time I got around to asking, it was, you know, he’s dead. I heard about that.

"I liked old farts so I went to Jim South. He found me a few jobs, Milf Cruiser 5 which was awesome, played on hotels for two years. Jim got me a bunch of work initially, then there was nothing. Then he decided to retire. Then I said, fuck it, I’ll do my own thing because I’m pretty independent. I’ve decided to remain independent.”

Sweet mentions her leanings toward joining up with Veronica Rayne who’s apparently starting an agency.

Besides porn, Sweet has a degree and worked in offices such as her mother’s insurance company. And she's worked in sales.

“I can do things it’s just that I like this better,” she laughs.

When she first left the business, Sweet thought that was it, and that she wasn’t coming back to adult.

“After I left my husband, there I was with a two year-old and a three year-old,” says Sweet.

“I was working using my degree and it was enabling me to upload data, sort files, do paperwork and answer phones. I made about $15 an hour. I said I can’t live that way. The heck with it. I’ll just go back to modeling for awhile and see what happens. This is what happened. They kept offering me more and more stuff, more and more money. How do you say no? when you’re a single mom?

“Being a dancer it’s not such a stretch,” continues Sweet. “It wasn’t like I started as a librarian and immediately started fucking giant black guys.”

Upon her return to the business, Sweet had the jitters.

“But that’s always what makes the entertainment industry addicting,” she reflects. “You get used to the rush.”

But Sweet also noted some significant changes in the business from the first time she left.

“We used to have portfolios now everyone’s online,” she says. “Next thing I know everyone’s sending me notes- let’s shoot, let’s shoot.”

Sweet grew up on a farm, had horses and they were her best friends, according to her.

“I used to read a lot. And I had a couple of friends. They used to have horses, too.”

Sweet’s mom was also a single mom and Sweet’s grandparents lived next door.

“They basically raised me while my mom did all the work and supported us,” says Sweet.

“My family’s small but tight and supportive. I’m just real lucky. But growing up I was so shy. I thought I was the ugliest kid in the world. I had the ugliest legs and the knobbiest knees.”

At the age of 17, Sweet’s mother signed her up for John Robert Powers.

“I’ve tons of legitimate modeling,” Sweet says, mentioning some beer commercials. “But I don’t advertise it. I always enjoyed sex, but I always liked porn so I’m not too surprised I wound up here.”

Always a sexual being, Sweet remembers masturbating at the age of 4.

“I remember my mom coming in one night and telling me that Winnie The Pooh was on. I’d go, oh shit, I hope she doesn’t smell my fingers!”

Sweet says she was really shy about boys because she grew up in a family where there weren’t any.

“I was raised very strictly Christian,” she notes. “I was taught that boys were bad and they’re dirty and only wanted one thing. I lived next door to my grandpa, and I didn’t have anything to compare it to. So I thought they were right and I accepted that as being the way it is. The older I got the more I realized that men are people too.”

Sweet was 14 the first time she tried it in the sack with a guy. He was 12 but it didn’t work. Later she found another 12 year-old.

“I was horny as hell,” Sweet remembers. “I remember my mom having this party- it was one of those pot luck things with her girlfriend. Her girlfriend had a son who was 12 and there I was. He invited me to check out something at his house. But that was kind of boring.”

“My first lesbian experience was a lot more interesting,” Sweet continues. “I was ten years old. I had a girlfriend who was 12.”

“At ten you’re not even old enough to be a lesbian,” I remind Sweet.

“I beg to differ my friend,” she replies.

“Anyway she had little nubbins on her chest and I was, yeah! So we used to pretend, and I was always the boy because I had the flat chest. So we’d make out with each other and I’d touch her pussy. That went on for a couple of years. Her mom found out. Then I wasn’t invited to her house any more and I was on restriction for a month. It wasn’t her fault. I came on to her.”

In Sweet’s crazy life the craziest place she’s had sex was at a supper club in Seattle.

“They’ve got a working relationship with this fetish company that made fetishware," Sweet says.

"So the supper club had the party and from the upstairs you could look down. There was this big brass cage on the stage. I was in there dancing with my girlfriend. So I pulled myself to the top and stuck my pussy in her face. She started eating me out right there. That was my favorite place to have sex- in public. It was really wild.”

As far as private liaisons, Sweet says everybody does it when they go camping or in an elevator.

“Who among us hasn’t done it in an elevator?” I ask Sweet.

“Exactly my point,” says Sweet. “There’s back alleys and niteclubs.”

Which reminds her of another story.

“There’s a club called The Vogue. My boyfriend and I were there one night. He got up behind me and I leaned over a table so our backs were against the wall. And he fucked me right there. It was nice.

“But I’m really a creature of comfort,” Sweet continues, painting a picture of how romantic she can be.

“I’d so much rather be in my king size bed and comfortable with a bottle of champagne and music or a movie in the background,” she goes on to say.

“That’s really how I like it the best. But I’m a crazy gal, and if the mood strikes me I hope you’re in the mood, too.”

Sweet manages to get into LA every six weeks or so.

“Last year I spent the whole year building my site,” she says. “It’s www.bethanysweet.com “

“I’m excited about that,” says Sweet who also feels better about being older.

“When you’re 22, you think you’re so damn hot- speaking for myself when I was that age, I thought my shit didn’t stink,” says Sweet.

“And when I got a little bit older and had some kids, all of a sudden it dawned on me that really I’m not perfect, I’m just a human being; and I’m not afraid to make mistakes like I used to. I’ve been able to do more, and be more successful.”