Front cover of Traci Lords: Underneath It All | |
Author | Traci Lords |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Autobiography |
Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | July 8, 2003 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
Pages | 304 |
ISBN | 9780062217233 |
Traci Lords: Underneath It All is an autobiography by American actress and singer Traci Lords, first published on July 8, 2003 by HarperCollins. It was reissued as a paperback on June 29, 2004, with an additional chapter and photos. The book primarily details Lords' career in the adult film industry, when she appeared underage in dozens of pornographic films and became one of the most notable pornstars of the 1980s. It also chronicles her childhood, transition to mainstream films and musical career.
Traci Lords: Underneath It All received positive response from critics and was a commercial success. It debuted at number thirty-one on The New York Times Best Seller list. [1] [2] However, the book met with criticism from adult film industry insiders, some of whom accused Lords of lying.
Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma in Steubenville, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was 7-years-old due to her father's abusive behavior, and she moved with her mother and three sisters to her great-grandmother's house. When she was 10, she was raped by a sixteen-year-old acquaintance. At the age of 12, Kuzma moved with her mother and sisters to Lawndale, California, along with her mother's boyfriend Roger, who was a cocaine dealer. She began attending Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California. At 14, she became pregnant by her high school boyfriend. Searching for a job in order to get money for an abortion, Kuzma was introduced to Roger's friend Lynn for whom she started working as a babysitter. Lynn offered to help her solve her job problems by getting her a fake driver's license ID. Her new ID, with the name of Kristie Elizabeth Nussman, stated she was 22 rather than 15. [3] She ran away from home and ended up on the streets of Hollywood where she landed a job as a nude model. After appearing in a nude centerfold in Penthouse magazine (she was only 15 when the photos were taken), Kuzma became nationally known as Traci Lords. From there she appeared in numerous adult films and magazines until authorities discovered she had been a minor and started an extensive investigation of all her co-workers. [4]
Lords first talked about her plans to write a book during an interview with Ross Shafer on April 18, 1988. Later, in July, it was confirmed that a book entitled Out of the Blue: The Traci Lords Story was in development. [5] However, the project was shelved due to problems with the publishing deal. On November 4, 2000, when Lords was a guest on The Howard Stern Show , she was again asked about the book but said she had no intentions of putting it out at that time. [6]
Traci Lords: Underneath It All was first released in 2003 by HarperCollins. The paperback version of the book was released on June 29, 2004 with an additional chapter and photos. Lords promoted the book on numerous talk shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live . In her interview with Oprah, she explained she was not trying to deny her past: "I found you can run, but you cannot hide." [7]
The book received relatively positive reviews from critics. Susan Carpenter, writing in the Los Angeles Times, called the book "a luridly fascinating, if horrifying, tell-all, from her birth in an eastern Ohio steel town to her present-day life as an actress and recording artist who is happily married in L.A." [8] Amanda Tyler of USA Today commented: "Lords' story of personal redemption is so immersed in genuine emotion and beaming with soulful resiliency that the reader will walk away with nothing but respect for her and her remarkable journey." [9] Bill Zwecker, who reviewed the book for Chicago Sun-Times , noted: "'Graphic' is said to be quite the understatement for the memoirs former under-age porn star Traci Lords has penned." [10] John Patterson of The Guardian wrote: "It has porn's typical, irreversible-nosedive trajectory: fake IDs, serious money, major narcotics - the lowest, stickiest rung on stardom's ladder - followed by exposure (of entirely the wrong sort), disgrace, and rehabilitation." [11]
Despite the favorable reviews, the book met with criticism from adult film industry insiders, some of whom accused Lords of lying. Co-workers from that time such as John Leslie, Ron Jeremy, Ginger Lynn and Tom Byron said they never saw her use drugs and insisted she was always fully aware of her actions. [12] One of her co-workers from that time, Christy Canyon, said about Lords' autobiography, "I think her book could have been fabulous, except that she was lying throughout the whole thing." [13]
Lords sister, Rachel Kuzma, wrote Los Angeles Times in response to an article they published about Lords book, where she criticized the fact checking of the publisher of the book, various criticisms of Lords and her truthfullness, the veracity of various statements in the book and that she believed the book was "misleading and self-aggrandizing." [14]
Region | Release date | Format |
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United States | July 8, 2003 | Hardcover [15] |
June 29, 2004 | Paperback [16] | |
Australia | September 1, 2003 | Hardcover [17] |
Ginger Lynn Allen is an American pornographic actress and model who was a premier adult-entertainment star of the 1980s. She also had minor roles in various B movies. AVN has ranked her at #7 in a list of the 50 greatest porn stars of all time. After ending her pornography career, she began using her full name, Ginger Lynn Allen, and found work in a variety of B-movies. She had a late-career return to the adult industry and made a brief series of movies. Allen is a member of AVN, NightMoves Adult Entertainment, and XRCO Halls of Fame.
Jenna Jameson is an American model, former pornographic film actress, businesswoman, and television personality. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn".
Traci Elizabeth Lords is an American actress, former pornographic actress, singer, and model. Lords got into the adult film industry by using a fake birth certificate to conceal the fact that she was two years under the legal age of 18. Lords starred in adult films and was one of the most sought-after actresses in the adult entertainment industry during her career. When the FBI acted on an anonymous tip that Lords was a minor during her time in the industry, and that pornographers were distributing and selling these de facto illegal images and videotapes, the resulting fallout led to prosecution of those responsible for creating and distributing. In addition, all but the last of her adult films were banned as child pornography.
Alexandra Wentworth is an American actress, comedian, author, and producer.
Jill Kelly is an American pornographic actress, director and producer. Kelly is an AVN Hall of Fame inductee.
Ashley Blue is an American radio personality, writer, and former pornographic actress. She currently hosts her own Vivid Radio show and writes for Hustler magazine.
Rebecca Lord is a French pornographic actress who has been active since 1993. After moving to the U.S., she achieved popularity in the porn industry there.
James Frey is an American writer and businessman. His first two books, A Million Little Pieces (2003) and My Friend Leonard (2005), were bestsellers marketed as memoirs. Large parts of the stories were later found to be exaggerated or fabricated, sparking a media controversy. His 2008 novel Bright Shiny Morning was also a bestseller.
Traci, I Love You is a 1987 pornographic film directed by Jean Charles and starring Traci Lords, Marilyn Jess, Gabriel Pontello and Alban Ceray. It was Lords' final adult film in the industry. It was produced in Cannes, France, two days after her 18th birthday. As her only film produced after she turned 18, it is the only one legally available in the United States, due to child pornography laws.
Jacquelyn Mitchard is an American journalist and author.
Nikki Charm is an American pornographic film actor. She is a member of the Adult Video News Hall of Fame and the XRCO Hall of Fame.
Alexandra Quinn is a Canadian former pornographic actress.
Ronald Jeremy Hyatt is an American former pornographic actor, filmmaker, actor, and stand-up comedian.
1000 Fires is the debut studio album by American singer and actress Traci Lords, released on February 28, 1995, by Radioactive Records. The album remains her only full-length music release to date. Lords started working on the album in April 1994, and collaborated with producers Juno Reactor, Mike Edwards and Babble. Executive produced by Gary Kurfirst, 1000 Fires is predominantly influenced by electronic music with elements of techno, trance and trip hop. Lyrically, it mostly focuses on dark themes, referring to Lords' past in the porn industry, revealing her rape experience on the song "Father's Field" or dealing with thoughts of suicide on "Fallen Angel".
James Marvin Souter, Jr. (1939-2020), known professionally as Jim South, was an American recruiter and agent in the pornography industry.
Traci Takes Tokyo is an American-Japanese pornographic movie released in 1986 which starred an underaged Traci Lords who also served as co-producer. It was the first project from Lords' own Traci Lords Company and filmed in Tokyo, featuring renowned pink film and AV director Tadashi Yoyogi as co-director. The scenes include Lords and a mainly Japanese cast, including Kyōko Aizome, who has been called, "the first hard-core porn actress in Japan." with her 1981 film Hakujitsumu by Tetsuji Takechi. Because Traci Lords was 17 years old when the film was made, the film is illegal in the United States, although it is legally available in many other jurisdictions. It is also known as Traci: Made in Japan and The Virgin Hunters.
A pornographic film actor or actress, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts in video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinct pornographic subgenres and attempt to present a sexual fantasy and the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create or fit that fantasy. Pornographic videos are characterized as either "softcore", which does not contain depictions of sexual penetration or "extreme fetishism" and "hardcore", which can contain depictions of penetration or extreme fetishism, or both. The genres and sexual intensity of videos is mainly determined by demand. Depending on the genre of the film, the on-screen appearance, age, and physical features of the main actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the video is of critical importance. Most actors specialize in certain genres, such as gay sex, lesbian sex, bondage, strap-on sex, anal sex, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage women, interracial or MILFs.
Alden Joseph Brown, known professionally as Peter North, is a Canadian-American retired pornographic actor, director and producer. He has 2,588 credits as an actor.
"Control" is a song recorded by American actress and singer Traci Lords, from her debut studio album 1000 Fires (1995). It was released as the lead single from the album by Radioactive Records on December 20, 1994. The song was written by Lords, Wonder Schneider and Ben Watkins. Produced by Juno Reactor, "Control" is a techno song with ambiguous lyrics about a dominant female who nurses a broken heart of her lover. Lords later stated she initially wrote the song about a drug addiction.
X-Rated Ambition: The Traci Lords Story is a 2003 British documentary film directed by Simon Kerslake. It follows American actress Traci Lords' career in the adult film industry when she, at the age of only 15, became one of the biggest pornstars. The documentary features interviews with many of her co-workers from that time including porn agent Jim South, photographer Suze Randall and pornstars Tom Byron, Ginger Lynn, Peter North, Ron Jeremy, Amber Lynn and Nina Hartley.
At 14, Nora Kuzma ran away from home and ended up on the dirty streets of Hollywood. She fell in with a fast crowd, and her dreams of modelling soon landed her a spectacular centrefold in Penthouse Magazine, where at 15 she became internationally known as TRACI LORDS.