“I feel like I’m 26 now and I need to grow up and clean up the edges, so I gave myself idols this year and Muhammad Ali was one of my idols to try to keep me motivated in the right direction,” Rose says.
If Rose’s recent body of work is any indication, the motivational tools are doing wonders for her. Now almost three-and-a-half years into her porn career, the playful San Diego native has established herself as one of the top performers in adult entertainment.
A proud member of agent Mark Spiegler’s reputable talent roster, Rose routinely rises to the occasion regardless of the assignment. She may be known primarily for her uninhibited gonzo scenes, but Elegant Angel’s "Slutwoman" is also not-so-quietly building her resume of features. She did two tongue-in-cheek turns as "Elaina" in New Sensations’ “Seinfeld” spoofs, and even rocked the role of Snookie in Zero Tolerance’s “Official Jersey Shore Parody” earlier this year. This week she is returning to gonzo fare in a Vouyer Media title called “Superstar Showdown” opposite Asian sensation Asa Akira.
While her scenes speak for themselves, Rose still realizes that she wouldn’t be where she is without her loyal fan-base. So she makes time to show her appreciation.
“When I get my fan mail I write everyone back, and I like to decorate the letters,” she says.
“A little bit goes a really long way. Just a little thing like just writing back to someone like blows their mind when you write back to them. Like when someone physically writes me a letter, and I sit down and I physically write something back. … That really makes someone’s day and that only takes like two minutes. And it’s fun too. Why would you not want to write someone that says all these nice things to you?”
In this candid interview, Rose talks about her life before porn, her first sex scene and collecting garden gnomes among other revelations.
On being a Spiegler Girl:
I do better in a more family-kind of environment. Every job I had before I got in the industry I was always with a small company. So I went with Spiegler and all his girls have like great reputations. They’re just known for being the hardest, coolest, most bad-ass girls in the industry. … There aren’t many agencies where you can generalize their girls, sum them up, you know what I mean? And I’ve never really heard anything bad about Spiegler Girls. And Annette Schwarz is one of my all-time favorites. So I was like well, ‘Annette Schwarz? Hello!’
On how Spiegler “looks out” for her:
I trust Spiegler more than I trust my own family. I do. And he bailed me out of jail [in January in Vegas]. … You know your relationship with someone is tight when they bail you out of jail. Think about how many people you would bail out of jail, like not very many people. So to be on that list is pretty cool.
What were you doing before porn?
I had a few customer service jobs. My first job was how I got my little, ‘I’m going to probably end up in porn some day.’ My first job was working for a big mega-site called AdultCheck back in the day. And I was doing customer service for them, helping them process credit cards, and helping people access the site, troubleshooting, whatever. I literally started working there like a week after I turned 18.
Then what?
So I was working there for like a year and a half and then they ended up laying off all the customer service reps because they moved shit overseas and the only people that responded to my resume were adult companies because they recognized their company code name or whatever. And so I ended up working for Matrix Content. I was Norman Bentley’s assistant for a minute.
When I was working there, different photographers were like, ‘You’re so cute. … You should do this.’ And I’m like 19 and I’ve been in this relationship with this dude for three years and I thought I was going to marry him. And I was like, ‘No way.’ So I ended up not working there any more. [Then] I worked for a phone sex company doing customer service, helping people get to fulfillment. But I wasn’t actually doing it. The only people who would respond to my resume were adult-related companies.
On taking the leap:
Finally when I was 23 I was working as a receptionist for a property management company and I wasn’t making enough money to live. And I didn’t know what I was going to do and I had this offer come across to do porn and I was like, 'I’m going to look into it and I’m going to fucking do it.' I'm like, 'I go out with dudes all the time and have one-night stands and whatever, and I don’t even get breakfast out of that sometimes. So what’s the difference?’ … I think it was May 30, 2007, when I did my first scene. It was for Reality Kings. ‘First Time Amateurs’ with Reno.
What was going through your mind before that first scene?
My call time was later in the afternoon. It was funny… we had to meet at one location and then they were going to take me from there to the house, just real porny-porn, you know? [laughs] I didn’t know how all this works. This was all really weird to me. I really wasn’t very nervous at all and I kind of remember being really shocked by that, that I wasn’t really nervous at all. Got my makeup done. Got told how hot I looked all day long. Fucked Reno, he’s a good lay. I was very much watching everything that was going on. But I didn’t feel nervous. And I felt weird that I didn’t feel nervous.
It was a weird experience. It was fun though and I remember that was like my test to see if I was going to like it or not. I was supposed to go on a company trip to Mexico. We were doing just a fun trip. They were paying for everything and I bailed on that so I could have that week to try porn.
On deciding to stay:
After that first day I was like, ‘Fuck this, I made more money in one day than I make all month long. … I think I just found a new career path.’ And I was scared because I didn’t really have anything booked. But I needed to have those days open, so I couldn’t be working somewhere else. So I just was like, ‘Alright fuck it,’ I’m quitting my job. And I just quit my job and I just went head first and just did it. Best decision I ever made so far. One of the best decisions.
I mean I like where I am right now. I like where my life has taken me. I’m a lot happier now than I was before I started porn, which is kind of crazy.
What do you think of where you’ve taken this in three years?
I am shocked to be completely honest. When I first started in this industry I didn’t know what I was doing. Kind of like a hippy, I would just bump into things, go with the flow and I didn’t know what was going to happen.
On the naysayers:
From the beginning I’ve had people tell me that I was not going to be… that I wasn’t going to be a big name, that I wasn’t the kind of girl that was going to be a big name. That I didn’t have the right look for this or that…I don’t know I just kind of felt like it was bullshit. I mean at one point one agency told me that the reason why my rate was going to be this much and my friend’s rate was going to be this much — and my friend’s rate was much higher than mine — was that I was Latina and ‘Latina girls don’t get paid that much.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ So I got told all these weird things. That I would not be successful and I don’t know. I don’t think those things are right.
Some people say, ‘Oh, don’t do this or you won’t be a success in the industry.’ You just have to do what you feel is right. And I feel because I did what I felt was right, that’s what made me successful because I did something that I wanted to do.
On success:
I don’t know, I’m always a little bit shocked when I think about the successes that I’ve had. I always downplay because I don’t like to admit that I’ve been successful. Because I feel like it gets taken away if you admit to it. You have to stay humble. But sometimes I do admit to myself. Like when I first started Annette Schwarz was my favorite. I was always booked on the same sets with her and that was when she was like really, really huge, and she was 'Slutwoman.' I met her at the Elegant booth [at the Adult Entertainment Expo], big fucking poster, and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ Annette Schwarz you know?
And then like flash forward like two years later and there I am. And I’m shooting for Elegant. And [the director Mason] had asked Annette Schwarz if I could be 'Slutwoman' and she said 'yes.' I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that’s something that would’ve happened. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would get the chance to work with Rocco Siffredi, or work on a movie with John Stagliano. I did his “Stretch Class” thing. That’s Buttman! I was in his magazine. Never would I have ever thought that I’d be able to do these things.
On shooting for Rocco:
I remember when I first got booked for the scenes when Rocco first came back there were so many girls that were jealous that I was getting to not only be in the Rocco movie, but work with Rocco. Because he didn’t work with every girl. So these things are so amazing to me and I just try to as much as possible savor every moment of it. Because you never know. Time could be up tomorrow, that’s the nature of this business. You do it, you go as far as you can and then someone else comes. It’s just how it is. But I try to live it up as much as I can but it really blows my mind when I think about these things.
On the opportunities porn has provided:
I’ve gotten to go places because of porn, I’ve traveled. I’ve been to Europe. I went to Paris and Amsterdam and met all these people from all different countries that I never would have met before. And I have fans that tell me all day long on Twitter how much they love my work and they just think I’m the coolest and they send me stuff. Like who lives this life? I never would’ve thought this. Even if the rest of my life turns to shit not many could say that they’ve had this at one point, and I can at least say that I have this. I did this. This is something that happened to me. It’s so weird. It feels like a dream sometimes. Every day I do what I want. It’s crazy. It’s fun though.
What are some interests you have outside of porn?
Outside of porn, I’m kind of like a hermit. I don’t really like to go out much. ... So I collect movies, B-movies like the ones that you see at 7-Eleven for like 10 dollars. … I like to read. I read a lot of books. I like to paint. I like to crotchet. I like to make crafts. I love making — when I get my fan mail I write everyone back and I like to decorate the letters. ... I like to go to the beach. ... I just like to have a good time. That’s my No. 1 goal in life is to just be happy, wherever that takes me that’s where I’m going to go.
What kind of painting do you do?
I mostly paint with water colors. When I was 18 — I was bored and I wasn’t going to school and I didn’t have a job — and someone gave me a set of water colors and I just started painting and they were actually pretty good paintings and people wanted them. And then I had people say to me, ‘You should do a show.’ … I just paint for myself now. I like to paint portraits. I paint portraits of unique celebrities, interesting-looking people that catch my eye.
And I collect gnomes, garden gnomes. They’re little statues of little elf-looking creatures. I started collecting them when I was 18. Now I have a whole bunch of them. I’m going to do a big photo shoot with them. I’m going to dress someone up like a gnome and fuck them. I don’t know who I’m going to dress up yet, but I have to find someone. A couple people were trying to convince me to dress up a little person and fuck them. I’m still thinking about it. [laughs]. I love gnomes. I have fans that send me gnomes too. They send me ones from their home state and I put them up all over my house. And sometimes they send me pictures that they took with us together and I put them all up on my refrigerator. I like to remind myself these people help me live this way.
What kind of books do you read?
I like either really funny books or really dark books. I love [Charles] Bukowski. Bukowski is like my all-time favorite. Women is my No. 1 favorite book ever. Women makes me laugh so hard I pee myself every time I read it. I love that book. I also like a lot of the [Bret Easton] Ellis books, like Less Than Zero. I either like it really, really funny or really, really dark. And I like to read autobiographies or memoirs. I just read one that Muhammad Ali did. Muhammad Ali is one of my idols for this year. I’m trying to grow up because I feel like I’m 26 now and I need to grow up and clean up the edges so I gave myself idols this year and Muhammad Ali was one of my idols to try to keep me motivated in the right direction. And that book is so inspirational and really positive. It was one of my favorite books to read.
