LOS ANGELES — With her first high-profile studio scene in four years about to be released by Brazzers on Wednesday, Ivy Lebelle is back with a bang — an anal bang with Mazee the Goat, to be more precise.
“The last mainstream porn scene I shot was in the beginning of 2020,” Lebelle shares, speaking exclusively with XBIZ about her comeback, which she officially kicked off with yesterday’s release of the trailer for her new Brazzers scene, to the delight and anticipation of her legion of fans.
“I took a super-long break, for a series of reasons,” she explains. “First, COVID was just really stressful for everyone, and I wasn’t motivated to shoot. And then in 2021 I decided to get my implants removed.”
The experience devolved into a protracted ordeal that the brunette stunner describes as “really traumatic.”
“I honestly didn’t know if I would ever come back to mainstream,” she confides. “I had such intense and severe issues and complications with my breast implants. I didn’t really know how my breasts would look after the removal, or how I would feel in my body, or if people would even want to watch me perform.”
Concerns about her appearance — an almost universal worry among those who work with their looks for a living — became almost crippling to the previously confident, always in-demand performer and iconic Los Angeles exotic dancer.
“I was left with nothing,” Lebelle reveals about this dark period. “I was almost convinced it was gonna look like I had top surgery! I mean, I support top surgery for people who want it, but I definitely did not want it. Even though my doctor did an excellent job, the healing process was just really long.”
Her scars took a long time to fade, and Lebelle did not feel comfortable returning to on-camera work for about four months.
“I had to ease my way back into performing,” she says. “Then I started shooting solo stuff with my top on, and only to keep my OnlyFans going.”
In 2022, Lebelle started occasionally shooting collabs — still with her top on — with a few fellow performers and creators whom she trusted.
Lebelle credits her fan base for helping her with her body image issues — along with a couple of strategically placed tattoos.
“Most of my scars now are covered by these snake tattoos that I have,” she says. “It was even scary in my personal life, like taking off my bra in front of somebody, but the snake tattoos really helped. Also, they look really, really cool!”
Shedding some COVID-era, depression-eating extra pounds also helped Lebelle feel confident enough to step back in front of the camera.
“Now I’m back to the body that I recognize, the body that I had before my implants,” she reveals. “I honestly feel like I look more youthful now. I feel very confident. It just took time. Once I got the tattoos and looked at myself, I was like, ‘Okay — we’re back. We can bust them out now!’”
Lebelle, who is representing herself in her comeback, says she deliberately chose Brazzers as a token of her gratitude for the positive experiences she has had with the veteran studio and its directors.
“Brazzers was always a huge champion of my career, especially when I first came onto this scene,” she says. “In 2017, people were still telling me that tattoos were not attractive and that I would have trouble getting bookings. Even my fake boobs at the time seemed to be a problem. Brazzers was like, ‘Big titties and tattoos? We love it!’ They were my second scene ever, and I have them to thank for a lot of my immediate success, since they continued to consistently book me for fun scenes.”
Lebelle describes her new Brazzers scene, which is helmed by Toni Ribas, as “a classic gonzo anal scene.”
“I am a gonzo queen,” she declares. “Gonzo is my favorite, and my fans know and love me for anal. I haven’t been doing much anal in my OnlyFans, only a little bit, but I’ve been missing that side of me. So I just wanted to go full-throttle back to ‘old Ivy,’ the Ivy that people remember.”
Lebelle chose a leather bondage outfit for the scene, the concept for which is a very literal but appropriate metaphor: breaking out of a cage.
“I am caged in the beginning of the video,” she tells XBIZ. “I am presented with a dick and when I finally get out of my cage, I’m so back! It’s really just a dark, vibey, sweaty, sexy anal scene.”
Lebelle shot two additional scenes with Brazzers, to be released in the near future.
“With these scenes, I felt a little like I was dipping my toe in the water and wanted to see how I felt, but I had such a wonderful time, I’m leaning toward shooting much more mainstream in 2025.”
Lebelle also teases that she has something “very special” in the works with her pal Ricky Johnson’s breakaway-success production brand Ricky’s Room.
“It’s funny because I did shoot one scene with Ricky before my official comeback with Brazzers, but I saw that as part of my content collabs,” Lebelle says. “Except his site has gotten so big, that people now almost consider it like a mainstream studio. What he has accomplished with Ricky’s Room is so impressive.”
Lebelle’s comeback is also part of her full reboot of a year that turned her life upside down.
“This year has been absolutely crazy, as I’m sure a lot of people are aware,” she shares, referring to an extremely problematic ex-boyfriend who is no longer part of her life.
“It’s all still pretty delicate, but everyone in the industry pretty much knows about it,” she reflects. “This year has been more difficult than anticipated, and my comeback is my way of reclaiming my autonomy in this profession. My career got ‘lost in the sauce’ with that guy. So it’s nice to be back and perform on these sets, and feel like Ivy again. I definitely missed it a lot.
“While doing OnlyFans is fun, and it's great to have the ease of filming at home and interact with fans, there’s nothing compared to being on set, if you like being on set," she says. “And I love it.”