Entertainment, she also negotiated a $1 royalty for each copy of the film that was sold. And in the heyday of porn, that was a substantial number.

She saved the money – investing it in the market and prospered. (The first stock she bought, she says, was Wal-Mart).

“When I retired, I knew I could survive another 20 years without earning a dime,” she says. “That was my security blanket.”

Rather than curling up in that blanket, she bounced around, trying new things after leaving the set. In the early days of eBay, she sold memorabilia directly to fans. An encouraging teacher at a writing class led to a book (which she self-published, since she didn’t like the one-time payment deal publishers were offering her).

For the better part of the last five years, she has been the host of Playboy Radio’s “Night Calls”.

“I couldn’t imagine doing something unrelated to porn,” she says. “I always knew that whatever I did, it would be associated with ‘Christy Canyon’.”

That’s not an uncommon philosophy. A career in porn typically overshadows an actress’s other achievements, no matter what successes they have. But the industry tends to protect its own – and many of the true superstars, who are its ambassadors to the mainstream world, keep their toes in the water even after they retire.