Earlier this year, we posted an article about sorority girl turned porn star, Carter Cruise. If you made it through the entire story without leaving to search for Carter on your favorite pornographic website, you learned that she doesn’t exactly have the typical background of an adult entertainment star. There was obviously a more detailed, interesting story behind Carter’s decision to enter the porn industry, and I wanted to tell it. Well, Carter followed me on Twitter a few weeks ago, so I obviously took that opportunity to slide up in her DMs. I proposed the idea of an interview. She was into it, and we hashed out the details over the next couple weeks. Given that we don’t live in the same city, a phone or email interview would have made the most sense, right? Fuck that shit. How often do you get to meet a porn star? I was on the next plane to Los Angeles and found myself eating pizza with Carter.

So you were a freshman at East Carolina University and decided to rush a sorority. You don’t seem like the typical sorority girl. Why did you decide to rush?

I love tradition, community and the idea of a group of girls all having each other’s backs. I’m also totally into hazing. I think it builds character, teaches respect, and is a rite of passage to becoming part of a sisterhood or brotherhood. If it was easy to join then everyone would do it. Obviously, some people take it way too far and do it in a bad way, but the idea of having to go through an ordeal and come out the other end as part of a sisterhood was really appealing to me. Unfortunately, before I got to ECU, my sorority had already been in a lot of trouble for hazing, so it was outlawed by the time I rushed. I was really disappointed. I remember one night, I thought we were going to get hazed. They called us all to the house and started yelling at us about how we were going to have to clean the entire house. One girl started crying, and I was just in the back trying not to laugh because I was so stoked. I was like, “Yes! We are finally going to get hazed!” And then they go, “Just kidding! It’s big-little night!” And I’m just like, “What the fuck? I don’t want presents.”

Outside of the initial lack of hazing, did you have a good sorority experience?

For the most part. I loved my pledge class and my family. My little is like my ride or die bitch. I was a little disappointed though, because it was such a big group, and while I liked a lot of the girls, it just wasn’t as awesome as I thought it would be. It was a lot of money and a lot of bitching. Every Sunday, we had a meeting at the house and everyone would just bitch at each other for an hour. I did feel a little bad for the sorority though, because when I joined, I was still dating my high school boyfriend and I was trying really hard to be the girl that everyone wanted me to be. I was this crazy girl at heart, but freshman year I would just study, go to the gym, and hang out with my boyfriend. I was majoring in psychology and was pre-law because everyone told me I should be a lawyer. So the sorority was like, “Oh, this awesome! She’s going to boost our GPA AND she will be well-behaved!” Well, about halfway through my sophomore year, I wised up and broke up with my boyfriend. By this point, my pledge class had calmed down and stopped going out as much, but with all my newfound freedom, I went on a rampage. I would go out every night. I would cause trouble. My grades tanked. I would skip meetings in favor of going to the bar. I finally acted like the girl I was at heart, which was very different from the girl that rushed my sorority. So I felt kind of bad about that.

So you were this psych major, pre-law, sorority girl on the verge of graduating. How did you go from that to wanting to do porn?

In a weird way, you can thank one of the ECU fraternities for that transformation. I used to be this really modest girl to the point that I wouldn’t even wear a bikini to the pool. Every year, this fraternity has an alumni golf tournament and they ask sorority girls to drive the beer carts. My friend was organizing it one year, and asked me to participate. We had to wear bikinis to drive the carts, but being modest, I was wearing a cover-up. To start the day, the guys were all shotgunning beers. One of the guys offered me $25 to do a topless shotgun. It was still early in the day, so the only guys there were my friends and a few random alumni that I was never going to see again. So, I’m just like “fuck it.” I take my top off, shotgun the beer, and the guy hands me $25, which in college was a lot of money for me. In my head at the time, I’m thinking, “I just took off my top, drank a beer that someone gave me for free, and I made money? This is easy.”

Then, later in the day, I’m wasted, and the guys had started this tradition a few years back where every year they try to get the cart girls to get their nipples pierced. They asked me if I would do it, and I’m like “Fuck yeah I’ll do it!” because I never want to be a pussy. It didn’t actually happen that night, because the piercing place was closed, but the next year at homecoming, after everyone had forgotten about the bet, the same alumni found me at the frat house and asked me if I was going to get them pierced. At this point, I’m just like “Fuck, now I have to do it.” So I round up as many friends as I can, and we go marching down the street to the piercing place. My roommates hear about this from across campus and come sprinting to the store to try and stop me, but by the time they got there, I had already signed the paperwork. I went through with it, and it didn’t really hurt at the time, though later in the day I remember running around grabbing my boobs and screaming. No one had ever really seen my boobs up until this point, other than guys I had slept with, and the guys that did the shotgun with me at the alumni golf tournament. But now everyone in the fraternity knew about my nipple piercings and their alumni had even paid for it, so every time I came by the house guys would ask me to show them, and I was like “Ok, fine!” because I thought they were really cool and looked good.

Over time, I became really comfortable showing my tits to those guys. I probably became too comfortable, but once I got over that initial awkwardness, I was really comfortable with my body, unlike before where I had been so insecure.

So that’s it? You showed some frat bros your tits and suddenly it was a one-way street to porn?

Not exactly. The final straw was actually that I was really interested in women’s sexuality. I really wanted to study it. Girls love sex, but they’re scared of it, and don’t know how to communicate about it, so they usually end up having really shitty sex. I love sex. I love masturbating. I want every girl to love sex as much as I do. So I wanted to study that and as part of that I was reading a lot about the porn industry. I didn’t even watch porn, and still don’t really get off to it today. My imagination is 100 times better. But I was reading about the industry, and I became fascinated with a number of the girls working in the industry. I thought they were awesome and remember thinking it was crazy that such cool girls were doing porn. It broke down a lot of the stereotypes that I had and that everyone has about the industry. Even still, it was never something I thought I would do, just because I didn’t think I would be comfortable enough to do it.

As school was winding down, I was looking for someone to take headshots for me because I wanted to move to New York and be a mainstream actor. I was poor though, so I was looking for someone to do a content trade where they got my photos for their portfolio and I got to use them for my own personal use. I went on Craigslist and found an ad for erotic photography. I emailed the guy asking if it was porn, because if so, I didn’t want to do it. The guy was a bit sketch because he wouldn’t just come out and say if it was porn or not, but he offered to meet in a public place and I was so curious at this point that I went to meet him.

We ended up talking for two hours about the porn industry. He only shot photography stills, but he explained how video was where the money was at. At the end, he asked if I wanted to try some photos out and said I could stop whenever I got uncomfortable. I’d never even sent a sext to a boyfriend before, so this was completely uncharted territory for me, but I was like “Fuck it, I’m going to try.” I only got topless for the shoot, but I felt so sexy by the end of it, which is not something I normally feel, that the next morning when I woke up, I decided I wanted to do porn. In the end, it was a whole series of events over a couple year period that led to it. But by the end, I came away thinking I could be really fucking good at this, and that’s when I decided to go for it.

Fraternity men really do help change lives. So you woke up the morning after the shoot having made this decision and what did you do? Did you just Google adult film agencies?

Pretty much. People always ask, “How did you actually get into porn?” And I’m just like, “Well, I went to college, so I learned a few things, like how to use the internet and how to sign my name on a blank line.” People are always impressed I can do that. They’re like, “Oh my God, you filled out your paperwork correctly?!” Since I was still in school, I needed to stay on the East Coast, so I Googled “east coast adult agencies” and there was a company called East Coast Talents. I researched a couple different places, but these guys showed a lot of interest in me right away. They flew me down to Florida the next week and I shot like two scenes and came back to school.

Everyone found out pretty quickly, mostly due to me telling a few guys in the fraternity, and after the two scenes people were like, “Oh my god you’re a porn star now.” And I had to explain to everyone that literally any girl that isn’t 4,000 pounds can shoot for Bang Bros. It wasn’t a huge deal. I tried to keep balancing school and shooting in Florida over the next couple of months, but it just didn’t work. I was addicted. I couldn’t turn down work once I started getting the paychecks. I was over school, so I just stopped going and didn’t tell anyone. Everyone is always like, “Why didn’t you finish school? You were only 14 credit hours away.” At this point, it’s kind of like a “fuck you” to the man. I tell my friends that if in 20 years I regret not finishing, they can tell me “I told you so,” but if I don’t regret, I reserve the same right. At the end of the day, I can always go back if I want to.

During the period of time when you were still in school, but shooting scenes in Florida, how did the campus react? Obviously everyone knows the story of Belle Knox at Duke. Was the reaction similar for you?

It wasn’t similar at all, and I think that was because of two things. First, I was a super senior by the time I started doing porn. I already had my group of friends. I also worked downtown, so a lot of people knew me for me. Belle was a freshman and no one knew her. Second, she tried to keep it a secret and then people found out. I actually told people. So when I was in school, it wasn’t bad at all, outside of some girls in my sorority feigning outrage, but most of them have come around. Where it has gotten bad is when I go back to campus now. When I’m in Los Angeles, I’m a nobody. I occasionally get recognized, but mostly by Uber drivers, oddly enough. When I go back to Greenville, though, I get mobbed by people. Everyone wants to take pictures and just, like, stare at me.

After you started doing porn, did you start getting a lot more attention from frat guys who just wanted to check “have sex with a porn star” off their bucket lists?

It’s funny, because girls are almost more aggressive than the guys. When I go back to school, what I realize is how many girls are questioning their sexuality. I have all these girls, who are the most prude girls I’ve ever met, coming up to me drunk and being like “OMG I like watching girl-on-girl porn, is that weird?” It happens all the time.

This one time when I was back, this girl comes up to me and goes, “Do you remember me?” And I’m like, “Yeah, I know who you are.” She was a typical sorority girl, but we weren’t really friends. She goes, “I think you are fucking awesome. I love watching your porn. Listen, this is my boyfriend and he’s in this fraternity, and we’re basically going to get married, but I want to have a threesome with you tonight.” And I’m like not really into threesomes, especially when it’s with someone’s boyfriend. I really didn’t know these two people. Plus, there was this guy at the bar I really wanted to hook up with. Normally, I can’t hook up with guys outside of work, but because I was on vacation for few weeks, I was able to. I was obviously flattered by the attention, but I really didn’t know how to handle her coming on so strongly. If a guy hit on me, I know how to handle that. It happens all the time, but I’d never had a girl so aggressively hit on me. So I told her that I was trying to go home with this other guy, and she marches right up to him and goes, “I’m going to take Carter home with me and my boyfriend and then I’ll drive her over to your place.” And in my head I’m just like, “What am I, a prostitute?” Like you can’t just drive me around like that. I’m a human being. But she was so excited, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. I wanted to give her the girl-on-girl experience that she was looking for. I know how hard it is to tell anyone how you feel about something like that, so in a weird way, I felt like I had this obligation to fulfill her fantasy and let her see how she felt about it. So I told her that I wouldn’t go home with her, but I’d fuck her in the bathroom. I was 100% joking. I figured there was no way she would ever be ballsy enough to go for that. Well, she grabs me by the hand, pulls me into the bathroom, throws me into the stall, pulls down my pants, and starts going down on me.

At this point, I like don’t even know how to handle my shit. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I ended up going back to her apartment because at this point, I’m just like whatever. I told her I wouldn’t fuck her boyfriend, but I’d fool around with her while she fucks him, and make it a cool experience for her. I didn’t stay long though because I just got completely weirded out that I didn’t know either of them. The funniest part though was that the girl was really hot and pretty much unattainable on campus, so when I got back to the house where all my guy friends were staying and told them what had happened, they were so mad and jealous.

Wow. What an epic story. Did anything like that ever happen while you were in college? You had to have had your own girl-on-girl experience at some point. I know our readers probably sit at home and fantasize about the sorority girls on their campuses all going to town on each other.

Nothing that crazy, but I did fool around with my little a couple times. We were in a bar one night, and she pulled me into the bathroom wasted and said, “I have something I need to tell you. I’m drunk and I don’t know how to say this, but I know I can tell you because you don’t give a fuck. I think I might be bi-sexual. I’ve been watching girl-on-girl porn, and I’ve been looking at girls differently.”

I had been having my own questions about my sexuality, so in my head I’m like, “No fucking way, me too.” But I was still really uncomfortable with owning up to anything like that, because I was still pretty shy back then. I just reassured her that it didn’t change anything, and I still loved her.

We didn’t really talk about it again until a few months later we went out of town for my birthday. We left our boyfriends at home and went to a concert with another friend of ours. She left us to go hook up with some guy, so my little and I just went back to the hotel to drink and smoke. Eventually, we made our way to the bathtub where she kissed me. I wasn’t sure if I was into it at first, but I was willing to try. We didn’t do much. She was shy, and since she initiated it, I was only going to take it as far as she wanted to. We fooled around a few more times after that when we would get drunk, but it ended up being this big ordeal because she told her boyfriend about it. He already thought I was this crazy party girl and a bad influence, and now he thought I was some evil lesbian. What’s funny about the whole thing is she is the one who initiated it!

So now you’re out in Los Angeles and having a ton of success. You’ve graduated from the amateur stuff in Florida to being one of the hottest names in porn right now. Are you picking and choosing your scenes at this point, or are you taking anything that comes up?

I take every scene I am offered for two reasons. First, the agency that I’m with only represents 25 girls at a time, so they require all their girls to do everything. If we were an agency with 200 girls, it would be different, but we aren’t allowed to have no-lists. I can’t say I don’t want to work with a guy because I don’t like him. This isn’t about dating. It’s a job, and just because you don’t like a coworker doesn’t mean you don’t get to show up for work. Second, I’m partially doing this for the experience, so I want to try everything. I know girls who only do vanilla boy-girl scenes. They are like the prudes of porn. They probably only have sex with four or five guys regularly, which really isn’t a lot when you think about it. If you’re only doing those scenes though, you limit your audience and you don’t make as much money. If you do things like anal, kinks, taboos, fetishes, girl-girl, boy-girl, you reach a much larger audience and you make a lot more money.

Now that you’ve gotten some notoriety, does it make dating hard?

I mean, when I meet a guy it’s obviously going to come out that I do porn. “What do you do for a living?” is the first question anyone asks. But I try to delay the question for at least a few minutes so they can get to know me first, because whatever stereotype they have of porn stars is probably not me. I’m intelligent, fun, and have a lot of interests outside of porn. Dating is definitely hard though. I’ll get a lot of guys that are a little too cool with the fact that I do porn, which means they either just want to say they had sex with a porn star or there is something wrong with them. And then I’ll get guys who genuinely don’t care now, because they really like me, but as soon as they fall in love with me in six months or a year, they are going to care about my career. It has to bother them on some level. I’ve just accepted the fact that dating isn’t a priority in my life. Once I am all said and done with porn, I’ll find a guy, but right now it’s not something I’m focused on.

So you’ve become a bit of a pioneer in bringing the bush back into style. What was the reasoning behind that?

It’s funny, because basically since puberty, I’ve never had hair down there. When I was younger, I would shave it, and then once I started having sex, I would wax. It was just never a question. I was very self-conscious about it because society is very against pubic hair. Then I got into porn, and it’s such a process to shave/wax, especially if you’re shooting a scene every day, which I am. Razor burn looks like shit on camera, and I didn’t want to look like that. I saw a few girls with hair and thought it looked good. It also photographs well. I felt like the bush was starting to make a comeback, but it was still early, so I decided I wanted to be one of the girls who brought it back. I went back to school for a month and let it grow out, and when I came back on set everyone thought my bush was glorious. People wanted to take pictures with it and most directors love it. So I’ve stuck with it.

Any hilarious or awkward sex stories that have come up at work or in your personal life?

When I was in college, I was dating this really nice southern frat boy. One night, we were having sex, and I was trying to get him to be more adventurous, so I asked him to slap me. He got really offended and couldn’t believe that I’d even ask him to do that. We would fight about sex all the time, because he never wanted to try things. Then, one night, he’s wasted and we’re having sex and I’m like, “Fucking hit me.” So he slaps me, and I’m like, “That’s it?” So he punches me in the face, totally on accident, like he did not mean to hit me that hard, but I got a black eye. It was the night before we were going home for spring break to introduce him to my parents for the first time, so obviously they assumed my boyfriend was beating the shit out of me, which he was, but I obviously I egged him on. It was a pretty awkward situation.

What about now that you’re in the industry? What’s the craziest or most extreme thing you’ve been asked to do in a scene?

I shoot a lot of stuff for Kink.com, which gets pretty intense. The roughest scene I’ve done was for the site “Sex and Submission” with Dakota Skye and James Dean. Dakota and I are out in the desert and come upon a bunch of dead bodies and a bag of money. I convince her to take the money, but it turns out James Dean, who killed all the guys, is still alive and wants his money. He tracks us down at this old motel and forcefully has sex with us. I like to push people’s buttons and see how far they will take things. I’d never worked with James before, so I didn’t know his limits, but it got pretty rough. Outside of that scene, I’ve been pissed on a couple times. Squirting is basically piss, especially if a girl is shooting across the room. That’s piss. I’ve done stuff with clamps, ball gags, being tied up, etc. I’m not necessarily into all that stuff, but I think it’s funny. I view it as a challenge, because I don’t want to be a pussy. I’ll pass out before I’ll use my safe word.

So you’ve already won a couple awards, and, fingers crossed, you’ll be nominated for a bunch at the upcoming AVN Awards. Why do you think you’re having so much success in your first full year in the industry?

I honestly didn’t even see or feel the success. I’m kinda removed from the industry. I go to work and then I do my own thing. I have a lot of different interests and have my hands in a lot of projects, so I’m not really paying attention. I think it’s a couple things, though. First, as we discussed before, I will do any scene, which means I appeal to a wide fan base. Second, I’m very professional when I go about my work. I’m always prepared. I know my lines, which always shocks people. I think that’s very unique in the industry. Third, I’m very vulnerable in my scenes. I put everything into it and don’t worry about how I look. I think that’s appealing to people to see someone be so raw. It obviously turns people on, but it also grabs their attention. Finally, turnover in the industry is also really quick, like two months. Some people just get into it for a few months to make some quick cash and get out. Others never really thought through the decision. This is a very demanding line of work, especially if you’re shooting every day. You can be on set for 16 hours and it’s really tough on your body. You have to take care of your body like you would if you were an athlete. Some girls party too much, which weakens their immune systems, and then they show up to work where there is all this bacteria and fluids and they get sick all the time. Other girls just can’t take a dick, and they didn’t really think that through before the got into the industry. I was definitely worried about it at first, but I have yet to come across a dick that I couldn’t take. Some girls have really shallow vaginal canals, and I’m fortunate enough to have a deep one. So I don’t get sore, but for some girls it’s really painful.

By the time this article comes out, you will have released the movie “Sorority Car Wash” and become the face of that company, Airerose Entertainment. Tell me about that.

I actually didn’t even know the theme of that movie until I got on set. I just knew it was a girl-girl shoot. I got there and they handed me a sign that said “Tri Pi,” and I was like, “Seriously? My sorority sisters are going to kill me.” I’ve actually done a lot of sorority scenes. A lot of amateur porn is unscripted. They just give you a scenario and tell you to go for it. That article TFM wrote a while back is still one of the first things that pops up when you Google my name, so I think directors get excited by the fact I was in a sorority. I did a hazing scene for Bang Bros once. We were older sisters and we brought the pledges and their boyfriends into the room. We fucked their boyfriends and then watched as they fucked their own boyfriends. I was having to explain to everyone on set what a pledge mom was and all the different terminology. I got super into it because I always wanted to haze people and my sorority would never let me, so this was my chance. And yeah, as of November 1, I am the face of Airerose. I’m really excited about it, and I’m going to be doing a movie with them soon that’s a week in the life of Carter. There will be a GoPro in my car and a confessional booth in my apartment. It’s like a reality TV show, but with lots of sex. I got to pick all my scenes and the people I’m going to be working with, so I’m really excited about that.

Alright, now some rapid fire questions for you. First, favorite movie you’ve made?

I have two. One is called “Second Chances.” It’s a rom-com that’s actually about a fraternity guy, but I play a total GDI. This guy’s pledge task was to date some girl, make her fall in love with him, and then break up at the end of initiation. I loved getting to actually act. I had to pretend to be drunk in one scene. I had to cry twice. It was like a Lifetime movie, but with sex. The second was a movie called “Meet Carter.” The director let me do my own thing in that movie and just go crazy. I had a lot of fun with it.

Favorite position?

Super lame, but missionary. I think it’s underrated. It’s so intimate, and the only reason people don’t like it is because society thinks it’s too vanilla, but you’re face-to-face, so close, and I think it feels the best.

Prefer filming with guys or girls?

I get paid more for guys, specifically anal. But it’s always fun to be on set with a bunch of girls. I like both for different reasons.

Person you’d most like to film with even if they aren’t in porn?

Two celebrities: Miley Cyrus, because I think she would be fire, and Kim Kardashian, not because I want to have sex with her, but because I want to fist her ass.

Favorite pizza spot?

No favorites. All pizza is created equal. I love it all. The worst is if there is too much cheese, but I can pick that off.

You’re filling a cooler for a date to a fraternity formal. What are you putting in it?

I would definitely put some Jack Daniels in there. I’m a whiskey girl. Also, some Natty Light, because college. And some Bacardi 151, so I can be evil and make other people drink it.

Your Twitter profile says you are a DJ. Do you play gigs?

I haven’t played a gig yet, but it’s in the works. I’m really excited about everything that is happening on the music front and beyond. I’m collaborating with some really cool people. I can’t drop names yet, but hopefully by the end of the year I’ll have a song out. It’s finished, but we are working through labels and everything. I hope to start playing gigs in January. My goal is to go really hard at the porn stuff until the AVN Awards and then focus time on the music stuff afterward.

TFM employee you would most like to have sex with?

I would definitely have sex with Hot Piece, but if Roger Dorn let me do him in the ass with a strap-on, I might change my mind.

Now watch TFM writer Jared Borislow’s interview with Carter Cruise