About two years ago I was on a plane sitting next to a hot young guy. I, of course, wanted to flirt subtly and appropriately. I had a magazine that was gay themed and was reading it hoping he would notice (no it wasn't porn. Gay lifestyle magazine). I could tell from my peripheral vision he was looking as I turned the pages. I took the opportunity to strike up convo. He opened up about his life (maybe i just have that face) and told me he was flying to the destination city to do his first gay porn shoot. The company paid for his flight and everything. (Not in first class and he was in the middle seat, they could have done better. haha).
I asked him his age and why he wanted to get into porn. He was 19, just graduated high school. He said that his mom was in jail for vehicular manslaughter in a freak accident and is serving 10 years. His dad kicked him out when he told him he was gay the day after graduation. He never had a great relationship with his dad so he didn't really seem to care but his dad would not release his college funds so he had no money for college. He crashed with friend to figure out his life since he couldn't afford college at the moment . He figured porn would be a good way to make money to provide for himself and hopefully make enough money to go to college or get a real job. I asked him why he doesn't just apply to regular modeling agencies (He may be 19 years old but this kid was hot and ripped, he had the looks. I wasn't just stroking his ego). He says that he tried but since he's 5'8", he is too short for most agencies. This kid was bright, intelligent, smart and so attractive. I encouraged him to look into more agencies or maybe acting agencies and politely tried to discourage him from really getting sucked into the porn life. I know it wasn't my business but felt the universe put us together so maybe i could help him and do some good. He was very nice but he said he had to try it to see what could happen lucratively. We landed and I wished him luck and never spoke to him again. I have no idea if he ever "made it' in porn. I've been kicking myself for years that i never got his number/name to stay in touch.
I guess the point of my story is that you never know someones circumstances. If he had the college money from his dad, he might be doing that but now he has to provide for himself and he felt porn was his only want to make a lot of money fast.
I'm all about watching a good porn scene here and there but I instantly felt protective of this kid and wish I could save him from that life so young. I know alot of porn actors have flourished since being young (Brent Corrigan and Brent Everett come to mind) and loved their lives (so we think) but I can tell that this kid wasn't that excited and nervous to do the porn shoot but was willing to give it a try for the money and since he had no real family he didn't care if anyone found out.