Is the adult entertainment facing a suicide epidemic?
Roman Ragazzi, Arpad Miklos, Erik Rhodes, Josh Weston, Tanner Hayes, and Wilfried Knight all ended their lives in the last 12 months.
When news spread about 35-year-old Knight—an adult star who worked extensively with Lucas Entertainment—producer and gay adult star Michael Lucas circulated a letter to industry colleagues.
“Like so many others, I am heartbroken by the news that our beautiful friend and colleague Wilfried Knight has committed suicide,” he wrote. “Beneath his tough exterior, Wilfried was, like many guys in the adult film industry, a sensitive and intelligent man.
But he acknowledged that “like many” of his colleagues, “he struggled to maintain his external image and his sense of self worth.”
According to Lucas, porn actors are especially vulnerable to the tragic epidemic because there are no support systems in place for men in the adult industry.
Lucas shared his candid thoughts about the steps needed to stop these tragic off-camera endings.
Should we be concerned with this recent wave of suicides in the gay adult business?
It’s important to remember that these were all very different people with specific stories behind their individual tragedies. Many gay men outside the sex industry have done similar harm to themselves. To the extent that this is a trend, it’s one that extends well outside the porn world.
Michael Musto of the Village Voice said, “Many porn stars—who successfully create fantasies for a living—can’t seem to deal with reality.” Do you agree?
Sex work is a very hard job. I should know. There is nothing glamorous about it. As with many physical jobs, it wears on you. Also, porn performers travel constantly. It’s hard for them to build a solid, stable support network of friends and people to go to when things feel wrong.
Is the adult industry to blame?
I think much of the damage to these guys’ sense of worth comes from being dismissed as human beings. Every time I write a column [about] political or social issues, I receive harsh comments that a gay porn star does not deserve to have opinions. The hypocrisy is revealed by the gay-sex scandals of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, Rev. Ted Haggard, and so many others—not to mention the openly-gay men who consume porn for entertainment but have judgmental attitudes toward the men who perform in it. There is still quite a bit of institutional discrimination against porn, as well. Often, performers react by retreating into a gay porn bubble within the industry, which can be an unhealthy way to live.
On his blog, Wilfried Knight wrote about fighting against stereotypes. He said many people assumed he was a ‘druggie’, but that he was “happier hiking or climbing,” and that he had never attended a circuit party.
Precisely. There is an image out there of the typical porn actor as a drugged-out mess who tumbles from one bed to another. It comes, I think, partly from a need to cut down people that we admire. But there are many more who lead perfectly ordinary lives centered on their studies, their boyfriends, the outdoors, their cultural interests and whatever else. Some performers, like the late Erik Rhodes, do contribute to the party-boy stereotype, but I don’t think we should judge them too harshly either. There are larger social issues—and often family issues—at play.
Lucas encourages men in the porn industry to talk more openly about their problems, and to be there for each other. In his letter, Lucas advised “anyone in the porn world who is reading this: If you are feeling depressed, or despairing about the future, please know that you’re not alone. If you’re in trouble, contact me.”
Friends and Loved Ones Still Feel Loss from Bouthillette’s Passing
WILTON MANORS — In the January 30, 2013 Agenda (COVER STORY, “Manors Tragedy: M.E. Ruling Pending on Popular Bodybuilder/Model’s ‘Unattended Death’”), we reported on the death of popular local bodybuilder, fitness trainer, and one-time Colt model, Christian Bouthillette, who died January 28.
According to the police report, Bouthillette, 52, was found in his bathroom, dead from an apparently self-inflicted injury.
Bouthillette, a Montreal native, won numerous bodybuilding competitions, including the 1995 Canada Cup, the 1998 National Physique Committee (NPC) New York Grand Prix, and the 2004 NPC East Coast.
Ken Hunt, the owner of Steel Gym Fort Lauderdale, was both a friend to Bouthillette for more than a decade, and employed him as a fitness trainer in New York and Miami. “Christian was a very dear friend,” he told the Agenda. “Like a lot of truly generous and loving people, he struggled with self-acceptance and the things that can come along with that. He still means so much to so many people.”
