How Porn Brought Out Katerina Kay’s True Colors

Katerina Kay stuck out like a neon flower blooming against the gray, concrete jungle and cratered construction sites of downtown LA. Standing on the corner, she glowed brighter than the crosswalk sign flashing above her, though what exactly her flamboyant style signaled was still uncertain. She wore tiny day-glow shorts, a brilliant tank top, green shades, pink lipstick, and bleach blonde hair that shined against her deep tan. She looked like an anime character beaming with life, standing in vivid contrast against the drearily dressed business professionals on the opposing side of the street, shuffling through life with their heads bowed. I waved to her. A huge smile spread across her face as she joined me on a sun-soaked bench outside a coffee shop for our interview.

Kat was born in New Orleans to a mother who is a lawyer and a father who farms soy and sweet corn in Arkansas. She trained in gymnastics and cheerleading, which served her well when it came to mastering pole dancing and bending into perplexing positions on porn sets. Her first job was as a bartender on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. From there she moved down the street to strip at Rick’s Saloon. This eventually led to filming her first hardcore scene in 2013. Off set, Kat’s obsessions include singing, dancing, writing music, her Persian cat Molly, Keds, Tito’s Vodka, Nikki Delano, Hello Kitty, her pink Fiat, and staying in on weekends with her friends-with-benefits porn star pal, Cali Carter. 

The twenty-one-year-old is regularly cast as a bubbly “teen” model. At 5’3”, Kat has the slender frame of a young woman still growing into her adult body, layered with an unsuspecting amount of muscle. During our interview she speaks in a sweetly high voice that’s perpetually on the verge of breaking into laughter or cracking a joke. Somehow living in LA and shooting porn has yet to corrupt her innocent demeanor or her ability to enjoy childish pleasures. It’s not that she’s naïve. It’s more that Katerina Kay chooses to live on the brighter side of life. She’s like a sexy neon beacon blinking on the street corner, tempting others to cross over and join the fun. 

Alfie: Why are so many porn stars obsessed with Hello Kitty? Don’t you have a Hello Kitty microwave?

Katerina Kay: Yes, I do. I just like cats. Some people claim that if you like childish things, like Hello Kitty, you have daddy issues. I personally love my father. He was always good to me, so whatever. I just like cartoons and cereal. That’s just me. I go with my niece to Toys R Us. Earlier this year I actually went with her to a Yo Gabba Gabba concert. I was screaming louder than my niece. I was so excited and I knew every song, which was really bad.

Alfie: Do you think your love of childish things helps sell your brand as a teen performer?

Katerina Kay: I guess so. I see Kat as my alter ego. As soon as I get on set, she comes out. I’m still the same person at home, but I feel like porn has helped bring out my true personality, my true colors. Now I can really be myself without having to worry if I’m dressed in too bright of clothes or if my outfit is too crazy to be out in public. I can wear what I want and do what I want. It’s fun.

Alfie: Nikki Delano is also obsessed with Hello Kitty and she’s one of your porn star role models. Why?

Katerina Kay: She’s my fucking idol. Her body… I don’t even know how to explain it. I just think she’s beautiful. I have a thing for dark girls. I met her recently and she was gorgeous in person. She is obsessed with working out and I am too. There’s something about a girl who goes the extra mile to take care of herself that I love. 

Alfie: Is it that you are attracted to Nikki Delano or you want to be like her?

Katerina Kay: I want to be her when I get a little older. I want to still be working out and dressing up and not letting myself go. That’s one of my main goals. 

Alfie: Cali Carter also has a very athletic body and I know you two are really close in your personal life. Was it weird performing with her in Sorority Carwash?

Katerina Kay: We always claim to be girlfriends and we basically are. If I were to fuck anybody say, after the AVN awards, it would probably be my girlfriend because I feel safe with her, and I know she’s clean and cool and she’s hot and I like walking around with her. It’s like having my own little arm candy. You can’t go wrong with two pretty blondes.

Alfie: How did you two meet?

Katerina Kay: My agent introduced us at the AVNs. I have super high anxiety. That’s one of my flaws. That’s why I choose not to go out, because I get super nervous in big crowds. That’s why I have to drink at awards shows and at strip clubs. I get really nervous around big crowds or when people approach me. Cali came up to my room and asked if I was coming to the after party. I was really nervous. I didn’t want to go out and say something wrong in front of the wrong people when I was drunk. I just wanted to stay inside. She was like, “No. You’re going to be safe. You’re going to be fine. You will come with me.” She took me under her wing. It’s always good to have a friend out here in LA, especially when you are young and you don’t know anybody. 

Alfie: When guys aggressively hit on you and Cali, does she tell them to fuck off?

Katerina Kay: Cali is actually a very soft natured girl. She’s sort of motherly. We’re a fucked up family and I love it. She’ll put me in my place too. She’ll tell me if I’m being stupid or if I’m talking to a guy I shouldn’t. I listen to her. She’s the one person I go to for advice.

Alfie: What kind of guys does she tell you not to talk to?

Katerina Kay: Like this DJ I was seeing. She doesn’t want me to date someone who wants to date Katerina. She wants someone to date me for who I really am. Not someone who is like, “Oh, she’s a porn star. I’ll bet she does threesomes.” No. I’m not going to do threesomes with people who aren’t in my industry. I’m not like that. That’s not what’s important in a relationship. That’s what’s hard about this job. A lot of guys don’t appreciate you for you anymore. They just see you as a girl who does porn. 

Alfie: Would you say that’s the hardest thing about porn, that it complicates your personal life?

Katerina Kay: I honestly do. Porn hurts personal relationships.

Alfie: If you meet a guy outside the industry, doesn’t that create the problem of how and when to tell him that you do porn?

Katerina Kay: Right. I try to let it go a little while without saying anything so they can get to know me. I can’t really say I model. I’m tiny and five three. I’ll say I do a little bit of commercial modeling. Then eventually I say listen… And then they either accept it or they don’t.

Alfie: Does that confession come before or after you sleep with them?

Katerina Kay: Definitely before. I think that’s important.

Alfie: Cali Carter told me that you two clicked because you don’t like to go out much.

Katerina Kay: We’re extreme homebodies. 

Alfie: What types of movies do you watch when you stay in.

Katerina Kay: I stick with things like Clueless and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, things that remind me of Cali and me. I love old movies.

Alfie: Which one of you is Romy and which is Michele?

Katerina Kay: We both want to be Lisa Kudrow because she’s gorgeous. Even though she’s older now she’s still hot.

Alfie: She’s pretty but she’s also awkward, which perhaps makes her even more appealing.

Katerina Kay: And funny. There’s something about being pretty and having a really big personality that makes girls attractive, especially if you are comfortable enough to crack jokes.

Alfie: Are you constantly cracking jokes on set?

Katerina Kay: I’m a bit odd sometimes. People usually have to feel me out for a little while. They are probably like, is something wrong with this girl?

Alfie: Based on your odd personality on set, what do you think most of your costars would diagnose you with?

Katerina Kay: ADD.

Alfie: Are you ever having sex and you suddenly get up to make a sandwich?

Katerina Kay: Haha. Yeah. You ever wonder what girls are thinking during scenes? I’m thinking about my grocery list. On set you always want to eat healthy. So during that time you are like, “Man, I’m really going to buy some vegetables. Maybe some salad.” Then you get to the store after a scene and you’re sex drunk and you’re like, “I’m freaking hungry,” so you end up buying a bunch of junk.

Alfie: Why are so many porn stars former cheerleaders? Do you think it has to do with the desire to perform and be seen as pretty in the public eye?

Katerina Kay: Yeah, and we were basically trained to always smile, and to always give your best performance. To always stretch before.

Alfie: Do you really stretch before a scene?

Katerina Kay: No, but I’ll claim I do. I’ll pretend I’m super healthy, I work out everyday and stretch—no, no, no.

Alfie: It seems like you are always doing the splits. Are you asked to do the splits in every scene?

Katerina Kay: I think once they know you can do it they expect it of you. I’ve been put in some of the most odd positions. I’m cool with it now. One scene I was actually dropped on my head, but I agreed to the position. I was being held underneath and we were by a concrete pool. I won’t say which scene. I had to take a break for five minutes after that before we did it again. I was cool with the position because it looked good and I’ll do anything to make it fun. 

Alfie: Including being dropped on your head?

Katerina Kay: Yep. Not like it hasn’t happened before.

Alfie: There’s a picture of you doing the splits on a sink somewhere—

Katerina Kay: Oh, that was in the dressing room of a strip club in New Orleans.

Alfie: I feel like I wouldn’t want my genitals touching the sink of a strip club dressing room in New Orleans.

Katerina Kay: I had underwear on damn it. I don’t think when I’m drinking. I just do. I guarantee that if I’m working at a strip club, I’m drinking.

Alfie: Any good stories from bartending in New Orleans?

Katerina Kay: I miss those days. I worked at Happy’s Irish Pub.

Alfie: What do you miss?

Katerina Kay: Cars bombs for sure. Irish fucking car bombs. Maybe it’s because of my Irish blood, or I’ll at least use that as an excuse. When someone challenges me, I’m probably going to do it, and that’s not always a good thing. My sense of competition has always gotten me into trouble. I’ve been known to be a bit of a troublemaker when alcohol is involved.

Alfie: With your tiny frame I can’t picture you holding more than a pint of beer. 

Katerina Kay: I mean, back in my day, I don’t drink that much anymore, but when I was back in—I guess I shouldn’t say this—but I could drink when I was in high school.

Alfie: Your drinking days are behind you and you just turned twenty-one?

Katerina Kay: This interview is getting me in trouble… Let’s be real. Back in high school I used to be a tank. Now I have two drinks and I stand up, and I feel like one of the Golden Girls, or the old ladies at the casino who drink one piña colada and are like, “I’m drunk!”

Alfie: How do you normally get in trouble when you’re drunk? What kind of a drunk are you? Are you mean?

Katerina Kay: Oh no. I’ve never been a mean drunk. I’m just a very provocative drunk. My clothes come off. Exxxotica was a good example. There was a really good video of me with someone from Porn Hub. It hasn’t been released, thank god. They wanted me to let it go public, but I don’t know. It was pretty bad. My dress was coming off. I actually did the splits in front of the elevator. I just dropped into the splits. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why do I think that’s so cool? 

Alfie: If guys could do the splits we’d be dropping on the dance floor like James Brown. Considering that you do porn, what was so taboo about this video?

Katerina Kay: You know how you don’t really know what’s going on when you’re drunk, then you see a video of yourself drunk and you don’t remember it, or you just can’t believe you acted like that. You see yourself speaking in this completely different language. There was some comedian who described drunk people like babies, which I think is exactly right. They can’t walk. They throw up everywhere. They can’t talk. They start crying for no reason.

Alfie: What do people say when they see you driving a pink Fiat?

Katerina Kay: Haha. I don’t even care. Fuck off. 

Alfie: So it doesn’t have Hello Kitty all over it?

Katerina Kay: No. One time my sister was visiting me. She’s blonde too. We had the windows rolled down and this person started singing, “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world.” I was like, “I am not Barbie bitch.” I love Barbie, but don’t go there. I don’t want any girl to compare herself to Barbie. I think they should create their own image.

Alfie: If you did have to compare yourself to a cartoon character, or a doll, what would it be?

Katerina Kay: I definitely see myself as a little anime character. I’m a very animated person. That’s how I want to see the world. I want the world to be brighter. It’s so dull here in LA. Everyone wears black. At first I was worried about how much I stick out, but then I was like, fuck it. This is how I like to dress. I don’t give a shit. Here I am.

Alfie: Tell me about your boy/girl scene in Airerose’s Pure Vol. 2.

Katerina Kay: That was the same day I filmed Sorority Carwash with Cali Carter. That went extremely well. I had just come back to LA to start shooting again. I felt more experienced. That scene is where I went from being shy, to realizing it was time to go the extra mile in porn. I didn’t just let the guy do all the work. I started doing a lot more. That scene is where I started to show my confidence. 

Alfie: What other projects do you have coming up?

Katerina Kay: I have two scenes for Penthouse that I’m pretty excited about. That was my first time shooting with them. Penthouse is a big deal. And oh, I just started cuckolding and I’m really fucking good at it. I didn’t think I’d be good at being dominant, but I am.

Alfie: You’re good at talking shit to your “husband” while you fuck another guy in front of him?

Katerina Kay: Yes. I think I’m just good at being a little brat. Honestly, in real life I’m so shy, but on camera I can get out all of my aggression.

---

See Katerina Kay perform in hardcore action in Airerose’s Pure Vol. 2 and Sorority Carwash (10/30) at Airerose.com.

Follow Katerina Kay on Twitter, @katerinakayXXX , and Instagram, @katerinakayxxx

Contact Alfie via shawnalff.com