2019 February Performer Spotlight: London River

Many instances within the adult industry you see a performer re-invent themselves. Now, when being a model is how you put a roof over your head, your look is your brand. Your small business is the temple that houses your knowledge, wisdom, heart, and passion. Very few people know what it is like to be a model and the expectations that come with this profession. Do not let anyone fool you, elegance, hard work and dedication is as much a necessity in this industry as a good sex drive is. This week’s featured interview is with London River, a starlet who has been making a splash that has been seen on every coast of this continent with her 2018 year of success and return. At XCritic, we thought that bringing you this side of the industry is what would catch your attention, imagination, and perspective most. London’s 2018 year is a tale of what can happen when you do invest the time into your brand and how much doing things your own way creates something within ourselves. I think this starlet is now in serious contention for a nomination in the 2020 awards season race for MILF Performer of the Year. I truly believe that this woman will be a performer that catches a lot of eyes this year and we would like to be one of the first to find out what goes behind the brand that is London River.

London River: OK, OK, so I think that we can just go to town. (We start things off where London and I are talking about what can and can not be said, even in some adult platforms. Her passions for kink are very well known among people in the industry. So, this naturally had us discussing her past interviews.) I had done this interview with Steve Holmes and it was for YouTube and I had to think about what I could and could not say the whole time. I have no idea what the rules are! Even these porn sites that I have been doing work with, even they have rules you have to abide by, it is crazy! They ask me, “what is the kinkiest thing that you have ever done?” Then before I can even answer they say, “do not mention pain or vomit.” Oh, so you do not want the actual answer, I got it! (We start laughing.)

Don Juan DeMarko: (Using my best Al Pacino voice) I do not know if you are ready with this one! (We start laughing again.)

London River: So that is what always takes me to my first question, what are the rules?

Don Juan DeMarko: There are no rules! Not here, “we do not need no stinking rules!” We want to have London River as her true self. Bold, beautiful and kinky as can be. Now, before we get into anymore fun. My girl, she just had her boobs done and I have to say, from being a guy who loves the female form, whose business side has been creating those magazine pieces where art takes control and the way the woman’s breast looks is a make or break as to if the magazine will sell, your boobs are just spectacular, the doctor did an amazing job on them. I think you went from being a ten to fifteen. I really do. No one ever gives a model credit they deserve for putting in that effort into themselves and their brand.

London River: Yes, well you are into your job. Yes, most of the girls that I know, well most of them, they put in their time in the gym. Even if they are not getting surgery, which is not the most fun thing in the world to get done you end up putting in a lot of time and money into your appearance, which is both good and bad. I think that it keeps us healthy.

Don Juan DeMarko: I think that it does too. A lot of the younger who do not invest in that same type of mentality. It’s good and bad when your look is what you get paid for. I do not think that anyone knows that deep extent of good and bad like a model does. Kudos to any woman who is that strong mentally to be able to succeed at such a trade. The way that you are judged in both good ways and bad must take its toll as well. My respect runs deep for you, a performer who has had such a career-changing year in my opinion due to her investment in herself.

London River: Thank you. Well, I think you can look at it a few ways. Breast implants, I do not think that they are necessary for a person to do their job. I think what they do bring every person who goes that route is confidence they did not have. With mine, I did want them. I did not necessarily get them just for work, they were also just because I felt that I would feel more pretty if I had them. That is something that I wanted very much. I think that makes a huge difference in many parts of my life. I say this a lot to people, if you find yourself attractive, then other people believe that you are as well. (We share a little laugh.) It is a huge confidence thing. So, for me, it has made a huge amount of difference. From my perspective Don, I did not do “vanilla” porn without breast implants. They happened almost exactly at the same time that I made this move with my career. I was literally healing from my surgery and I jumped right into “vanilla porn.” With my dancing career, it has made a massive difference in my work with that gained confidence.

Don Juan DeMarko: Too cool. You know, both side of the coins, the way that you have really changed your entire presentation is amazing. Your hair, your boobs. The presentation of beauty is simply wonderful. You were a beautiful woman beforehand. Now, after these changes, you have gone into another class of modeling and performing in my opinion. There is a glow about you when I see you in these bigger productions. You have always been a woman who puts a lot into her scenes but now there is that unnamed extra. I see exactly what it is now. My girl, she had wanted her’s her entire life I think and when you can do it, why not. There is an extra pep in her step. You have that too.

London River: Thanks. (She sweetly laughs)

Don Juan DeMarko: So, I guess we can now start things off the way these things always go. Do you mind telling the XCritic readers how you got your start in this grand industry of ours?

London River: Well, that is a kind of long story. I have been in the adult entertainment industry in one form or another since I was eighteen, so we can begin from there if you like?

Don Juan DeMarko: Oh, yes. Please start there.

London River: So, I have been doing this for almost fourteen years now. Wow, that is kind of scary. For more than fourteen years now, I have been a dancer. I started doing porn, just bondage about four years ago. I jumped into those types of films mostly because I wanted to do bondage in general and I did not know anyone in my private life that knew how to tie anyone up properly. There are all these dating sites out there that are kinky like me, like Fetlife.com There were a lot of sites and places like that on the web when I got started. For anyone who takes part in this lifestyle, they know how hard it is to meet a stranger and feel safe when they are tying you up. I know that sounds like the start of an episode of Dexter but in all honesty, it is far scarier in many ways. (We laugh our asses off for a moment. Many would not know this, but rope bondage requires true “riggers” who are masters of creating a type of knot, a type of “tie” where the submissive is truly having many things happen to them from their circulation being cut off, to a lot more. It is a very wonderful mental extension of sexuality.) So, it was literally my search to do bondage safely that brought me into the porn side of things. From there, I just kind of fell in love with it.

Don Juan DeMarko: You got started with the fetish lifestyle before anything else, that is fucking cool if I do say so myself. I love that you mentioned Fet-Life. Every time that we book a model at conventions, most of them are members of Fet-Life.com. They usually always have a booth in every city that I have seen. Every model is usually a member and goes ga-ga when they see their booth. It has led to some fun times during conventions. I love getting to see it because in every city there is always this wonderful collection of people, it is awesome.

London River: Uh-huh, yeah! Well, then again, most women do not always want to engage in a conversation that starts out with, “Hey stranger.” (She sweetly laughs.)

Don Juan DeMarko: Indeed. One of my best friends, her fella is a master rigger. I started to get to learn about this type of fetish and lifestyle about two years ago. Before that, I was very much so a “vanilla” person within this grand industry of ours. It made me see that a lot of people miss out on the wonders of this type of beauty and lifestyle that is fetish. I think that is wicked cool you got your start that way in the business. Not many take that road to get into things. So, this brings me to my next question. As I researched you, your filmography, your films with great directors. It is all over the place in the best ways possible. It looks like you have really been busy. Not just that, you have the look in your scenes like you have had a lot of fun this year.

London River: Yes. As I sit here, I can not think of a single scene that I did not enjoy. So that has been very nice. I think that is what every performer wants their year to include. You meet people when you are on set and you get to hear about some horror stories here and there, or that someone had a really bad scene with someone. I do not know if it is my limits that I am willing to go to when I perform, or if it is my perspective comparative to others, I think that I just show up to work determined and to have fun. So, no matter what it is that I am doing, I have it in my head that this going to be fun. That is how I approach every scene, without a care a lot of times and it has led to a lot of fun this year. I got into this job obviously for money. Hey, it is a job after all, but I have never had a job that I have been able to enjoy like this one, but I have worked many type jobs. I have worked at Walgreens, I was a ranch hand for a while. I have done a lot of things when it comes to the “work” side of my life. I do not think that I have ever not enjoyed my job no matter what it is. The fact that I get to do something for a living that is already fun. I think that it is such an amazing combination that I get to have sex be something that I do for a living. Something that I truly enjoy. I like to fuck, so basically, no matter how weird a day went, I got to have sex, so there you go. That was my year.

Don Juan DeMarko: Well, I had to ask that question. As I was assigned a few of your scenes with some big companies, like Gamma for instance. You truly have a passion for what it is that you are doing. I have worked with a lot of companies and done work for many more in some small way here and there and the one thing that I see on almost every site is that your numbers are amazing. You are on fire and the fans are loving every second, of every scene you shot. The numbers do not lie. That is very impressive to see in a performer who is having such a break out year.

London River: I did not know that. Nobody has told me that and I usually do not have time to check things on websites like Girlsway. So that is very nice to know.

Don Juan DeMarko: I am lucky to be able to do a lot of work with a lot of veterans in the business behind the scenes and it gives me access to a lot of things in the industry. I shit you not, seeing your numbers and how much fans are enjoying not just the sex but the acting. It is cool to see. It shows that fans do care about more than the things we think are just on the surface. Especially with a performer like you that has great acting skills.

London River: That is crazy because I feel like I do not have that many fans. I do not have a big Twitter following or anything like that.

Don Juan DeMarko: Oh, I feel ya. Truthfully, the numbers on social media can be falsified. I think there are a lot of American fans also who do not even know that you pay for porn and that it is not free. If a person has over twenty-five thousand that is a pretty solid number for a performer who is making a big rise like you are. There have been a few production people who date gals in the industry, and they showed me once a few performers who have not the best presence on social media and they hardly get on to Twitter to interact with their fans. Then you see their numbers on the website and they are fucking massive! Your base following is a solid number. There are a lot of things that you could do with your following right now. Ahh, that is the beauty of catching fire like this.

London River: Well, I am glad we are getting to talk then because yes, no one has ever told me that. That is pretty awesome.

Don Juan DeMarko: See, so my next question I am heading into and it has to do with your shoots and filmography again. You shot a lot with Kink this year did you not?

London River: Yes, I did shoot a lot with them this year comparative to others. This year, now. I love Kink but it was hard for me to get booked with them. A few years ago, I shot a few scenes with them and after that, I had not been booked since. They would not book me, well, I should not say they would not book me they just did not. They were not mean about it or anything. It was after I did work with them that I started to do work only with InSex. Then, when I got to LA, I got an agent. So, I do not know what happened, but their directors became interested in booking me again. Not all of them but most of them and I started to work with them a lot this year. You can see that when you look at Kink, that there is this gap for about two years or more where I did not shoot with them and then all of a sudden I come back and things went to working once a month with them.

Don Juan DeMarko: That is exactly how your filmography reads out. It is like 2015 then boom, we hit this spot of grandeur that is this year with kink.

London River: Yes, before that I had strictly been filling in those years with working for InSex and a few other small bondage companies while I was in Portland and that was about it.

Don Juan DeMarko: Get the fuck out of here? Are you from Portland?

London River: No, I moved there because I actually was working as an employee for InSex. I was doing so much with them. I did all of their talent bookings and I was a PA as well. So I spent a lot of time behind the scenes, learning to do new things and applying other skills I had elsewhere in production. I even got a chance to try my hand at editing. I really hate editing so now I usually try to shove that off onto other people. (She and I start laughing uncontrollably.) Even now I try and “forget” that I know how to do it in certain situations. On the occasion where people say, “well, we have some editing we have to get done.” My response is, “Editing, what is that?”

Don Juan DeMarko: (Speaking in his fine English accent) What do you mean editing, I have never heard of such a thing. You are too much darlin’ I love it!

London River: Yes, this is how my brain works when that phrase is mentioned. Blah, blah, blah, final cut…. “Oh wait, did you say something? What is a final cut?”

Don Juan DeMarko: That is so fucking funny. Portland is the little, hidden gem of the industry. There are so many performers who live there and even more that were drawn to it by these minds, companies, and people that are just the rarest of things in this industry in the best of ways.

London River: Uh-huh, yes there are.

Don Juan DeMarko: That is awesome. Then there is a slight chance that we may run into each other sooner rather than later then. I will be working a shit ton out of Portland over the next year and it would be so awesome to run into you on set somewhere, or, since the cities are so small, somewhere at the supermarket.

London River: Perhaps we will. I just got back from Portland as a matter of fact. I have a ton of scenes that have yet to be released out there.

Don Juan DeMarko: Oh, rock on. That is a busy city indeed then isn’t it? So, to keep the flow going with your interview because this thing is literally writing itself here. Your flow is amazing darlin’. I would love to hear the story about you before you became a performer. I loved you talking about working as a ranch hand. I would love to know if you grew up in a big city? More importantly, what led you to become this sexually aware female who found her way into this business?

London River: Oh, goodness! OK, (we share a quick laugh) Well, when I did work on a ranch it was actually with some cattle and some sheep. My job was to always make sure that they were fed. I was always getting up early in the morning. When I say early, we are talking like 4 AM early and my job was to feed a few lots of feeder steers. The beef cattle basically. Then, after school, I would go back and feed them in the afternoon as well. Working on a ranch consists of always doing little tasks here and there and that is pretty much what took up the rest of the work many times. Now, when it comes to growing up, I grew up with a lot of animals, in a smaller town. So definitely not a big city. So, I grew up in Nebraska, which is also the place that I attended college. I used to work in the college bookstore back then. It was also where I did my infamous time with Walgreens that I was talking about earlier. Back then, I remember that I really wanted to get an apartment with my friend instead of staying in the dorms, because dorms suck! So, when we got this lavish apartment, we quickly realized that we were not going to be able to afford the rent with these retail jobs that we had been holding down, especially when we were only getting part-time hours. We tried to, trust me. It got to the point where we got our electricity turned off and it got turned off during the month of January. Well, you are from Denver, so you know exactly what I mean by that last statement.

Don Juan DeMarko: Oh, that I do. Far too well, I think.

London River: So, you truly understand how big of a deal this is when you are living in an all-electric apartment in Nebraska in the dead of winter. January is truly the month you do not pick to be the one where you miss the bill on an all-electric apartment.  So that is basically how I got into dancing. I was panicked and desperately needed the electricity turned on the next day. So, after ingesting a significant amount of rum, I walked out of my room, looked at my roommate and said, “do I look cute naked?” She says, “yeah!” So, I told her to get ready and let’s go. From there, I went to try out at a strip club and needless to say, I paid my electric bill the next day.

Don Juan DeMarko: That is a great fucking story!

London River: Well, when I think about it. I think that it is the dancing that got me to be more open about my sexuality in general. I got to hear from so many other people that I worked with and their view on such matters and ways of life when it comes to patrons too. There were a lot of people who were there to see the show and they were upstanding citizens with good jobs. There were lawyers, there were farmers, they owned property. No one would think that they were weird and then suddenly you find a guy who tells you, “I just want to lay on the floor while you stand over my face so that I can look at your goods for the next half hour. You become sort of immune to that type of guy. It was an experience to sum it up nicely. Then, after a while, I started to really see that people had their things and then it becomes OK for you to have your own things as well. From there, I did not jump into porn. I went and became a teacher after I graduated college and I taught English in Costa Rica for four years. Some life changes happened, and I decided that I wanted to move home and I did not really know what I wanted to do. One of the things I did have on my mind the entire time was trying bondage. I decided that I must at least try it out. That is how important it was for me.

Don Juan DeMarko: That is so awesome. I mean truthfully and sorry to interrupt you. My story is almost similar. I had a friend who was a dancer and ended up becoming a performer later. I tagged along with her for a very amazing ride. It ended up being a spot where I met so many amazing people. I love that sentence, “you found a place where you got to be yourself.” I think that is the most beautiful thing about the business, I really do.

London River: I think with any part of sex work that is very true. Because porn and dancing are not a similar job at all, but you end up around similar people.

Don Juan DeMarko: It is a place where you get to see how normal we all are as human beings with both industry people and civilians. You do get to see all walks of life and I hope that it is something that becomes more celebrated as the years go on. I am a firm believer that sexuality unlocks many doors in life for those brave enough to walk through the doorway.

London River: The world, people, they all are super scared about talking about it.

Don Juan DeMarko: You know, I hope that if you have not that you get to work with and meet Kleio Valentien….

London River: Yes, I have met her. I was in a film with her. I was hired as an extra and she killed me and then I did some PA work with her on set as well.

Don Juan DeMarko: Wicked cool. Did you know that she also worked on a ranch and a farm?

London River: No, I did not know that.

Don Juan DeMarko: I love those amazing souls that have come from that background. I come from a family who had farming and ranching in their blood. How many people have you run into that think farming and ranching is the simplest job there is, when the truth is, it is some of the hardest and most complex work known to mankind and always has been.

London River: It gives you a very good work ethic though. One thing that I never got told, that I am so glad I gained from my time doing it, was that it will prepare you for life and give that good work ethic to be able to handle it. No matter what your job is, you are going to show up and you are going to be prepared and you are going to be on time because it was never an option as a kid.

The funniest part of this interview was that this amazing woman gave me the choice of sitting down for this interview with her around eight or nine AM. Of course, I took the latter but the thing that made getting to discover London River in this interview and the research for it was that this beauty never has stopped since she first stepped foot in this industry. She is a woman who has that reputation for getting things done and making each scene her own. To be able to steal the show with the talent she has is something that I think is not blind luck or some fluke. What London possesses is a passion that has been there from the beginning of her adventures in life and she is the perfect spokeswoman for this business when it comes to who our performers are and what adversity and triumph they have as human beings living and surviving life, not just being porn stars who entertain us all whether we want to admit that or not. Stay tuned for part two folks, this gal is just getting warmed up.

Follow London Here:

Twitter: @LondonCRiver

OnlyFans: onlyfans.com/londoncriver

Photos Courtesy of: Mile High Media