December 18, 2020 |
Crazy About Kenzie: It's Easy to Fall for Porn's Petite Princess |
A version of this feature appears in the December issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. The night she turned 18âand just hours after quitting her job at Taco BellâKenzie Reeves was asked a question that altered the course of her life. Can you squirt? Reeves was in the midst of her first shift with VIP Strippers, a highly-regarded company in the Northeast that provides entertainers for various events. The initial plan was for Reeves to shadow and learn from her new colleagues that evening as they performed at a bachelor party. But when Reeves revealed to a co-worker that she could indeed ejaculate upon orgasm, she was handed a Hitachi, led into a room occupied by the future groom and about 20 of his buddiesâand told to get to work. âWithin 20 seconds,â Reeves said, âthe bachelor was drenched. His shoes were literally soaked with squirt. All of his friends started going wild and showering me with money. I had never felt so wanted and so beautiful.â Reeves laughed. âAt that moment I thought, âWow, I think Iâve found my place in life.ââ Her intuition was spot on. Five years after entering the adult industry that night as a stripper, the 4-foot-11 Reeves is now flourishing as the petite princess of porn. Reeves has appeared in more than 400 scenes since her on-screen debut in 2017, making her one of the most popular starlets in the fieldânot just by fans who love watching her, but by colleagues who enjoy collaborating with her. Evil Angel director Chris Streams, who has worked with Reeves extensively, said the industry currently has a small group of performers whom heâd classify as âelite.â Reeves is on that list, he said. Last month Reeves received her second consecutive nomination in the AVN Awards' most coveted category: Female Performer of the Year. âKenzie, along with four or five others, is at the top of our profession,â Streams said. âYou wonât find anyone who doesnât love Kenzie Reeves, and Iâm talking about on-screen as well as off of it.â Indeed, In a business often hampered by cattiness and jealousy, Reeves is regarded as one of the most upbeat, friendly people in porn. Her attitude and spirit are a breath of fresh air. When Reeves arrives on set, the room immediately fills with energy and positive vibes. Reeves maintains a low-key presence on social media and stays away from drama on Twitter. Instead, many of her posts offer compliments and support to other performers. Reevesâ demeanor is even more impressive considering where she was just 10 years ago: sitting in a hospital room after being jumped at school, waiting for a doctor to stitch up her bloody lip. And wondering why nobody liked her. *** A few hours before 14-year-old Kenzie Reeves got punched in the mouth, someone dumped a cup of sweet tea onto her head. Reeves was less than a month into her freshman year of high school in Macon, Georgia, where she was living in foster care following a pattern of âself-destructiveâ behavior in the northeast caused by bullying. Rather than improving, the harassment only worsened for Reeves in the deep south, where she said a group of white girls targeted her because she was socializing with African-Americans. People laughed and mocked Reeves when one of the bullies poured tea onto her head during lunch. And no one intervened when she was ambushed in the courtyard after school by the same band of hooligans, including one who was wearing a diamond-studded ring that split Reevesâ upper lip open when she bashed her in the mouth. âIf you look closely,ââ Reeves said, âyou can still see the scar.â By that point in her life Reeves had become accustomed to feeling like an outcast. Sheâd grown up on a farm in Penacook, New Hampshire, a hiccup of a town about five miles from Concord. Her first job was castrating miniature goats for $50 a whack. âThatâs a lot of money for a 12-year-old,â Reeves said, laughing. âI thought I was set for life.â Raised in a strict Mormon family, Reeves was prohibited from drinking caffeine. She wasnât allowed to date or socialize with boys, and her bathing suit covered everything between her collarbone and her knees. âI looked like a scuba diver,â Reeves said. âI was like, âIâm a woman. Why am I covering things up?â They told me showing skin was un-lady-like. I didnât understand. I wasnât hurting anyone. âI became the black sheep of the family. I started to rebel.â Reeves had a tough time finding a clique in high school. She tried to be kind to peopleââI was the kid who was always bringing the teacher gifts; I just wanted everyone to like me,â Reeves saidâbut she never could fit in. Part of that, Reeves concedes, was because she refused to adapt to social norms. âI never understood why girls wanted to shop at Aeropostale and Abercrombie,â Reeves said. âI didnât get it. I thought, âSeriously, you canât tell me all of you like these clothes.â I didnât want to conform to what everyone else was doing. I was the kid who wore heavy blush and tutus to school. I was viewed as the weird kid. I wasnât popular or even very pretty.â Reevesâ unorthodox sense of fashion and petite stature made her a prime target for bullying. Hateful Facebook messages often brought Reeves to tears. Sheâd skip school on days when class projects would require a partner, because no one ever picked her. Oftentimes she ate lunch in the nursesâ office simply to avoid confrontationâor because she was too embarrassed to sit alone. Reeves said the situation was particularly bad in the ninth grade, when bullying forced her to transfer four times in a single year. New Hampshire, Boston, Georgia ⦠Reeves hopscotched from one school to the next, trying her best to stay upbeat. âKids can be so cruel,â Reeves said. âAll I ever wanted was to be happy. I didnât want to ever be sad, so I learned to get over things quickly. I actually think bouncing around like that helped me. It made me more well-rounded.â The incident in Georgia prompted a return to New Hampshire, where Reeves enrolled in a charter school. Slowly, things began to change. Reevesâ grades improved and she blossomed into a star soccer player. At age 17 she interned at a psychiatric ward for children, hoping to use her own traumatic experiences to help others. Even in her job at Taco Bell, Reeves found a way to flourish and make a name for herself. âI won âBest in Customer Serviceâ each year I worked there,â Reeves said. âI was always very bubbly, like âHey, hey, hey ⦠welcome to The Bell. How can I help you?â No matter if I was making $250 bi-weekly, I always wanted to be the best at what I was doing. I was like, âIâm here and Iâm going to try my best. Iâm not going to half-ass it.ââ Reevesâ stint in the fast-food business ended on her 18th birthday, when her boss refused to grant her the night off to celebrate. Reeves quit on the spot and joined VIP Strippers along with a close friend. Every weekend, a security guard drove them to parties throughout the New England states. New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and New Jersey. âI absolutely fell in love with it,â Reeves said. âWeâd make up our own routines and other fun games. I felt so empowered. I felt beautiful for the first time ever. I had never been âthat girlââ the one who got all the flattering compliments from men. I made me feel good about myself. âI never wanted it to end.â For the first time, Reeves had a purpose in life. A direction. After 18 months sheâd become the top earner at the agency and was being asked to help with advertising and promotion. Only 19, Reeves felt as if sheâd peaked. She eventually became bored and craved a new challenge. âOne morning,â Reeves said, âI woke up and thought, âHmmmm, what else can I do?ââ *** Kenzie Reeves was in Florida when she called her grandmother with a simple set of instructions: Take everything you want from my apartment. âIâm not coming home,â Reeves said. It was the winter of 2017, and Reeves had departed New Hampshire a week earlier on what was supposed to be a quick jaunt to the Sunshine State to film her first few porn scenes. After just one shoot she was hooked. Reeves subleased her place back home, seeing no reason to return to the northeast. âIt was time to move on,â she said. The decision wasnât made on a whim. Reeves had long considered transitioning into porn during her stint as a stripper. She was also curious about further exploring her sexuality, as intimacy with her boyfriend had become stale and vanilla. âEvery time we had sex,â Reeves said, âIâd be like, âOhhh daddy,â and heâd stop and look at me, like, âWhat?â I got sick of only being able to enjoy my fantasies through watching porn. I was like, âOK, I want to try it. I want to try porn. I already do stripping. Iâm comfortable with my body. I love sex. Why not try it?ââ So Reeves contacted some agents, flew to Florida a few days later and never looked back. Reeves was upfront with family members about her new career path. âI didnât want to hide it,â she said. âI told them, âThis is what Iâm going to do. You guys donât have to like it. But as my family I want you to accept it. I have one life to live and Iâm going to do what makes me happy. Iâm not living my life for anyone else.ââ Reeves spent less than a month in Florida before relocating to Los Angeles, where she quickly developed a reputation as one of the top new performers in the business. âThe word got out fast,â Streams of Evil Angel said. âThere were literally directors from competing companies calling one another and saying, âYouâve gotta book this girl.ââ Reeves had long been a fan of petite star Piper Perri, who is even smaller than Reeves at 4-foot-9 and less than 90 pounds. Reeves literally broke into tears of excitement when Perri recognized her at an AVN mixer a few years ago. Still, while Perri is a prominent name in the business, Reeves has ascended to another level. âSheâs just amazing,â Streams said. âSheâs this tiny little thing, but she can do more than girls three times her size. She can deepthroat Steve Holmes straight down to the balls. Itâs like, where did it all go? Then sheâs like, âGreat, now put it in my ass.â âSheâll have one cock in her mouth and one in her ass, and youâre thinking, âTheyâve got to be touching. Sheâs only four-and-a-half feet.â I mean, whatâs not to love? I havenât performed since 2009, but I still look at her like, âOh man, I wish you were into old fat guys, because goddamn you look good.ââ Reevesâ versatility as an actress has also enhanced her reputation. Sheâs captivating in submissive roles but also ones where sheâs the aggressor. âEven though Iâm tiny I can still take charge,â Reeves said. âThe other day, when a guy was jerking his dick, I was like, âYeah, give me that baby gravy.â It was just in the moment, in the heat of it. Thatâs what I wanted at the time, and thatâs how the words came out.â Reeves shot more than 70 scenes in her rookie year of 2017 and is now approaching 500 for her career. Sheâs nominated for six AVN Awards in 2020, including Female Performer of the Year and Most Outrageous Sex for an anal-themed romp with Mick Blue that featured Reeves swaddled in Saran Wrap. According to Streams, the tease Reeves performed in his 2019 film Teen Analâshe was wearing white fishnetsâwas the most-watched scene in any Evil Angel production for the entire year. Streams said he considers Reeves âone of the top 10 performers in our business right nowâand for me, itâs even higher than that.â He said heâd classify Reeves in an elite group that includes Angela White, Riley Reid, Adriana Chechik, Emily Willis and Jane Wilde. âThe girls that have all the buzz right now ⦠Kenzie is right there with them,â Streams said. "I consider them all of them No. 1. Those six girls are probably the top girls. Then it starts to separate a little bit. Theyâre all in the same bunch. They all have that scene where youâre like, âOh my God, thatâs the best thing Iâve ever seen.ââ Just as sheâs separated herself on the screen, Reeves has developed a unique identity away from it. Perhaps more than anyone in business, sheâs known for the upbeat aura she brings to a set. Reeves radiates energy and positivity, a trait that's much-appreciated on those long days when arrogance, entitlement or jealousy among performances can ruin the vibe of a shoot. John OâByrne, Reevesâ agent with East Coast Talent, said Reeves strives to âmake everything perfect for everyone.â OâByrne said he doesnât know of anyone who doesnât like Reeves. Whether sheâs performing for a small company or in a big feature, she brings the same energy. âFew people have her personality and her oomph,â OâByrne said. âHer presence brings the best out of everyone. If a male talent is having an off day, sheâll find a way to reverse it.â Veteran performer James Deen was flattered to learn that Reeves listed him as her favorite male co-star. Deen has similar feelings about Reeves. He recalled a time when he arrived on set thinking heâd be working with a different performer. But when he walked in, there was Reeves, racing across the room to jump into his arms for an impromptu make-out session. âThe director practically had to pry us apart with a crowbar,â Deen said. âI get very excited when I find out we get to work together. I fucking adore that woman.â *** Walk into her Los Angeles apartment, and youâll quickly notice that one of Kenzie Reevesâ walls is covered with money. Actually, make that Monopoly money. Reeves spent an entire day last summer pasting phony bills from the popular board game onto a wall she uses as a backdrop for OnlyFans shoots. Another wall is decorated with roses. For variety, Reeves recently changed the paint in the kitchen and living room to white. âNot everything could be pink,â Reeves chuckled. âI needed some normal rooms to shoot content in.â The restrictions brought on by COVID-19 didnât deter Reeves, who capitalized on her spring and summer in quarantine by building one of the top OnlyFans platforms in the industry. Along with transforming her residence into a virtual studio, Reeves watched YouTube tutorials on how to do makeup. She learned about lighting and camerawork and found new ways to engage with fans. These days Reeves tries to shoot at least one OnlyFans scene a week with another performer, provided they have a fresh COVID test. She said she posts other forms of original contentâsolos, teases, cam sessions, photosâalmost every day. A self-described hermit, Reeves said she wakes up around 7 or 8 each morning and takes a shot of turmeric. After a quick hit or two from her bong, she cracks open a Red Bull and begins her work day. âWith this whole pandemic, youâve got to make the best of it,â Reeves said. âFor me thereâs no getting down. I find that staying busy is the best thing I can do.â In less than four years, Reeves has reached a level of success that should allow her to purchase her own home sometime in the next 24 months. Reeves said she envisions âa Barbie dream houseâ in Las Vegas, complete with a castle fountain in the yard, neon lights in the all-white living roomâand a pink bathtub. Another room will be dedicated to fashion designer Lisa Frank, with a Paris Hilton-vibe in the bedroom. Pink boudoir, sexy burlesque. The works. âIâm going to wait another year or two,â Reeves said. âI want to make sure my taxes are really, really good, because I donât want to do anything with write-offs. I want to put 20 percent down, and I donât want to be on a budget when Iâm looking for a house, because I want something that I can rent out for mainstream shoots.â Reevesâ forethought and vision are as impressive to her agent as anything she does on screen, especially in a business where so many performers make quick money and then waste it. OâByrne said heâs represented girls who made more than $1 million in their first two yearsâand now they donât have anything left. âTheyâre working at Wendyâs,â he said. âThey spent all their money, or they got burned out or pissed too many people off, or they got pregnant and disappeared. âKenzie sets goals for herself. Three-month, six-month and 12-month goals. And some even further out than that. Sheâs incredibly smart. Everything she does is calculated.â That includes Reevesâ self-branding. Sheâs become known throughout the industry for her animated facial expressions during scenes, whether sheâs widening her eyes, crossing them or rolling them toward the back of her head. Reeves also commands attention because of her outfits and unique sense of fashion. Reeves said she was a hippie before she got into porn, often wearing a feather in her hair along with multiple necklaces, a Grateful Dead choker and neutral-colored pants and sweaters. âI didnât want to develop a style that I didnât like, just to please people,â Reeves said. âI wanted something Iâd feel comfortable with. Something Iâd feel sexy in and want to spend money on. âSo I reverted back to my high school years, where I wore tutus and bright colors. I dressed like I was going to a roller disco. I wanted to be a human doll. It just grew from there.â Reeves has also been mindful about the type of bookings she acceptsâor rather, the ones she turns down. Nearly four years into her career, Reeves has yet to shoot a double-penetration scene, a gang bang, a blow bang or anything with a trans performer. The key, OâByrne said, is to keep her fans wanting more. It isnât always easy. âSometimes itâs tough to hold her back,â Streams said. âItâs like pulling the reins on a racehorse. Her mind is always working. âHow about we get a bunch of midgets squirting whipped cream all over the place, and then they can put food in me? Or how about a 50-guy cream pie anal gang bang?â Iâm like, âGirl, calm down. Some stuff Iâve got to get approved.ââ Streams laughed. âIn all seriousness,â he said, âsheâs been very strategic about her career. Itâs smart. I admire and appreciate that. Iâve been doing this for 25 years, and Iâd put her up there with the best of the best. When Iâm around her, it doesnât even feel like work.â Reeves doesnât plan to slow down anytime soon. Along with more extreme scenes, Reeves has expressed interest in filming a showcase. She has her sights set on a variety of industry awards, and she envisions about becoming a MILF performer once she reaches a certain age. Reeves is also eager to explore opportunities on the other side of the camera. âI want to start as a production assistant and then an editor,â Reeves said. âI want to pay my dues and learn everything. I want to start from the bottom and earn my way up to being a director.â OâByrne said he and Reeves discuss these possibilities often, usually over dinner at a nice restaurant, where Reeves drinks from a large glass of milk while OâByrne sips a cocktail. âWhat makes her great is that she absolutely loves the business,â OâByrne said. âIt sounds like a simple thing, but it makes a huge difference. She loves what she does. Sheâs kind of down right now because all of the awards shows are canceled, so she canât get out and meet her fans. âAt conventions I have tell her to stop grinding on people at her booth. She just loves making everyone happy.â OâByrne has also noticed the kindness with which Reeves treats her colleagues. She goes out of her way to offer advice to new girls in the industry. Rarely will you see Reeves embroiled in a spat on social media. âWhen I first started,â Reeves said, âthere werenât too many people that were established that reached out to me and gave me advice. Iâve found that being happy for the success of others is the key to your own happiness. âIf youâre worried about, âOh no, my agent just got this new girl, and sheâs blonde, too,â youâre never going to be happy with yourself, and thatâs going to affect your performance and your confidence and the way you come off to people. âIf anything, Iâve learned to love myself even more and to just be more supportive of other females, because weâre all in this together. We should all be a family.â Speaking of family, Reevesâ relatives have been open-minded about career choice. Her mom and grandmother ask tons of questions about the industry and how things work, and theyâve even visited her in Los Angeles. âWhen family members love you, that love is unconditional,â Reeves said. âItâs really nice seeing people from a really strict, religious background learn to accept this and to be really positive about it.â Reeves has been back to New Hampshire only twice since joining the industry, and things went about as youâd expect. The girl who was heckled each day now gets asked to pose for pictures at the grocery store. The people who bullied her now ask for advice about starting premium Snapchat and OnlyFans accounts. Everyone, it seems, loves to say, âI was friends with her in high school.â Reeves always responds with kindness. âI donât mind,â Reeves said. "I actually think itâs really cool. As youâre growing up, you never know who is going to end up doing what. The person youâre being mean to could end up being your boss. Thatâs why itâs smart to be nice to everyone.â Reeves pauses. âAll I ever wanted was to be happy,â she said. âI didnât want to ever be sad, so I learned to get over things quickly. I didnât dwell on things or saturate my aura in negativity. I didnât want to be like that. I donât understand why anyone would want to be like that. âIâm always like, âOK, weâre here. Letâs make the best of it. Letâs have the best day possible.ââ Photography by BlackedRaw.com, Mr. Lucky & Chris Streams
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