June 30, 2021 |
Finding Kenzieland: Up Close With Vixen Contract Girl Kenzie Anne |
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. â âNervousâ isnât the right word. âMaybe more like âstarstruck,ââ giggles Kenzie Anne, twirling a strawberry Blow Pop over her tongue as she lounges near the pool at Motley Manor, the gated, 4,500-square-foot mansion of her agent, Dave Rock. The adult industryâs newest âit girl,â Kenzie is attempting to describe the emotion that engulfed her prior to her debut scene back in March, when she swiveled in her makeup chair and saw Emily Willis, the reigning AVN Female Performer of the Year, standing before her. Across the room, changing into lingerie, was Alina Lopez, a box-cover staple who is hailed as one of the most beautiful women in all of porn. For the past few years, Willis and Lopez had been two of Kenzieâs idols. Now they were her co-stars in her first-ever studio shoot, an all-girl tango for Vixen, one of the most prestigious companies in the business. More than two months later the scenario remains surreal to the hazel-eyed newcomer. âThey threw me in with the tigers,â Kenzie says. âI bow down to those girls. Iâm their biggest fan. I told them, âThank you so much for doing this shoot with me. Iâm ecstatic to even be in your presence.ââ It wonât be long before Kenzie is viewed in the same manner. Heck, some would say she already is. Despite having only six scenes to her credit, Kenzieâs career is taking off like the Millennium Falcon, propelling her toward the top of the industry at warp speed. Instead of casting couch videos and POVs with faceless talent, Kenzie has been ushered in by icons such as Willis, Lopez, Angela White, Manuel Ferrera and Jax Slayher. Already under contract with Vixen, sheâs the first-round draft pick who skipped the minor leagues and became an all-star as a rookie. Fueled by aggressive marketing campaigns, Kenzieâs content generated buzz weeks before its release. Each time, the hype was proven justified, with Kenzieâs performances not only meeting expectations, but surpassing them. Motley Models agent Ryan Kona, who works directly with Kenzie, says the former cosmetologist has the tools to become a âworld-renowned, international superstar.â âSheâs a step ahead of a lot of girls who have been working a long time,â Kona says. âThatâs no disrespect to anyone, because everyone learns and grows at a different pace. But Kenzie is already there. âThereâs no one else like her. Sheâs a supernova who is going to explode and take over the industry.â One thing working in Kenzieâs favor is her experience. Along with being an influencer on Instagram, sheâs spent the past decade glamming it up for Penthouse, Playboy and Maxim and has done numerous shoots for fashion brands such as Wet Seal, Free People and Carbon 38, among others. Instead of a bashful nubile in her late teens or early 20s, studios who book Kenzie are getting a seasoned, 28-year-old supermodel whoâs poised in front of a camera and thrives as the center of attention. Thatâs certainly evident during the media event at Rockâs palace. Despite being a newcomer whoâs meeting many of her Motley roster mates for the first time, Kenzie weaves throughout the property with the swagger of an industry veteran. With her cascading, all-natural blonde hair in pigtails, Kenzieâwho stands 5-foot-7âshoots Instagram reels on the tennis court before relocating to the driveway, where she poses seductively in front of a 2021 orange Lamborghini. Moving inside to the billiards room, she does a shoot in lavender lingerie and then models bikinis on the patio. Finally with time to unwind, Kenzie plops onto a sofa near the pool and opens a bottle of water. For the next half-hour, in her most extensive interview to date, sheâll talk passionately with AVN about her vision for her future. Sheâll reflect on her past, and perhaps most interestingly, Kenzie Anneâthe next big thing in pornâwill reveal how she ended up here in the first place. Kenzie scoots to the edge of her seat, rests her forearms on her thighs and leans forward. âYou know,â she says with a sly smile, âit all really started with a slice of watermelon.â *** Bikinis and blouses; leggings and lingerie; makeup, mini-skirtsâeven six-figure sports cars. Kenzie Anne modeled just about everything imaginable during her first eight years in front of the camera. But in 2019, shortly after she turned 26, a photographer friend named Halston suggested a new prop. Food. Halstonâwho had worked with mainstream Hollywood talent for more than a decadeâhad been hired by Playboy Mexico to launch the Eats Channel, a new venture featuring short snippets of scantily-clad supermodels snacking in a sensual manner. Halston immediately thought of Kenzie, whom he knew from previous fashion shoots. Cherries, lollipops and ice cream cones made for some steamy reels, but it was a poolside video that aroused viewers the most. As she took bites from a watermelon slice, Kenzie allowed the red juice to trickle from her chin, down her neck and onto her oiled-up, naked body. âAt that point,â Halston said, âsomething clicked. You know how some girls have âresting bitch face?â She has âresting bedroom eyes, lips and voice face.â Itâs the whole combination. âI just thought, âThis girl is a Ferrari. Maybe we can push things a little bit further.â Iâd never thought about shooting porn before, and Iâm not sure if she had, either. But that day was what sparked everything.â Indeed, after only a few discussions, Kenzie and Halston decided to pursue a career in the adult industryâbut with one caveat. Instead of cliche, run-of-the-mill content, they would shoot only âglam pornâ on elaborate sets with fancy lighting and camerawork, and storylines featuring Kenzie alongside the industryâs elite performers. âItâs the only style that would fit her,â Halston said. âShe oozes high-end.â Kenzie smiled when asked to describe the plan hatched by she and Halston, who has also signed a contract with Vixen and directs under the name âHalston.â âIt looks like supermodels fucking,â Kenzie said. âItâs like candy. You want to taste it. It doesnât look dirty, like it would on some nasty couch. It looks ⦠beautiful.â Even before her career began, it was always assumed Kenzieâs good looks would eventually catapult her into the spotlight. One could even say she was predestined for it, as her mother was a runway and pageant model before embarking on a successful career as a cosmetologist. âIâve always been influenced by her in terms of beauty and makeup and hair,â Kenzie says. Raised in Newbury Park, Calif., Kenzie wasnât allowed to begin modeling until she turned 18, but that didnât prevent her from creating a buzz with her good looks. Throughout high school and into her early 20s. Kenzie dropped jaws with even the most simplistic of actions. âI had boyfriends tell me that even the way I eat is sexual,â Kenzie says. âWithout even trying, I naturally commanded attention. When I was growing up I didnât know how to feel about it. Iâd have normal conversations with men and theyâd think I was being sexual with them, that I was leading them on. It put me in a danger zone. âIt made me feel uncomfortable.â The self-consciousness would hover for years. But at age 25, Kenzie Anne came to a realization. And then she made a change. Her natural, sexual vibes, she vowed, would no longer evoke feelings of guilt or shame. They would give her power. And rescue her from the darkest period of her life. *** The sofa was gone. Her ex-boyfriend took the chairs, tables and bed frame, too. Suddenlyâafter a six-year relationshipâKenzie Anne found herself alone in a rental home without furniture, save for a mattress strewn across the living room floor. Each night, as she lay wrapped in a coverless duvet, Kenzie had the same recurring thought. What am I going to do? A licensed cosmetologist since she was 19, Kenzie had spent the previous six years doing hair and makeup at her familyâs salon. But that was no longer her passion. She quit and enrolled in nursing school, occasionally earning money on the side doing fashion shoots. But the sporadic income hardly put a dent in Kenzieâs mounting tuition fees, car payments, delinquent credit card bills and her $3,000-per-month rent. Being newly-single only made things worse. Nearly $100,000 in debt, Kenzieâs situation became so dire that, when she opened her pantry, she saw two things. âTop Ramen and Progresso soup,â she said. âItâs all I could afford. Being in debt like that ⦠it feels like youâre in shackles. Youâre totally caged in. I was craving freedom, and thatâs not freedom.â Deflating as her predicament was, Kenzie found a solution. Sheâd dabbled in camming before, but shaming by her boyfriend always kept her from pursuing it full time. But now there was nothing to hold Kenzie back, so she converted her living room into a studio and put a stripper pole in her kitchen. Each day after nursing school, Kenzie would come home and cam, sometimes deep into the night. The first month she made enough to pay her rent on time. A few weeks later she was able to purchase a pink bed frame. The craziest part, Kenzie said, is that only a handful of people knew about her âside job.â During her first two years of camming, Kenzie shot all of her videos from the mouth down, so no one could see her face. âIt was this big secret I had that no one really knew about,â Kenzie said. âI was in nursing school and I still wasnât sure where my life was headed. There was a lot of shame around the concept of sex work, and I wasnât totally confident in it yet.â Eventually, though, it was impossible for people not to notice that Kenzieâs lifestyle had changed. Her once-barren apartment was now filled with expensive furniture. She purchased a Mercedes and ordered more freely at restaurants. No longer was she stressed about bills, as camming had enabled her to pay off every last cent of the debt sheâd feared would haunt her until her 30s. âEvery single month,â she said, âI was doubling my income.â After hundreds of hours in front of the camera, Kenzie had the freedom sheâd craved. Not just financially, but mentally. One morning Kenzie summoned her mother to a coffee shop and informed her she was dropping out of nursing school to pursue adult work full time. âI felt like a new person,â she said. âI felt so empowered. I was running my own show, my own business.  Society tells us not to be sexual in public, so Iâd been avoiding being who I really was. But with camming, I could be myself. And once I learned how to make money off of it, I felt power.â With her confidence higher than ever, Kenzie began seeking new opportunities as a model. She continued the vanilla fashion shootsââmy side hustle,â she laughsâbut now she mixed in erotic photos for magazines such as Maxim. Kenzie took things a step further when she spent an afternoon in the desert posing for pictures to submit to Playboy. Kenzie funded the entire shoot, paying the rate for the photographer and his crew while also picking up food and travel costs. About a week later, though, the photographer had a change of heart and refused to send Kenzie the images. âHe totally dropped it,â she said. âHe was like, âI donât want my work related to your name at all. Iâm trying to work with Guess and all of these big brands, and no one is going to want someone who has worked with a person like you.â Looking back, Kenzie is actually thankful for that experience. Being shamedâonce againâfor sex work helped shape the mentality that fuels her today. âIt was a pivotal moment for me,â Kenzie said. âIt sent me over the edge. I was like, âFuck this. Fuck everyone judging us. I want to completely rep this career now. If people are going to have problems with it, Iâd rather find out who they are now so I can just write them off. If you have a problem with it, weâre not going to work together, so we can just quit wasting each otherâs time.ââ Kenzie pauses and smiles. âOnce I made that decision,â she said, âit was the happiest momentâa huge sense of relief. Iâd put myself out there, and now I didnât need to hide behind anything anymore. Iâve been moving forward ever since.â At a rapid pace, too. Kenzie appeared on Playboy Plus in 2020 before joining forces with Halston on the networkâs Eats Channel. She was chosen as Penthouse Pet of the Month in Novemberâjust before the launch of her self-funded website, Kenzieland, where she produced her first pornographic content. Her girl-girl scenes with performers such as Kendra Sunderland caught the attention of Vixen, which offered her a contract. Following her debut scene with Willis and Lopez, Kenzie shot her first boy-girl scene with Slayher. âLots of times, new girls are nervous or maybe a little intimidated,â Slayher told AVN. âBut Kenzie was different. Performing with her was like working with an elite, top-tier veteran. She was relaxed and confident. She went in and killed it.â Indeed, even though she flourished as a fashion model, Kenzie is more in her element as a porn star, when are clothes are completely off. Being naked, she said, brings her comfort and allows her to operate with a greater sense of self-assuredness. âSometimes youâre shooting in certain outfits,â she said, âand things pinch you or donât look right. People never say anything about the fabric. Instead theyâre like, âIt doesnât fit you.â It gave me body dysmorphia. I started feeling more comfortable when I was walking around naked inside my house.â Kenzie calls it âair bathing.â âI feel my sexiest when Iâm naked,â she told Penthouse last fall. âFashion always feels like I have someone elseâs body or expression on. Whoever designed the clothing wants you to feel a certain way when you have it on. I can appreciate the art in it. âBut itâs not my art.â *** Each morningâand then multiple times throughout the dayâKenzie Anne scrolls through the hundreds of DMs that flood her accounts on Instagram and Twitter. Lately, many of them read exactly the same. âEveryone,â she said, âasks when my next scene is coming out, or who Iâm shooting with. People want answers. Theyâre craving more and more and more.â As of July 1, Kenzie had shot just six studio scenes, and only two of them had been released:âthe all-girl threesome with Willis and Lopez, and the boy-girl hookup with Slayher. The slow drip is an intentional, strategic move by Vixen, which inked Kenzie to an arrangement that allows her to work with Deeper, Blacked, Tushy and all of the other brands under the Vixen umbrella. âTheyâre preserving me for higher end, higher-budget scenes,â Kenzie said. âItâs flattering that theyâve held such a high stature for me. Iâd rather be in this position than have too much exposure out there, especially this early.â Kenzieâs Vixen contract expires in September, likely setting off a frenzy throughout the industry as studios compete to book her for scenes. According to her agent, the buzz surrounding Kenzieâs early performancesâboth from fans and porn insidersâhas been impossible to ignore. "Everyone who gave this girl a huge endorsement was 100 percent right,â Kona said. âThere are lots of models that come into this industry that look great, but theyâre not the best in front of the camera. Being pretty isnât always everything. The performance has to be there, too. âThereâs an âitâ factor you need to be a superstar in this industry, and Kenzie has it.â During an interview at Motley Manor, Halston proudly showed off an email he received from Vixen executives about how impressed they were with Kenzieâs first two scenes, both of which he directed. He said he and Kenzieâs goal was âto do something huge, right from the start.â Kenzie certainly accomplished that in her debut effort with Willis and Lopez. Entitled âBreaking Through,â the scene opens with Lopez and Willis scrolling through Kenzieâs Instagram feed. Lopez tells Willis that Kenzie âdropped out of nursing school, became a fashion model, dabbled in cam stuff, and now sheâs interested in porn. She was looking for advice so she hit up Vixen, and now here we are.â Moments later, Kenzie makes her grand arrival. Wearing a see-through gown lined with sequins, she steps off the elevator at a high-rise office building, walks into a lounge area and finds a half-naked Willis in a chair. Naked under a charcoal mink coat, with a pearl necklace splayed over her torso, Willis says: âYou have the looks, Iâll give you that. But porn is more than just looks. Do you have what it takes?â Kenzie gazes at Willisâ body and smiles. âWhy do you think Iâm here?â she says, and then the fun begins. Willisâwho captured a ceremony-high nine trophies at the AVN Awards in Januaryâsaid there are plenty of reasons to believe that Kenzie has a bright future in the adult industry. "She was very cool to work with,â Willis told AVN. âShe was very professional and nice to everybody. I always appreciate working with performers who are a pleasure to be around on set. Sheâs got a good attitude and sheâs very hot. And she seems to really want to do porn.â Slayher expressed similar feelings after he and Kenzie went one-on-one in âThis Is Not a Drillâ for Blacked. In the scene, Kenzie pulls in Slayherâs driveway in a red Lamborghini wearing nothing more than nail polish and lipstick. âWhen you have a dick appointment with Jax,â she says in the scene, âyouâd better keep your entire day open, because these appointments usually run long.â âIt was like a two-headed snake,â Slayher said. âThe chemistry and energy were there from both of us. Anyone who watches it will see two people who genuinely love to fuck each other.â Kenzie said it was honor to shoot with Slayher, adding that she told him before that scene that sheâd been masturbating to him for years. âI like that he goes all in,â Kenzie said. âIt doesnât feel like heâs acting. It feels natural. Heâs so aware of the camera, so he heâs going to make sure that me, as a woman, is displayed perfectly. Itâs like dancing. Itâs the one time I think itâs really important for the man to take the lead to get to those points.â Impressive as sheâs been on studio sets, Kenzie is also winning over fans on Instagram, where she updates her story multiple times per day. Porn stars and supermodels who post videos frequently are walking a slippery slope, as they often alienate fans by acting snobby, entitled, aloof or pretentious. Kenzie, however, has mastered the Instagram game simply by being herself. Sure, there are plenty of sexy, pouty-lipped modeling posts featuring slinky swimwear with bougie backdrops and accessories. But the things that stick with you the mostâthe things that make Kenzie so likableâare her interactions with her Siberian husky, Lola, who howls with passion each time she suggests going on a walk. Or the time she asked viewers whether her leopard-print bikini top was suitable restaurant attire. Of course it was. Or the time she busted into silly poses on random street corners in New York. Kenzieâs most endearing quality, as sheâs revealed on Instagram, is her ability to embrace her imperfections, whether it involves a stubborn pimple or her forehead, a tear in her skirt or a bloated tummy after she and a friend ordered $104 worth of ice cream on Door Dash. Most recently, Kenzie struggled to pull a pair of shorts over her rear, likely because sheâd gained a pound or two during the pandemic. âThatâs COVIDâs faultâbut hey, itâs a good thing,â Kenzie said, and then she broke into her trademark, high-pitched giggle that usually morphs into a full-on cackle. Itâs an âevery-day girlâ vibe thatâs extremely rare for a supermodel. âOnce you get to know her,â Kona said, âsheâs impossible not to like.â Still, make no mistake. Kenzie definitely has a diva sideâor as she says, âa princess side.â One of her most enjoyable activities is pampering herself. âIf I can relax with a face-mask or go tanning or read a book or even just put my feet up ⦠just being able to do nothing and beautify is so important to me. Itâs very cleansing.â As striking as she is physically, Halston said itâs a different trait that gives Kenzie so much staying power in porn. âKenzie,â he said, âis at her best when she opens her mouth and talks. Sheâs incredibly bright, incredibly smart. She has a very strong vision for who she is and where she wants to go.â That was evident when she launched Kenzieland, the elaborate website featuring solo masturbation scenes along with hookups between Kenzie and established talent such as Sunderland, Ashley Lane and promising new starlet Charly Summer. Her drive is obvious during the shoots sheâs helped conceive for Vixen, and itâs even more apparent when she talks about her goals for the future. âI can picture this big, beautiful cocktail party,â she says, âwhere people and celebrities are gathered, and thereâs a wall where Kenzieland is playing in the backgroundâalmost like a museum for my porn channel. Itâs my favorite project. Itâs my baby. I want it displayed everywhere.â A lofty target, to be sure. But ambition is what launched Kenzie this far in the first place. âYouâre either a winner or a loser,â she said, âand it feels way better to win. The last two years of my life Iâve been pedal to the metal, and I fucking love it. Itâs been so satisfying to keep going and going and going. Iâm always one step ahead. Iâm going to consistently evolve and move forward. âI have big dreams and goals and Iâm not going to stop until I reach them. And once I do, Iâll come up with new ones.â Kenzie knows detractors and haters will surface along the way. Itâs a catty industry, and already there are rumblings of jealousy surrounding the considerable push Kenzie has received so early in her career. Some may say she was anointed too quickly, without paying her dues. When asked the issue, Kenzie shrugs. In some ways she understands. Sheâs been that jealous girl before, too. But in this case she said itâs important to remember that sheâs been modeling for 10 years. Kenzie has felt the pressure of being at the bottom, endured the pain of broken promises and been insulted with indecent proposals. She still managed to persevere and surge forward. âItâs the same stuff people go through in porn,â Kenzie says. She smiles gently. âIâve finally reached the point where I donât have imposter syndrome anymore,â Kenzie says. âIâm proud of the work Iâve done to get here, and I feel very deserving of the place that Iâm at. Iâm happier than Iâve ever beenâand this is just the beginning. âThings are only going to get better from here.â Photography by KogaFoto
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