Bastille Day with Katsuni

Katsuni, everyone’s favorite pornstress from France, is a porn star’s porn star, and the type of performer everyone wants to work with (“We fucked in French,” says Natasha Nice. “That was amazing”). I spoke with Katsuni—not particularly about Bastille Day but you’ll find our words are fraught with
liberté, égalité, et fraternité—for a publication that has trouble paying its bills.

Gram Ponante: I see from your dossier that you did not study modeling, but Political Science, at École.

Katsuni: I was born and raised in France and left my parents at 18 to study at School of Political Sciences. I was a very quiet and shy teenager, not feminine and confident at all. In fact my biggest frustration was to be a girl. I had no idea I could be a model…being a sexy and powerful woman was a fantasy.

Gram: Your performances are very powerful. Where did that come from, do you think?

Katsuni: Michelle Pfeiffer was one of my favorite actresses, not only because of her character as Catwoman but also for the movie “Dangerous Liaisons.” I loved Sigourney Weaver, who is so charismatic.
I probably started to have fantasies around 15 while I was still a virgin but I kept them secret as I was very shy. And in fact I used to have very weird dreams: being raped, making love with vampires on graves, being with a man much older than me… I knew that I was already attracted by pervert situations. Then porn allowed me to share my fantasies and express them without being judged.

Gram: Oh, I totally judge you. Being with a man older than you is sick. But it sounds like there is a real release in your public persona not initially apparent in your private one.

Katsuni: In my private life I always have been extremely shy. And still today, if I like being sexy, I won’t be naked in front of people unless this nudity is about teasing and having sex. This is why I’m absolutely comfortable to do strip-tease. And not on a beach. But the fact is that when I’m having sex I don’t think anymore at all and I don’t care if I’m naked or not.

I was really innocent when I entered the adult industry. I had no experience. I had no idea how much it is important to take care of yourself, your body and mind with free time to relax, and getting a lawyer to read each contract. Of course, I made mistakes, I lost my time sometimes, made bad choices, but I learned from that and I’m the one who I am today because of these mistakes. Anyway, I had a few people around me who gave me some advice you know. Like I have a friend of mine who is an adult performer but she’s 10 years older than me. She warned me about a few things…and still, I didn’t listen to her even if she was right. This is the way I am: I need to do things by myself, to take my own risks to learn and improve.

Gram: Knowing how people are just determined to make their own mistakes, what would you tell a woman following in your footsteps in the adult industry?

Katsuni: Do it because you love it, because it turns you on to have sex and be on camera. Don’t do that for the fame or the money. Of course it’s a job and it’s important to plan a career and think of the business side, but the real good reason to do this job is to love having sex, to be generous, to love men and women, and love yourself. Don’t do that for somebody else, take care of yourself, your health…Work with the right people, and before you start just keep in mind that you’re about to lose a second time your virginity. Porn changes your life forever and it can be in a good or a very bad way.

Gram: You are recognized around the world and people feel very affectionate about you (I know I do, anyway). But fans can be very demanding – especially porn fans – and you have to have your privacy. Can you give us some examples of how you learned to draw a border between your private self and public persona?

Katsuni: Today it’s even more difficult with Facebook and Twitter. I mean, we have to be there and I love it, but it’s true that some fans sometimes forget that we make a difference between our characer as a pornstar and our life as a woman. Each girl does what she wants but to me, it’s important to be myself. I’m 100 percent into my scenes but then, when the camera is off, I’m just myself. If you follow me on Twitter you will see that I’m not playing or overacting, and it seems that people appreciate that and will respect me maybe more because in the end I make them feel that there’s a time to play and tease, a time to promote, and a time to speak about daily life and simple things.

But I never [write] anything too private. I don’t lie, I just choose what I want people to know about me and what I want to share. And when I feel that some people cross the line, I just let them know. I try to not be rude but I tell them that they’re going too far. If they don’t want to understand, then I block them from my websites.

Gram: Many men are jealous of male porn performers. Knowing what you know, what would you say to fans to assure them that being a porn performer, even though it’s fun, is still a difficult job? In your experience, what would you say are the main complaints of MALE performers?

Katsuni:  That’s a smart question. You know, I always compare the adult industry with the famous apple that Eve bited in the Eden garden.

Gram: Oui.

Katsuni: Porn is the perfect caricature of temptations. You will find there girls, sex, money and fame. But believe me you can lose yourself and Heaven can become Hell. To be a male performer is so difficult….physically and most of all mentally. You have to deal with so many things. It’s already difficult to be a man but to be a male performer is a real performace. A few guys in the business are  really made for porn because they are passionate, so it’s OK, they are successful and happy. But so many guys want to prove something that they finally lose themselves. Just think that your daily issues as a man get 10 times more complicated when you do this job (your image, size of your cock, your girlfriend etc.)!

Gram: Who are some of your favorite male scene partners?

Katsuni: Mark Davis, Manuel Ferrara, Nacho Vidal, Lexington Steele, Rocco Siffredi, and James Deen. My favorites.

Gram: Describe for us some differences between the American porn fan and the European and Asian ones.

Katsuni: We could add the Italians ones too! So, to be honnest my favorite ones are the “Made in USA.” Most of them are respectful, and they’re crazy at the same time. When I feature-dance in the United States it’s the American dream for me! People are in a good mood, they are there to have fun and they are also very generous with tips, which is not the case in France where there’s no tips and where people want everything for free. The French are much more rude. It’s dangerous to dance as it’s about dancing in regular night clubs and not stripclubs. It’s probably also because I do a lot of mainstream media in France.

So people look at me as if I was a kind of alien.

In Asia that’s just the opposite. People are so respectful and impressed, so educated that they don’t look into my eyes and come to me for autographes as if I was their teacher. They don’t touch me, they wait and always say thank you. It’s really another culture, but they are probably the biggest fans.

Gram: You have been associated with many companies over the years, most recently Digital Playground. Please talk a little about being Katsuni versus being part of a larger company.

Katsuni: I started porn by being a contract girl for Penthouse Magazine (France) and then another company. After that I wanted to be independent and run my career by myself. [But] I couldn’t refuse the great opportunity to sign with Digital Playground, they are just on the top! It was exactly what I was looking for. I used to do a lot of gonzos and wanted to make a step from Performer to Pornstar. They brought me to this level and I will always tell them thank you for my rôle in “Pirates 2.”

[I was contracted with Digital Playground] for almost four years and it has been really cool, because in fact I always kept the possibilities of doing things by myself (websites, novelties…). Today I’m independent again but I and Digital Playground want to keep working together. I respect them a lot and I know that we still have great movies to do together.

Gram: I think of you as a porn performer who has earned the right to be called a Porn Star. What do you think about the recent wave of celebrity porn videos?

Katsuni: Oh, the famous sex tapes…Well, everybody want to get famous, even for bad reasons. It’s not about sex, passion, or talent anymore, it’s all about making a buzz and getting more friends on Twitter! I look at it from afar. I mean, it’s entertaining but I don’t care. I just hope that celebritites who do that really had fun and that it was a kind of fantasy. If not, that’s sad to use that as a marketing stategy. It’s like celebrities making huge promotion by “saving” the Thirld World. I think that they are the ones who need to be saved!

Gram: Please tell me the best pickup line you’ve heard, in French.

Katsuni: “Je suis toujours puceu de fellation. Tu peux venir à la maison pour m’aider?”

Gram: Ah, ha ha! Oui. Oui.

Katsuni: Do you know what that means?

Gram: Non.

Katsuni: “I’m still a virgin for blowjob. Can you come at home to resolve my issue?”

Gram: Happy Bastille Day, Katsuni.

Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Katsuni—So sue me
See also: Katsuni