Tera Patrick and Evan Seinfeld to be alone together

A porn star is like the elevator of an elegant building; everything is built around her: a studio, employees, and a brand that lasts, if she’s lucky, long after she has stopped performing in the style that brought her initial fame.

And when a porn couple splits up, as Tera Patrick and Evan Seinfeld announced today, they tend to commit to the structure created around the performer even if their personal relationship has gone south.

Tera Patrick said that she saw Evan Seinfeld on “Oz” one night and tracked him down. That was seven years ago. Since then, Seinfeld has just as often been the face of the company that bears her name: Teravision; he has been a relentless marketer of the Tera Patrick product.

Their joint press release emphasized the former couple’s desire to keep that product a household name.

“Tera is a huge star and a benefit to both adult and mainstream entertainment,” said Seinfeld. “I feel fortunate to have shared so much of her life and career.”

“Evan helped me build this company and take my career to new heights,” Tera said. “For that I am eternally grateful. I look forward to remaining hands-on with Teravision and working closely with Evan on all of our joint endeavors. He is truly an amazing person.”

Seinfeld did not know the term “suitcase pimp,” a derogatory phrase referring to a man who enriches himself off his girlfriend’s porn career, when he and Patrick began dating.

“I had a career of my own,” Seinfeld told me in 2007. “I was in a band, I was on TV, and she was famous in her own right. I feel like we met as equals. Then I’m photographed by some porn blog carrying her suitcase, and it’s this shitstorm.”

Keeping a relationship strong is difficult no matter what, and in porn it is especially tough. Patrick stopped performing with other men just as Seinfeld began performing in porn scenes of his own with other women.

But the couple were strong business allies throughout. Patrick is a staple at Las Vegas clubs and is paid handsomely for appearances; she is also a fixture at Seinfeld’s shows with his post-Biohazard band, the Spyderz. And everywhere Tera goes, so does Evan.

No split is ever easy, but Patrick and Seinfeld say theirs is amicable. The child of the relationship, after all, is Teravision.

“Teravision and Iron Cross are going strong and I look forward to continuing to represent the Tera Patrick brand and support all of her endeavors,” Seinfeld said. “She is forever in my heart.”

Maybe ClubJenna has that Playboy money, but I think the Tera/Evan post-relationship relationship will fare better than the Jenna/Jay Grdina one.

Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Tera Patrick – “I want world domination”; Tera’s Christmas presence
See also: Teravision