Ava Devine's Bad Advice

Send us Fan Mail

Blake Lovely spent years trying to make it in music while hiding a part of herself she had understood since childhood. Eventually, she reached a point where she couldn't do it anymore.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with musician, adult performer and director Blake Lovely for a conversation about transitioning, the music industry, adult entertainment, identity, rejection, creativity and building a career on your own terms.

Before entering adult entertainment, Blake moved to Los Angeles to pursue music. She recorded albums, toured with her band Animal Sun and eventually earned recognition for her work. But behind the music was a much more personal story.

Blake opens up about writing "Girl in Blue" about her desire to transition, why meeting transgender fans after shows affected her so deeply and the moment she decided that living authentically mattered more than protecting the career she had built.

Blake discusses the reaction from people around her, the challenges she says she experienced in the music industry and why adult entertainment eventually became a place where she found something she hadn't expected: community.

Some of the transgender performers Blake once watched and admired eventually became her friends, mentors and co-stars.

Within a few years, she went from performing music on an awards stage as the only transgender person in the room to returning to that same venue to accept an award for her work in adult entertainment surrounded by people she felt understood her.

But Blake didn't want to remain only in front of the camera.

She opens up about moving into directing, creating Once Upon a TS Summer and her goal of bringing cinematic storytelling back to adult films at a time when much of the industry has shifted toward creator-driven content.

We also discuss her latest project, Nobody Walks In Clean, why she assembled a cast of prominent transgender performers and her ambition to push transgender adult entertainment further into mainstream storytelling.

Blake also talks about learning to stop chasing perfection, navigating body image during transition, rediscovering music and refusing to let one label define who she is.

For Blake, being a musician, transgender woman, performer, director and artist aren't competing identities. They're different parts of the same person.

Follow Ava Devine
Instagram: @theoneandonlyavadevine
TikTok: @1avadevine

Follow Ava Devine's Bad Advice Podcast
Instagram: @avadevinesbadadvice
TikTok: @avadevinesbadadvice
X: @avadevinespod

Follow Blake Lovely
IG: @Blakelovely_
X: @_blakelovely_

Send us Fan Mail

What does it actually take to be sexy on command?

Behind the costumes, choreography and confidence of a Las Vegas showgirl are years of auditions, rejection, competition, body pressure and learning how to walk onto a stage and perform even when you don't feel your best.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with professional dancers Lauren Strong and Krystyna Lauren from Las Vegas' Sexxy The Show for a conversation about professional dance, burlesque, bodybuilding, body dysmorphia, confidence, rejection and what really happens behind the scenes when being sexy becomes part of your job.

Long before becoming Vegas showgirls, Lauren and Krystyna were already accustomed to high-performance environments.

Lauren spent years in professional dance and cheer, performing across the NFL, NBA and NLL worlds while experiencing firsthand how competitive auditions can be. She opens up about making an NFL team, being cut the following season and learning how quickly your identity can become attached to the career you've worked so hard to build.

Krystyna spent years auditioning for professional dance opportunities while also building a career in competitive bodybuilding, fitness and coaching.

Together, they open up about something both worlds taught them: when your body becomes part of your profession, it can become very difficult to stop evaluating it.

Krystyna discusses struggling with body dysmorphia, analyzing her body even when she didn't need to and eventually stepping away from bodybuilding competition to figure out whether she still wanted that life.

Lauren reveals that she experienced body pressure from both sides. While bodybuilding rewarded one physique, professional cheer told her her upper body had become too muscular and needed to look more feminine.

Eventually, both women found themselves entering a very different world: burlesque. And something unexpected happened. Performing in Sexxy The Show didn't make them more critical of their bodies. It began helping them become more accepting of themselves.

We also talk about rejection, perfectionism, burnout, aging as a professional performer, female friendship, competition and why learning to separate your identity from your achievements may be one of the hardest lessons for a high performer to learn.

Follow Ava Devine
Instagram: @theoneandonlyavadevine
TikTok: @1avadevine

Follow Ava Devine's Bad Advice Podcast
Instagram: @avadevinesbadadvice
TikTok: @avadevinesbadadvice
X: @avadevinespod

Follow Lauren Strong
IG: @laurenbstrong

Follow Krystyna Lauren
IG: @krystyna.lauren

Follow Sexxy: The Show
IG: @sexxyshowlv

Send us Fan Mail

Pole dancing has spent decades being dismissed because of its connection to strip clubs and erotica.

But what happens when women stop seeing sensuality as something they perform for somebody else, and start discovering it for themselves?

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with international pole dancer, instructor, and Team Basework founder Claudia Renee to talk about pole dancing, confidence, sensuality, strength, body image, sexual independence, and what really happens when women discover what their bodies are capable of.

What started as a birthday gift eventually became a career that has taken Claudia around the world, teaching thousands of women from different backgrounds and ultimately building Team Basework, her virtual pole dancing community with instructors from around the world. But Claudia's approach to pole goes far beyond learning tricks.

She explains why pole dancing can transform the way women see themselves, how physical strength can translate into emotional confidence and how she has watched women begin asking for what they want after discovering a different side of themselves through movement.

We also talk about something Claudia refuses to separate from the conversation: where pole dancing comes from. Pole has increasingly entered the worlds of fitness, competitive sport and mainstream entertainment, but Claudia believes respecting the art also means respecting its relationship with erotic dancers and spicy workers.

She takes us behind the scenes of training Constance Wu for Hustlers, the controversy she witnessed surrounding the production and why she believes pole dancers, midnight ballerinas, and spicy workers should be supporting each other rather than fighting over who is allowed to participate in the art form.

Follow Ava Devine
Instagram: @theoneandonlyavadevine
TikTok: @1avadevine

Follow Ava Devine's Bad Advice Podcast
Instagram: @avadevinesbadadvice
TikTok: @avadevinesbadadvice
X: @avadevinespod

Follow Claudia Renée
IG: @itsclaudiarenee

Follow Team Basework
IG: @teambasework

Follow Basecamp
IG: @base_by_teambasework

Send us Fan Mail

For most of her life, Mia Isabella refused to let other people decide who she was allowed to be.

Long before becoming one of the most recognizable transgender performers in adult entertainment, Mia was an artist, fashion designer, student, caregiver and young woman trying to build a life entirely on her own terms.

Then fame came.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with Mia Isabella for an intimate conversation about her childhood, transgender identity, race, family, fashion, adult entertainment, relationships, fame, the Tyga controversy, depression and what it actually means to live freely.

Mia takes us back to growing up in East Tennessee, where she says she understood herself as feminine from the age of five despite having no concept of what being transgender meant.

Raised by powerful women who encouraged her to tell the truth about who she was, Mia says she never learned to view being different as something that should limit her. But her childhood was also complicated by race, family conflict, and eventually discovering prejudices within the people she loved most.

As a biracial child growing up between different sides of her family, Mia opens up about confronting racism and colorism, becoming estranged from her grandmother for nearly a decade and eventually learning that loving someone doesn't mean accepting everything they believe.

She explains how she helped create an image of transgender women that went beyond reducing them to their bodies: full glamour, fashion, femininity and fantasy. But behind the public persona was a much more complicated private life.

Mia opens up about relationships with powerful and wealthy men, getting married extremely young, living what appeared to be an extraordinarily privileged life and eventually realizing that money, houses, jewelry and security could still become a cage.

She describes the moment she finally chose freedom over that life, leaving almost everything behind, driving to Las Vegas and rebuilding herself as Mia Isabella.

Then we talk about the controversy that changed everything.

Mia addresses the Tyga scandal, what she says actually happened when the story exploded online, the impersonation accounts she says helped ignite the controversy and why she believes the public narrative reduced an entire career to one sensational story.

She also explains why she has never wanted to publicly discuss the intimate details of her relationships with famous men. For Mia, those relationships were between human beings, not headlines.

But the consequences of public scrutiny were very real.

She explains how the scandal damaged the career she had spent years building, affected her relationships and professional opportunities, contributed to a deep depression, and ultimately led her to retreat from interviews and public attention for nearly a decade.

Now, she is telling her story from a very different place.

Send us Fan Mail

Society has an unwritten rule for women: youth is beauty, beauty is value, and eventually you're supposed to become quieter, less desirable and less visible.

Victoria Vale completely rejected that narrative.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with adult performer and model Victoria Vale for an honest conversation about starting over later in life, aging, confidence, beauty standards, plastic surgery, sexuality, career reinvention and why women do not have an expiration date.

Long before becoming Victoria Vale, she lived two very different lives.

She began dancing while putting herself through college before eventually leaving the entertainment world, completing graduate school and building a successful corporate career in HR. For roughly two decades, she lived what she describes as a normal suburban corporate life.

But part of her never forgot the freedom and excitement she had experienced before. Years later, Victoria decided to explore that part of herself again.

What initially began as a bucket-list opportunity to model eventually became something much bigger: a complete reinvention of her life in adulthood.

Victoria opens up about returning to an appearance-driven industry at an older age, becoming comfortable in front of the camera, entering adult films later in life and discovering that getting older didn't make her less confident.

Chapters

00:00 Women Do NOT Have An Expiration Date

00:01:05 Starting Over Later In Life

00:01:58 Who Was Victoria Vale Before Adult Entertainment?

00:02:42 Dancing Her Way Through College

00:04:27 Why Victoria Chose Corporate Life

00:05:07 Living Two Completely Different Lives

00:05:54 Did Victoria Ever Feel Like She Truly Fit In?

00:06:40 Shame & Growing Up Without Guilt

00:07:23 Education vs. Real-World Experience

00:08:07 What Adult Entertainment Taught Victoria About Men

00:08:58 Why Victoria Believes The Industry Can Empower Women

00:09:54 Why Victoria Returned To Adult Entertainment

00:10:36 Sex Appeal In The Corporate World

00:12:13 Does Appearance Affect How People Treat You?

00:12:56 The Glamour Standards Of The Feature-Dancing Era

00:14:52 The Opportunity That Brought Victoria Back

00:15:34 Working A Corporate Job While Modeling

00:16:18 Victoria Vale's Glamorous Aesthetic

00:17:04 How Ava Helped Victoria Enter The Creator Economy

00:18:32 Why Women Should Help Other Women Succeed

00:19:24 Why Leading With Kindness Matters

00:20:08 How Victoria Got Her Big Break

00:20:49 Why She Didn't Immediately Jump Into Adult Films

00:21:31 Victoria's First Experience Filming With A Partner

00:22:26 What People Don't Understand About Filming Adult Scenes

00:23:22 Why Staying Camera-Ready Gets Harder With Age

00:24:27 The Pressure Of Seeing Your Body On Camera

00:25:21 "I Feel Better Than I Did In My 20s"

00:26:12 How Victoria Transformed Her Health

00:26:58 Why Aging Made Her More Grounded

00:27:47 The Physical Demands Of Adult Entertainment

00:28:32 Protecting Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Health

00:29:36 Finding Balance Between Work & Real Life

00:30:37 How Victoria Deals With Online Hate

00:32:01 Aging Naturally vs. Plastic Surgery

00:32:50 Why Women Should Choose How THEY Want To Age

00:33:36 Why We Freeze Women In Their Younger Image

00:34:55 Victoria Vale On Plastic Surgery & Extreme Glamour

00:35:47 Why She Refuses To Apologize For Her Look

00:36:35 "My Body, My Choice"

00:37:31 Why Plastic Surgery Makes Victoria Feel More Confident

00:38:33 The Impossible Beauty Standard Women Face

00:39:23 "I'm Stronger Than I Was 20 Years Ago"

00:40:07 Why Women Are Judged No Matter How They Age

00:41:37 Is Ageism Still A Problem In Adult Entertainment?

00:42:32 Why Victoria Loves Being A Mature Woman

00:43:25 Victoria Vale's Advice For Women Of Every Age

00:45:10 "You Couldn't Pay Me To Be In My 20s Again"

00:45:57 What Victoria Is Proudest Of

00:46:53 What Women In Their 40s, 50s & 60s Need To Hear

00:47:44 "It's Never Too Late"

00:48:43 Why Your Life Doesn't End When You Start Over

00:49:34 Finding What Brings You Joy

00:50:34 Victoria Vale's Final Bad Advice

If there is one thing to take away from this episode, it's this: your life does not have an expiration date.

Send us Fan Mail

People have spent Sassee Cassee's entire life noticing what makes her different. But there is far more to her story than what people see.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with entertainer, feature dancer and content creator Sassee Cassee for an honest conversation about confidence, dating, fetishization, self-worth and learning to live without needing validation from other people.

Sassee takes us back to a childhood where her mother made the decision not to shelter her. She talks about being bullied in school, learning to defend herself, becoming a gymnast and developing the resilience that would eventually follow her into adulthood.

Then an unexpected opportunity changed everything.

After appearing on The Jerry Springer Show, Sassee began travelling, performing and eventually built a career as a touring feature dancer before joining Micro Maidens, an all-women burlesque show featuring little people.

But behind the performer is a woman who has spent much of her life navigating the difference between being seen and being objectified.

Sassee opens up about what dating is really like when you constantly have to question someone's intentions, how she separates genuine attraction from fetishization, why being attracted to a little person shouldn't be considered taboo, and the boundaries she refuses to compromise in her career.

## Chapters

00:00 Meet Sassee Cassee

00:00:33 The Mother Who Refused To Shelter Her

00:01:17 Growing Up With A Minister For A Sister

00:02:00 Family, Faith & Spicy Entertainment

00:03:14 How Spirituality Helps Sassee Handle Negativity

00:04:05 What Growing Up Different Was Really Like

00:04:45 The Bullying That Changed Her

00:05:37 How Sassee Learned To Handle Haters

00:06:22 From Gymnastics To Jerry Springer

00:07:18 Why Sassee Felt She Had To Prove Herself

00:08:02 Searching For Acceptance Through Self Love

00:08:54 Sassee Cassee On The Jerry Springer Show

00:09:38 Moving To California & Chasing A Bigger Career

00:10:15 What Dating Is Really Like For Sassee

00:11:03 How She Spots Men With The Wrong Intentions

00:11:38 What Sassee Actually Looks For In A Man

00:12:24 Attraction vs. Fetishization

00:13:06 Why Attraction To Little People Isn't Taboo

00:13:55 When Attraction Becomes Fetishization

00:14:47 Dating Younger Men & Learning What She Wants

00:15:39 Sassee Opens Up About Her Attraction To Women

00:16:33 How Sassee Built A Career As A Feature Dancer

00:17:31 Inside The Micro Maidens

00:18:14 How Sassee Joined Micro Maidens

00:18:56 Feeling Celebrated vs. Feeling Exploited

00:19:37 The Performance Sassee Refused To Do

00:20:28 What Respectful Entertainment Looks Like

00:21:09 What Happens At A Micro Maidens Show?

00:21:45 The Gymnastics Skills Behind Sassee's Performances

00:22:39 What Actually Defines A Little Person?

00:23:44 Would Sassee Date Another Little Person?

00:24:33 How Sassee Entered The Creator Economy

00:25:28 Becoming Comfortable With Her Body & Sexuality

00:26:18 "Treat Me Like A Human Being"

00:26:50 Why Sassee Lets Children Ask Questions

00:27:37 "People Don't Look At Me Like I'm A Person"

00:28:14 The Airport Interaction That Made Sassee Speak Up

00:28:50 How Her Response To Ignorance Has Changed

00:29:35 Sassee Opens Up About Body Image

00:30:27 Why She Chose To Control Her Own Content

00:31:04 Building Her Career On Her Own Terms

00:31:58 The Boundary Sassee Refuses To Cross

00:32:39 Who Is Sassee Cassee Beyond The Persona?

00:33:28 What's Next For Sassee Cassee?

00:35:13 What Sassee's Friends Know That Fans Don't

00:36:08 The Unexpected Thing That Makes Her Laugh

00:36:52 The Money Lesson Sassee Wishes She Learned Earlier

00:37:44 "I Don't Need A Man To Be Happy"

00:38:47 Where Sassee Sees Herself In Five Years

00:40:25 Sassee Opens Up About Drug Addiction & Recovery

00:41:16 Sassee Cassee's Final Bad Advice

If there is one thing to take away from this episode, it's this: you are more than the assumptions people make about you.

Her story isn't about proving that she's just like everybody else.

It's about reaching the point where she no longer feels like she has to prove anything at all.

Follow Ava Devine
Instagram: @theoneandonlyavadevine
TikTok: @1avadevine

Follow Ava Devine's Bad Advice Podcast
Instagram: @avadevinesbadadvice
TikTok: @avadevinesbadadvice
X: @avadevinespod

Follow Sassee Cassee
X: @sassee_cassee
IG: @sasseecassee89

Follow Micro Maidens
X: @micromaidens
IG: @micromaidens

Send us Fan Mail

Most people see the finished product of adult entertainment. They don't see the business decisions, long hours, rejection, boundaries, social media restrictions, relationships, mentorship, and discipline required to build a career that lasts.

This week on Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with adult performer and entrepreneur Katie Kush for a conversation about what it really takes to build a career in the modern adult entertainment industry.

Before becoming Katie Kush, she worked at a school supporting children with special needs and behavioural challenges. After a relationship ended and she found herself financially responsible for a home on her own, Katie began camming while continuing to work at the school.

Eventually, she faced a decision: continue pursuing a career she loved or take a chance on adult entertainment.

Her mother gave her one piece of advice that would shape the way she approached her career: treat it like a business.

And that's exactly what Katie did.

We talk about her transition from amateur content into professional films, why it took her more than a year to fully commit to the industry, what happened when her school discovered her adult work, and how veteran performers helped teach her how to navigate the business.

Katie also explains the massive shift she has witnessed from the traditional studio system to today's creator economy, and why she believes performers now have more control over their careers than previous generations.

This is a conversation about adult entertainment, the creator economy, consent, social media, work ethic, mentorship, confidence, burnout, and what building a sustainable career actually looks like behind the scenes.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Katie Kush

00:00:51 Why Ava Wanted A Gen Z Performer On The Show

00:01:35 Katie Kush's Business Approach To Adult Entertainment

00:02:16 Who Was Katie Kush Before Adult Entertainment?

00:02:57 From Special-Needs Assistant To Camming

00:04:12 Trying To Keep Her Two Lives Separate

00:05:25 Choosing Between A Traditional Career & Adult Entertainment

00:05:59 What Happened When Katie's School Found Out

00:08:00 Katie Kush's First Adult Film Experience

00:09:27 How Veteran Performers Helped Katie Build Her Career

00:10:47 Learning From Adult Entertainment Veterans

00:11:24 Studios vs. Creator Platforms

00:12:06 How Creator Platforms Changed Adult Entertainment

00:13:46 Why Katie Still Works With Studios

00:15:03 Katie Kush Tries Exotic Dancing

00:15:47 Her First Day At A Strip Club Went Very Wrong

00:16:54 The Reality Of Rejection In Feature Dancing

00:18:11 What Katie's Feature Shows Are Really Like

00:19:31 How Competitive Dance Shaped Her Adult Career

00:20:52 How Katie Plans Creator Collaborations

00:22:08 Being A Switch & Understanding Power Dynamics

00:23:34 What Katie's Fans Request Most

00:25:44 Why Katie Loves Performing At Clubs

00:27:05 Social Media's Impact On Her Career

00:27:50 Why Adult Performers Get Flagged Online

00:29:58 The Mental Gymnastics Of Social Media Censorship

00:30:35 Losing Access To Payment Platforms

00:31:16 How Katie Deals With Hate Comments

00:32:37 Why Online Criticism Kept Katie Away From Podcasts

00:33:43 Mental Health In Adult Entertainment

00:35:10 How Katie Protects Her Sanity

00:35:47 Burnout & Learning To Say No

00:36:30 The Unexpected Hobbies That Keep Katie Grounded

00:37:11 Separating Adult Entertainment From Real Life

00:38:32 Does Katie Mentor New Performers?

00:40:02 Katie's Advice For Anyone Entering Adult Entertainment

00:40:41 Creator First vs. Traditional Studio Career

00:41:27 How To Find The Right Adult Industry Agent

00:42:53 Why New Performers May Need Representation

00:44:13 Finding Your Niche In An Oversaturated Industry

00:45:35 What Makes Katie Kush Successful?

00:46:14 Consent & Knowing When To Speak Up

00:46:48 How Katie Learned Her Personal Boundaries

00:47:23 Studio Shoots vs. Creator Content

00:48:10 Katie's Biggest Turn-On & Turn-Off

00:48:59 Katie Talks Sexuality & Relationships

00:50:53 The Best Career Advice Katie Ever Received

00:51:35 Is Adult Entertainment Empowering?

00:52:26 What Fans Would Be Surprised To Learn About Katie

00:53:51 Separating Work From Private Intimacy

00:57:01 Katie Kush's Final Bad Advice

00:57:46 Where To Follow Katie Kush

Follow Ava Devine
Instagram: @theoneandonlyavadevine
TikTok: @1avadevine

Follow Ava Devine's Bad Advice Podcast
Instagram: @avadevinesbadadvice
TikTok: @avadevinesbadadvice
X: @avadevinespod

Follow Katie Kush
X: @Katiekushxx2
IG: @katiekushxx2

Send us Fan Mail

Before social media made bimbofication, extreme plastic surgery, and exaggerated beauty trends part of internet culture, women like Kayla Kleeavage were already pushing beauty standards to their limits.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with legendary adult performer and feature dancer Kayla Kleeavage to look back at the era of big hair, big glamour, and even bigger implants, and how adult entertainment, plastic surgery, beauty standards, and sexuality have changed since the 1980s and 1990s.

Kayla takes us back to the beginning of her career as a house dancer before becoming a touring feature dancer, magazine model, adult performer, and eventually the owner of her own production company.

We discuss the legendary "big boob era" of the industry, when performers including Kayla, Lisa Lipps, Pandora Peaks, and other famous bombshells helped create an exaggerated aesthetic that would eventually resemble what internet culture now calls bimbofication.

Kayla also opens up about the extraordinary lengths women went to achieve that look.

This is a conversation about adult entertainment history, extreme plastic surgery, beauty standards, confidence, aging, reinvention, and the women who helped create an aesthetic decades before social media gave it a name.

Chapters

00:00 Meet Adult Entertainment Legend Kayla Kleeavage

00:02:46 How Kayla Kleeavage Became A Household Name

00:03:32 What Was Feature Dancing?

00:04:21 Getting Extreme Breast Implants In The 1990s

00:05:08 From Men's Magazines To Adult Films

00:05:54 The Big Boob Era Of Adult Entertainment

00:06:45 Kayla's First Breast Augmentation

00:07:37 How Kayla Entered Adult Films

00:08:21 Kayla's Early Adult Film Career

00:09:23 Was There Competition Between The Big-Boob Legends?

00:10:14 Why Kayla Started Her Own Production Company

00:10:58 The Race For Bigger Breast Implants

00:11:58 Why Women Were Searching Overseas For Extreme Implants

00:12:48 Kayla's Polypropylene String Breast Implants

00:13:34 Why Kayla Has Had Around 10 Breast Surgeries

00:14:18 The Implant Complication Doctors Couldn't Explain

00:14:56 The Emotional Toll Of Breast Implant Complications

00:15:39 What Kayla's Breast Implants Are Like Today

00:17:13 The Legendary Big Boob Cruises

00:17:57 Did The 1990s Invent Bimbification?

00:18:47 Kayla Kleeavage On Modern Bimbification

00:20:20 Why Kayla Supports Plastic Surgery

00:21:01 How People React To Kayla In Public

00:21:34 How Adult Entertainment Has Changed Since The 1990s

00:23:10 How The Internet Changed Adult Entertainment Forever

00:24:00 From VHS Tapes To The Creator Economy

00:24:53 1990s Glamour vs. Today's Adult Entertainment

00:26:03 Why Adult Entertainment Looks Different Today

00:27:28 What It's Like Aging In Adult Entertainment

00:28:29 Can Women Age Gracefully In An Industry Obsessed With Youth?

00:29:16 Why There's An Audience For Women At Every Age

00:30:01 How Kayla's Fanbase Has Changed

00:31:33 What Younger Fans Ask Kayla For Today

00:32:30 Confidence In Your 20s vs. Confidence As You Age

00:33:12 What Kayla Would Tell Women Who Feel Invisible

00:34:58 Kayla's Unfiltered Advice For Getting Your Confidence Back

00:36:24 How Kayla Built Her Own Confidence

00:37:11 Staying Relevant As You Get Older

00:38:41 What Hollywood Gets Wrong About Adult Entertainment

00:39:32 How Kayla Kleeavage Made It Into Hollywood

00:41:14 Has Adult Entertainment Held Her Back?

00:42:07 The Strangest Beauty Trends Kayla Has Seen

00:43:08 Kayla's Wildest Fan Encounter

00:44:51 The Adult Entertainment Trend Kayla Wants To Disappear

00:46:36 Kayla Kleeavage's Final Bad Advice

If there is one thing to take away from this episode, it's this: women do not have an expiration date.

Beauty standards change. Bodies change. Industries change. What was considered extreme in one generation can become a mainstream aesthetic in another. Kayla Kleeavage built a career by embracing exactly who she wanted to be, long before social media gave that aesthetic a name, and she's still evolving today.

Send us Fan Mail

Disclosure:

Certain elements of this interview have been censored because I felt they were not relevant to the question and disrespectful to the individual being discussed.

The documentary Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise introduced viewers to a Las Vegas house known as Pearadise, a place created around the plus-size and BBW community that became the center of serious allegations involving consent, boundaries, surveillance, fetishization, and the treatment of women who visited the house.

Now, Pearadise creator Stefan Wilhelmy responds.

In this episode of Ava Devine's Bad Advice, I sit down with Stefan Wilhelmy for a direct conversation about the allegations surrounding Pearadise and his portrayal in Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise.

This is not a declaration of innocence or guilt. It is an opportunity to question Stefan directly about what happened inside the house, hear his account, and challenge him on some of the most controversial claims raised by former visitors and in the documentary.

Stefan explains how Pearadise began as his private Las Vegas home before becoming a gathering place for members of the BBW and plus-size community. He responds to questions about who was invited into the house, whether visitors understood what they were entering, the absence of written agreements in its early years, household responsibilities, security cameras, livestreams, social media monetization, and whether women were ever expected to provide labor in exchange for staying there.

The conversation then turns to the most serious issue: consent.

I question Stefan about allegations that some women felt uncomfortable saying no, claims surrounding physical contact and photographs taken at the house, and whether extensive flirting or previous sexual conversations can ever be interpreted as consent. Stefan disputes many of the allegations made against him, provides his account of specific incidents, and explains why he believes events at Pearadise were misrepresented.

We also discuss what Stefan says he has changed since those events, including clearer house rules, written agreements, and asking for explicit consent , even for physical contact as simple as a hug.

Whether you've watched Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise, followed the controversy surrounding Pearadise online, or are hearing about the story for the first time, this conversation offers Stefan Wilhelmy the opportunity to answer difficult questions directly.

Chapters

00:00 Stefan Wilhelmy Responds To Big Girls Wanted: Escaping Pearadise

00:00:50 Consent, Safety & The Allegations Against Pearadise

00:01:37 What Was The Original Purpose Of Pearadise?

00:03:11 Stefan's History In The BBW Community

00:04:42 How COVID & TikTok Changed Everything

00:06:48 How Pearadise Began On TikTok

00:07:27 Why Stefan Says TikTok Became Part Of The Problem

00:11:04 Was Pearadise Really Just A Party House?

00:12:27 Were Visitors Required To Sign Agreements?

00:14:34 Was Pearadise A Content House?

00:16:15 Were Visitors Expected To Hook Up With Stefan?

00:17:52 Nudity, Parties & Sexual Boundaries At Pearadise

00:18:51 What Were Women Expected To Do Around The House?

00:21:58 Cooking, Cleaning & Household Responsibilities

00:23:13 Why Women Helped With Stefan's Business

00:25:15 Were Women Compensated For Their Work?

00:27:15 Why Was Pearadise Covered In Security Cameras?

00:31:10 The Real Reason Stefan Says He Installed Cameras

00:32:35 Did Visitors Know They Were Being Recorded?

00:34:28 How Stefan Says The Security Footage Was Used

00:36:36 Did Stefan Make Money From Pearadise?

00:39:25 Stefan Responds To The Consent Allegations

00:40:10 Stefan Responds To Savvy's Claims

00:42:11 Can Flirting Ever Mean Consent?

00:43:30 The Controversial Pool Photograph

00:45:25 Stefan Says Security Footage Supports His Account

00:46:50 What Happened After The Allegations Surfaced?

00:47:42 Stefan Discusses Piggy Stardust

00:50:00 What Happened With The Legal Case?

00:51:24 Stefan On Consent & Implied Consent

00:52:51 What Stefan Says He Has Changed Since Then

00:54:25 Why Consent Can Always Be Withdrawn

00:54:59 Is Pearadise Still Operating Today?

00:56:29 Stefan Responds To Feederism Claims

00:57:45 What Is Pearadise Like Today?

00:58:36 What Stefan Says He Gave The Documentary Producers

01:00:47 What Stefan Wants Viewers To Know

01:01:29 Stefan Responds To The "Escaping Pearadise" Title

Send us Fan Mail

We discuss Carmela’s fitness and weight loss transformation, emotional eating, body image, creator marketing, personal branding, social media strategy, consent, performer safety, friendships, competition, diversity, dating, and the physical and mental demands of working in adult entertainment.

Carmela explains how she entered the industry with only **$27.32**, used her marketing education to build an authentic brand, and transformed her health after experiencing obesity, prediabetes, arthritis, and disordered eating. She also shares the painful experience of being assaulted early in her career, why performers need clear boundaries and support systems, and how community and mentorship can help protect the next generation.

Whether you're considering a career in adult entertainment, building an online brand, struggling with body image, or trying to understand the business behind creator platforms, this conversation offers honest insight into the work people rarely see behind the finished product.

In this episode, we discuss:

00:00 Why Carmela Clutch’s Body Transformation Was Questioned

00:00:36 The Essay That Defended Her Fitness Journey

00:02:15 How Industry Rejection Motivated Carmela Clutch

00:03:05 Obesity, Prediabetes, Arthritis & Body Image

00:04:48 Carmela’s Highest Weight & Deciding To Change

00:05:30 Emotional Eating, Breakups & Starting Her Fitness Journey

00:07:37 Why Walking, Running & Exercise Helped Her Mental Health

00:08:15 Why Carmela Clutch Entered Adult Entertainment

00:09:02 Starting An Adult Career With Only $27.32

00:11:04 Body Positivity & Breaking Into The Industry

00:11:49 How Carmela Created Her Personal Brand

00:13:57 How A Marketing Degree Helped Her Adult Career

00:15:28 Using Social Media Trends To Build A Brand

00:17:26 Should New Adult Performers Pay For Career Advice?

00:18:42 Why Women In Adult Entertainment Should Collaborate

00:19:32 Carmela Clutch Opens Up About Being Assaulted

00:22:22 Safety Advice For New Adult Performers

00:24:40 Consent, Boundaries & The Right To Stop A Scene

00:25:56 How To Plan A Successful Creator Collaboration

00:27:21 Who Controls The Footage & Release Date?

00:29:58 Building Genuine Friendships In Adult Entertainment

00:31:24 Diversity, Race & Competition In The Adult Industry

00:33:45 Why Collaboration Is Better Than Competition

00:36:18 What A Day In The Life Of An Adult Performer Looks Like

00:38:31 The Business Work Behind Adult Entertainment

00:39:46 Dating While Working In Adult Entertainment

00:42:36 Sexual Health, Testing & Dating Boundaries

00:43:20 Why Carmela Clutch Avoids Dating Apps

00:44:46 Dating Apps, Hookups & Meaningless Connections

00:46:08 Relationships, Swinging & Emotional Connection

00:48:18 Separating The Performer From The Private Person

00:48:52 Finding Genuine Friendships Early In Her Career

00:50:23 How To Recognize Ulterior Motives

00:51:55 When Friends Use Your Fame For Free Access

00:53:51 Why Some Friends Resent Your Success

00:55:58 Healthy Boundaries With Emotional Vampires

00:57:16 How Adult Entertainment Changed Carmela’s Life

00:57:59 From 208 Pounds & $27 To Finding Her Voice

If there is one thing to take away from this episode, it’s this: success in adult entertainment is not built on appearance alone. It requires business knowledge, physical and emotional discipline, communication, boundaries, resilience, and the confidence to advocate for yourself. Carmela’s journey is proof that your circumstances do not have to determine your future, but you must believe in yourself, protect your wellbeing, and never give up.