Former Boy Meets World star Maitland Ward made a major career move to the world of adult entertainment last year, and she is celebrating her first year in the industry by gracing the cover of AVN Magazine.
The 43-year-old redhead wore a sheer black bodysuit for the cover, and the August 2020 issue features a 22-page spread filled with steamy pics taken by photographer Keith Ryan.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CDWjTXIH1Dg/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading[/embed]“It’s such an honor!” Ward said in a statement. “Keith Ryan is a fantastic photographer and we had a great time shooting this beautiful cover and layout.”
While her transition from Disney Channel actress to porn star might be shocking to some, Ward says that the career move “saved” her from Hollywood. In a recent opinion piece that she wrote for The Daily Beast, Ward explained that mainstream Hollywood was “limiting” and she was bored with her acting career.
“People will ask me if I fear that the adult industry has ruined me for mainstream. It’s quite the opposite. Mainstream ruined me for mainstream,” wrote Ward. “It became limiting and I was bored. This pigeonhole they put me in grew smaller and smaller. I was light. I was funny. That’s all I was allowed to be. When I hit my thirties, I was told I couldn’t be sexy. A publicist said to me, in a way that seemed polite to him, that if they wanted sexy they’d get someone who was 25. I’m glad I didn’t listen.”
Ward admits that many people thought her career in porn was nothing more than a stunt, but she says that her story is different because of her “genuine love for adult performance and for colorful cinema.”
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CDE8f0JHagF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading[/embed]Instead of following the traditional “formula” of making a “bad sex tape,” cry about making said tape, and starting a YouTube channel to gain followers and sponsors with content featuring her “constantly wailing in shame,” Ward says she owns her truth.
“This was not me. It would never be me. I am not ashamed,” wrote Ward.
The multiple AVN Award winner also revealed that she is making more money now than she ever did with the Disney Channel, and she truly cares about her A-list porn career. Maitlin Ward takes pride in her craft, and she loves that sites like OnlyFans have put “so much control in the hands of the performers.”
All seasons of Boy Meets World are currently available for streaming on Disney+.