Confessions Of A Pornographer’s Daughter

Kristina Battista-Frazee recently completed a book titled The Pornographer's Daughter: A Memoir of Childhood, My Dad, and Deep Throat. In it, she details her father's exploits as a distributor of pornographic movies like Deep Throat in the 1970s. Daily Life has acquired an excerpt from the book, and it seems like a fascinating read.

I didn't realise until I was older that Deep Throat was the reason we'd moved from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale in the summer of 1977, when I was six years old. By the time my stockbroker father, Anthony Battista, had been sentenced for distributing the 1972 porn film, he had acquired interests in three adult film theatres in Florida, in addition to still running the Golden 33 strip club in Philadelphia. While it was still flourishing, my parents' marriage had suffered. My father was ready to leave it behind and make a bold move for our family.

A few weeks before the move, my mother, Frances, was reading through The Philadelphia Inquirer. As she had every Sunday for the past few weeks, she searched for an article by reporter Jack Smith, who'd interviewed my father months before. That day she came across the headline, "Stockbroker to Pornbroker", and saw my father's name in the paragraphs below.

My parents took turns reading the article."Geez, Anthony. He makes you seem like the porn king of Philadelphia," said my mother when they were finished.

"Interesting quote: 'The only difference between selling stock and smut is I don't have to wear a tie.' " My father looked at my mother and chuckled.

Here's hoping my daughters never find out what I do for a living, and certainly don't ever attempt to capitalize on it. Just kidding, I'll help them write the book when the time comes. 

You can read the full excerpt at Daily Life or pre-order a copy of the book, set to be released on September 23, over at Amazon.