XCritic Interview: Kiki D’aire

As we sit down for part two of our interview with Porn Super Star Kiki D’aire the thing that I had to share with every reader is that this woman, never had I met a person who was so well liked and had so many people speak good words about her, even the people who do not say good things about anybody. Kiki and I sat down for part two of our interview and I told her I was going to press the woman behind the character and the “Lady of Fantasy” that has brought so much to this business. Her response, “I am game.” It was not until I sat down and began to transcribe this interview that I saw exactly what everyone had told me and we wish to share that with you, the XCritic readers, so without further adue………Here’s Kiki!

XCritic: So, when you got back into college and the swing of things that comes with going back to school and engulfed yourself back in “normal life” was it a bit of a shell shock for you to get back into the scheme of things and not have things pop up in everyday life like shoot schedules, make-up at 6AM and all those other standards that come with a production. What was it like to be outside the industry looking in so to speak? Was it nerve racking?

Kiki D’Aire: Oh absolutely! It was really, really strange. Probably the hardest thing was that I was in New Orleans, I was around a lot of people who were not open minded and my ex’s friends were not exactly poster children for being “open minded.” Most of them were from decent families that had met my ex in college, so they were wealthy and if they were not wealthy, they definitely had enough cash to where they could send their children to a very expensive, private university. I faced lots of judgment, a lot of bickering behind my back, even towards my ex. It was not easy for him either. His family hated me and I did not like them either. It was a really rough time for a lot of reasons. I really enjoyed college though. I could have chosen to go to school at night with all the adults. Most of the classes that I took where only offered during the day. So here I am, in my late twenties, in college with nineteen and twenty-one-year olds. I was really, really happy that I chose to do that and I had some really amazing professors and I learned a bunch of really cool shit, so life is good.

XCritic: Wow, I must just say wow. I commend you so much for that. Kiki, I cannot tell you how impressive it is to see a person go outside of their realm and try and do something different. Something that they are not comfortable with. I am not saying this to kiss your ass but it is so true that most people in this world do not ever try anything different in life, especially after you had been in the industry for such a long time and on top of that, you were a dancer before that. It is truly commendable, I mean that.

Kiki D’Aire: You know, ……I truly appreciate that. I am grateful for a lot of the things that happened when I was with my ex. I got to travel to Europe, north Africa, the Caribbean. I got to learn about things that I would have never known about, because I didn’t grow up with money, you know? There is a certain education, not just in college but in life that I received from him. I am thankful for that. I really and truly am. There is also a lot of really bad stuff that happened and things that left very, very deep scars and those things, I am not really that thankful for but at the same time, you can’t have “great” in life, without having “not so great.” So, you know, every day that I wake up, I get to enjoy a new adventure. That is a win to me and I am just happy that I was able to get through everything. I am still here.

XCritic: I dig it darlin, that is a truth in life, you have to learn to smile on the days that are bad, as well the days that are good and you have to earn to treat the good days just like you would the bad ones and vice versa, because the thing I like about what you said, is that there are things in this industry that make a person grow as a human being and it could be things that are bad and things that re good that make you grow. No, fucking-a! That is no bullshit. I wish I could portray that to certain critics about this industry. These gals, these girls, these women, these boys, these men, they are normal fucking people, they are actually people who learn life lessons and way better than the “normal” people of the fucking world do, I will tell you that much. I feel you doll. I grew up poor in Sound View, South Bronx and that leads me to my next question. I would love to know what it was like growing up in Tennessee. The reason I ask you that, I use to live in Nashville for about eight months a few years ago. It was a crazy place. Me being a New Yorker, here I come to this crazy state and here are people opening doors for you everywhere you go, it was a trip.

 Kiki D’aire: (Laughing historically) ……HaHaHa, first off, let me just say that Nashville is such an amazing city. I looooove Nashville. I grew up in Memphis and on one hand, I had my mother’s family, which they were loving, accepting, very open people. They all know what I do and it is not an issue, nobody looks down their nose at me, they are very cool. I did not get to spend a lot of time with them when I was growing up, because my Dad had custody of me and my sister and he did not get along with my Mom’s family. Frankly, he did not get along with my Mom but that is a whole other story. Lol. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather and grandmother which, they were my Dad’s parents. You know, my grandmother was this little lady who would stomp her foot, put her hand on her hip and say, “now I am mad!” That was her way of saying, “bitch, you done pissed me off!” My grandpa, he was this six foot, two inch Golden Gloves boxer who had an amazing career as a hospital core man in the Navy and guess who was their first grandchild? I could do no wrong. I could get away with murder.

 Xcritic: HaHaHa, I love it!

 Kiki D’aire: lol. I really did, my uncles were both music teachers, so I started taking piano lessons when I was in first or second grade. I actually played and sang music my entire life. My grandmother, loved westerns, musicals and war movies. So, I can tell you more about old movie musicals that you have never heard of than you would ever believe. Lol. Because I think that I have seen them all. Lol.

XCritic: Awesome, so that means if I were to bring up a little musical called The Producers, you would be able to give me your critique on it?

Kiki D’aire: lol. Yes, I could tell you all about Lerner and Lowe, Rogers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter. God, you name it. Lol.

XCritic: God, I love you woman! I so wanna go hang out with you. Being that I was born in the Bronx. I was born right off Broadway so, yes, I may be the only straight man who loves Broadway. Well, not the only one, we will just say the coolest one.

Kiki D’aire: Right on man! You know, Broadway is awesome! That is one thing that is really cool about visiting New York, is if you actually have the time to go to the theatre, Oh my God! It is such an experience.

XCritic: Oh, I feel ya, I want to go see Hamilton so fucking bad! I tried to go when I was last there on a business trip and the thing was sold out every fucking show, I was so pissed off.

Kiki D’aire: Right on. I totally get it!

Xcritic: So, you are telling me, we could actually see Kiki in a musical. That is the range of talent that you have? Rock fucking on darling. Sign me up for that show.

Kiki D’aire: lol. Yeah, I would love to do something like that. Every time that I audition for musicals, I was always so close to getting past it but I never took ballet or tap, so a lot of times, I got knocked out of the running because I just could not dance well enough for the director. So, with that said, when I was in high school, we had a grant to do this original, short style opera. It was done with body puppets actually, so I played a cat and I actually made my own body puppet for this thing, it was really cool! I was really lucky, because I went to a high school where art and music, writing and just everything that was “artsy” was celebrated and it was a very big deal!

XCritic: This is something very close to me. It is a true piece of "Americana" that I do wish would comeback. The arts darlin’ that is exactly what brought us all together in this big, beautiful business.

Kiki D’aire: Oh, absolutely. Something else that is just really crazy too, is that the Memphis Opera use to rehearse in the gym at my high school.

XCritic: Oh, hell yeah. I would have been so trying to hang out under the bleachers and shit! Lol.

Kiki D’aire: Well, actually, here is the really cool part. So there were a couple of instances where they needed people to just do a little walk on. So, I was actually in a few operas when I was in high school because of that. It was pretty bad ass!

XCritic: This is so bad ass. I mean you continue to lead us into each and every question. It is literally like you have psychic abilities woman. I love it. All joking aside, I was looking forward to this and I knew the questions would line up just like they did because you are such an intelligent woman and an amazing actress. You are just leading me into all this shit. You fucking rock woman! So here is my question for you, out of all the stuff you have done, all the shit in the business, your film work, your picture spreads. All the things you have done, I think the fans forget sometimes that you ladies are performers, to do what you do on camera, it is the hardest thing to do on the planet. I honestly think that is why when “celebrities” try and do what you do in the business, they basically fade and their film and work looks like shit! So, the question I have for you is, what is truly your defining work in the business? What is it that we must see of Kiki D’aire that defines her?

Kiki D’aire: Oh, wow! That’s crazy. Now, there are a couple of things that come to mind. They come to mind for several reasons. One of the first projects that I ever did Antonio Passolini, God rest his soul, I loved Toni, he was so amazing! One of the first projects that I ever did with him was Captain Mongo’s Porno Playhouse. It was myself, another girl, I can’t remember her name, I think it was Alexandra Nice. Evan Stone was playing the title character who was this dirty, drug addicted, homeless clown and I will never forget this. I got the call from Antonio and he was obviously a name that I knew and I was really excited. He says to me, “I have to ask you something and this is really important.” So I am like, “Ok?” He says, “Are you afraid of clowns?” Then, I’m responding quickly, “No, I actually like clowns, why do you ask?” Antonio says, “Well, Evan is going to playing a clown." I was stopped in my tracks, saying, “Oh my God, really?” He responds back to me, “You sound really excited, is there a story behind this?” and actually there was. I was at Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus a few months prior. We had dropped some acid and I am sitting there and I do not know what came over me, it just hit me. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to fuck a clown?” So I was super excited. Evan was in full make-up and we had cut for a second and I look over to Tony and tell him, “I have to ask you something....Can I verbally humiliate the clown?” He is like, “Fuck yeah, do it!” I had so much fun talking shit to Evan that day. It was awesome. Now the other things I should mention involved a production with Wicked Pictures a long time ago called Guilty Pleasures. One of the coolest things about this movie, was I did a ton of acting. My scenes at that time were not that great. I was pretty new and was a little bit shy but acting wise, I was really, really pleased with that performance. Well, some years later. I ran into Steve Orenstein at a convention and we were chatting and I will never forget this, he looked at me like, “You really where way better in Guilty Pleasures than that movie called for.” and I was so flattered that I had gotten such a compliment from the owner of Wicked. That is something that really sticks out in my mind.

XCritic: That is so cool sweetheart. That is the ultimate compliment, because when someone goes back and looks at your work one time and then looks at it another time, then sits down and sees it years later, that is simply someone who understands what acting brings forward in an adult production and that is so kick ass to this critic.

Kiki D’aire: You know, I will always have a special place in my heart for Wicked and Steve Orenstein, because that was just such an amazing compliment. Like I said, it is really, really amazing to me when people in the industry come up and compliment something that I have done. When the fans compliment me on things that I have done, I really can’t describe how happy it makes me to bring other people happiness. I think that is a lot of why we do what we do as actors, because we want to share the beauty of life with other people.

 XCritic: Oh yeah, I mean it’s the one thing I have learned from having so many friends that are performers, is that you guys are “lovers” in the most true sense of the word and by that, I mean lovers of life. You guys are unique souls to say the least…..I know I keep beating the same drum here but the most beautiful souls I have met, have been mainly in this industry and most of them are performers. Because in my view, to have that uncanny beauty in the mind is a rare thing sweetheart.

Kiki D’aire: Yes Don, some of the most beautiful and some of the most fragile.

XCritic: Yes, and a fragility that comes warranted, because it is not easy to do what you all do sweetheart and it is like you said, if there is one actor that gets type cast more than anyone, it is the adult actor and that is no bullshit!

Kiki D’aire: Oh, that is for sure! Because you know people only see what they want to see when “adult” gets brought into anything or any discussion, which is sad.

XCritic: It is. I will give you the best example I have ever seen. Derrick Pierce did a film with Tammy Lynn Sytch when celebrity sex tapes where the craze of the industry and everyone was making one who had shot a Hollywood film or been on TV. Long story short, the film was not good and it was of no fault of Derrick’s it was mainly because Tammy looked like she trying to have genuine, real life sex with him, not the fantasy and performance that is a true adult film. Derrick was performing and Tammy was not, it made the scene look clunky and rehearsed. It made the film look horrible, it made the scene look horrible. Then she said something really cool though, she was like, “wow, I actually understand that these girls and guys are performers and that this is a business.” I thought that was a cool compliment coming from a person who everyone else in the world looks at and says is a true actor and people do not know that you guys are too, you know what I mean?

 Kiki D’aire: Yeah, people really don’t understand how difficult a sex scene can be. I mean don’t get me wrong, I am not going to sit here and be all “Hollywood” and be like, “Oh my God! My job is so hard.” There are a million people that have much more difficult jobs than I do. I mean, my job is so easy, compared to a doctor’s or someone who goes out and does what the US Government tells them to do. Don’t get me wrong, everybody thinks that their job is the toughest one in the world and my hat goes off to those people who go out there and bust their ass and work really hard, because I feel very blessed to have a job that lets me play dress up and pretend to be other people and explore living in someone else’s shoes.  

XCritic: You are one humble and sweet soul darlin’ and I mean, I will tell you this as a critic, there is a reason that you have had longevity in this business sweetheart. Because even though you have said, comparative to other professions, the truth is, you do a lot. You have been in scenes a very long time, where you carried the mother fucker that you were shooting with and a person who knows acting can see that but fans never will, because you are there conveying the fantasy to them in the most ultimate way. I truly believe that is why you have the longevity you do. You bring out things in other performers and there are times you put them over in ways that surpass even yourself and your character in a film, even though they may be new, or full of shit, or just not know what they are doing and that is a true gift that you have. I have seen that since the first film I ever say you in and that takes talent. That is just not luck or beauty. That is someone who understands the shit it takes for a person to be successful and make money in this business. That is the critic talking, not the person behind the critic.

Kiki D’aire: I appreciate that. Because I really do feel like my job as a performer, is to get the best out of myself and my co-star. I want my co-star to look amazing, I want them to look great on film. My favorite people to work with are people that are like minded. There are certain guys and girls in the business, that if you work with them, they will automatically help position you in ways that show off your body the best. They are people who do everything they can to make the transition effortless. When you get two people together that are able to do those things, it’s magic and it makes for such a fun, amazing day.

XCritic: Kick ass dude. Once again, you are walking right into the next fucking question. Now, your official career started in 2000? Is that right? Or was it 1999?

Kiki D’aire: I shot my first scene ever in 1998 but we could say that my career kind of really started around 2000. Well, right around '99, 2000, something like that.

XCritic: Cool, so the thing I wanted to ask you, was since your career started, is there any performer past, or present, that you would kill to get a chance to work with? What performer is out there, male or female, that caught Kiki’s eye and you know you both would destroy it if you were in front of the camera with them!

Kiki D’aire: Oh wow! You know, I have never gotten my hands on Manuel Ferrara and I did not know this until I actually watched one of his scenes but when he starts speaking to the girls in French and he is whispering in their ear, OHHHHHHH MY GOD!!!! Yeah, that would be amazing! I mean UUUUGGGGHHHHH! So that is definitely one person that I would find amazing. You know, there is somebody I have to bring up, even though they are no longer with us and that is Anna Malle. I would have loved to have gotten a chance to work with her. I think we would have been fire together!

XCritic: Oh, my goodness. That would have been hot! The psychic abilities are flowing all around us here doll. Now my next question and I am pretty sure that you get asked this shit all the time. So, I will build it up a bit. Some of the work I liked of yours in 2016 was on a Filly Films set, being how long you have been in the business, you know how sets have changed since the time you started your career. How do things compare to the way that they use to be? Having friends that are veteran performers, new performers, I would love to hear your perspective to give to the fans of what is different from sets today, compared to when you started?

 Kiki D’aire: Oh my, today, you are lucky if you get water and a snickers bar when you are on set. Lol. Before, we had catering on certain sets and costuming and such but um, there are some differences. When I worked for Filly, Jim Powers was shooting and Jim has not changed in the entirety of his career. He picks his production managers well, so things operate smoothly, which is nice. All in all, working with a person who is experienced and knows how to shoot is way different than working with somebody who is newer, or someone who comes from a mainstream background. Because people that are experienced adult shooters understand what they need and they know how to get it quickly. Which is so much better on set that a person who does not understand what they need.

XCritic: Right on. No, I dig that Kiki, because I like to put those kinds of stories in my articles and I think that is something that is solely missing from the industry right now these days. You ladies and gents deserved every minute of it when you would come onto set and you had catering, you had costuming, you had a slew of camera men to create multiple angles, you had writers and editors and true production people. That to me, is what made the industry bad ass and now that it has kind of gone away from that, to me, I don’t want to say it is nostalgic that I want it to go back there but I think that is what made the industry great and I think that is what can make it great again.

Kiki D’aire: Yeah, it would be nice to see more production value but the truth of the matter is that there is only so much money and most companies just don’t feel like their profit margins are large enough for them to add certain production values anymore. That is absolutely the reality of things!

XCritic: Our next question is, you have always been a sexual dynamo in front of the camera. Now that I look at your work now, it is cool to see how you still can make a film sizzle and I always noticed that you improved on every film you were in with your acting and even though we have already talked about this, when you came into the business, was the acting part and taking roles that had depth, something that you always wanted in your career or would you find that as the years went by, you developed a yearning to have that be a part of who you are in the business?

Kiki D’aire: Yeah, when I first got into the business I had this thought that, yes, I am going to do these movies and it is going to be great. Obviously, the goal was to get into the bigger productions, because you want to be seen. You don’t want to be somebody who does three hundred scenes and no one has a clue who you are.

 XCritic: All right, question number nine on my list in front of me. By just what is on paper, just by what is on the internet, I would love to know how the industry has changed you as a person? As a woman? I always say every industry has the potential to teach us lessons in life and I think this industry does especially. I would just love to see how a woman as successful as you, how has this industry changed you, if you are willing to share?

 Kiki D’aire: Um, wow, it has definitely taught me some harsh life lessons but it has also brought me some of the most amazing people that I know and it has brought me girlfriends that are not just my girlfriends, they are my sisters. So, I am grateful for every negative, there has been a dozen positives.

 XCritic: My last question for you doll and thank you so much for putting in this time with my long-spoken ass to give us such an insight into you and your career. Now, did you do a charity event where you danced and it was some type of military benefit for the troops? Did I research that correctly?

Kiki D’aire: Yes, that was a benefit with Kianna Bradley and we were raising money for homeless veterans, which I just found out, that we are doing it again this year. So we will be doing oil wrestling this year, which is awesome!

XCritic: Oh yeah, Kianna told me about that. Wasn’t it to take place in Alabama?

Kiki D’aire: It did take place in Alabama. Well, I use to volunteer at St. Jude hospital when I was a teenager. Throughout the years, I have lent support to various industry organizations and one of the great things about my girlfriends, is that a lot of them also like to do things that benefit others and we work on a lot of amazing projects together.

XCritic: Of course doll, we want to know where all the fans can find you. Where can we get our hands on everything Kiki?

Kiki D’aire: They can find me at twitter at: @Kiki_Daire my official site is: XXXKiki.com I have an Instagram which is under: @KikiDaire My Facebook is full, so don’t go to Facebook, well you can, it is just full. Lol. I also have a couple of clip stores which you can find here: Kiki—for-you the true social medium that I use is twitter, so please stop by and say hello everybody.