Key facts
- Who: Brittni De La Mora (née Ruiz), known professionally as Jenna Presley, born April 1, 1987 (Wikipedia)
- Career: Entered the industry in September 2005 at 18; named by Maxim in 2010 among the 12 top female stars in porn (Wikipedia)
- Exit: Left in December 2012 after her last scene in Las Vegas (Wikipedia, Fox News)
- Today: Evangelical preacher in San Diego, married to pastor Richard De La Mora since 2016 (Wikipedia)
Some stories in this industry are about money. Some are about fame. This one is about a young woman who, by her own account, spent years wanting to leave — and finally did, on a plane, with a Bible in her lap.
I’ve worked in adult entertainment for 14 years. I’m one of the most-searched male performers in the world. I’ll be upfront: my experience of this business has been very different from hers, and I don’t share every conclusion she has drawn. But I think her story deserves to be told seriously, without the jokes people usually make about “the porn star who found Jesus.”
There’s nothing funny about someone rebuilding her life. So let’s tell it properly.
A strip club in Santa Barbara
Brittni De La Mora was born Brittni Ruiz on April 1, 1987 (Wikipedia).
While she was in college and working at a strip club in Santa Barbara, a few producers asked if she’d be interested in making “romance movies” (Wikipedia). She later told Fox News that two men approached her after she turned 18, said they were romance-movie producers from Los Angeles, and told her: “You’re beautiful, you’re destined to be a star.” The next day they took photos and sent them to an agent. “From that point forward, I was picked up by a premier agency and I was in the [porn] industry for seven years,” she said (Fox News).
She entered the industry in September 2005, at 18, under the name Jenna Presley (Wikipedia).
Look at the language those men used: “romance movies.” Not porn. Not adult film. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I can tell you that the way someone is recruited says a lot about the people recruiting. Honest producers and agents call the job what it is. When the first conversation already hides the truth, that’s a warning sign — for anyone, in any industry.
Success on paper
By industry standards, she was successful. She won Best New Starlet (Fan’s Choice) at the 2006 NightMoves Awards. In 2010 Maxim named her one of the 12 top female stars in porn, and in 2011 Complex ranked her 17th on its list of the top 100 performers of the moment (Wikipedia).
From the outside, that looks like a career going well. Awards, magazine lists, a big agency.
From the inside, she has described something very different.
What was happening behind the scenes
She has said she enjoyed the work “for about a month,” and that pride kept her from leaving when she started having doubts: “I didn’t want to admit that I made a mistake so I kept pressing forward” (Fox News).
During her time in the industry she used drugs, including cocaine to try to lose weight (Wikipedia). She told Fox News she reached “a breaking point” around her three-year mark, quit, and started going to church with her grandfather. Then, by her account, a man came into her life who “turned out to be a pimp,” and she went back to the industry for another three and a half years (Fox News).
I want to pause here, because this is the part people outside the business never hear about.
That sentence — “I didn’t want to admit that I made a mistake” — is one of the most honest things I’ve ever read from a performer. Pride keeps a lot of people in places they don’t want to be. Not just in porn. In bad jobs, bad marriages, bad cities. And when you add drugs and the wrong partner to that pride, it becomes almost impossible to leave on your own.
Her first exit didn’t last. That’s not a failure — that’s how real life works. Most people who leave anything difficult try more than once.
The Bible on the plane
The turning point, as she tells it, came through Rachel Collins, a Christian pastor at XXXchurch.com, a ministry aimed at people in and around the adult industry (Wikipedia).
Here is how she described the final day to Fox News: “I went to go film a porn scene in Las Vegas and brought my Bible with me on the airplane and I was reading scripture.” She said she felt God telling her to quit the industry that day, with the promise that her life would turn around. “So I quit the industry that day and I’ve been out since December 2012” (Fox News).
She completed her last scene in Las Vegas in December 2012 and left (Wikipedia).
Whatever you believe, think about what it takes to sit on a plane to a job you’ve done for seven years and decide that this is the last time. No backup career. No savings plan described in any interview. Just a decision.
A new life in San Diego
After leaving, she began preaching at the evangelical Cornerstone Church of San Diego. In August 2013 she appeared on ABC’s The View with Craig Gross, a pastor at XXXchurch, to talk about her conversion (Wikipedia).
In 2016 she married Richard De La Mora, a pastor at Cornerstone Church; as of 2018 they lived in San Diego (Wikipedia). Together they wrote a two-part book series, Fresh Fire, about relationships and faith. “My husband and I believe the greatest relationship is the relationship with God and with each other,” she told Fox News. “If those relationships are on fire, everything else will be on fire” (Fox News).
The woman who once worked under a stage name now speaks to large audiences under her own. That alone tells you how much she has rebuilt.
What I agree with — and what I see differently
As always, my opinion, clearly labeled.
I agree that recruitment built on half-truths (“romance movies”) is wrong. I agree that drugs and controlling partners destroy people in this business, and that the industry has too often looked the other way. I agree that pride keeps people stuck, and that anyone who wants out deserves help, not judgment.
I see it differently in one way: my own experience, and that of many colleagues I respect, is that adults can choose this work freely, do it safely, and leave it without regret. Her story is real — and so are ours. Both things can be true.
What I’ll never do is mock her. A person who walks away from a life that was hurting her and builds something new has done the hardest thing there is.
Lessons for anyone in this business
- Know exactly what you’re signing up for. If someone won’t call the job by its name, walk away.
- Watch who is around you. Partners and “managers” who profit from you staying are not your friends.
- Drugs are not a coping strategy. They are how careers — and lives — end.
- Leaving more than once is normal. If the first exit fails, it doesn’t mean the next one will.
- It’s never too late to change. She left at 25 and built a completely new life.
My Take (opinion — Maximo Garcia)
Brittni De La Mora’s story is not the story of every performer — but it’s the story of some, and the industry should listen to it instead of laughing at it. She was recruited with a softer word for the job, she fought addiction and a man who controlled her, and she still found a way out and a life she clearly loves.
I don’t need to share her faith to respect her courage. And I don’t need to agree with all her views to say that, for the young people who come into this business, her honesty is a gift. Read it, learn from it, and make your choices with your eyes open.
👉 More from me at maximogarciaworld.com · Want the full collection? Subscribe at fuckingposters.net
FAQ
What is Jenna Presley’s real name?
Brittni De La Mora (née Ruiz), born April 1, 1987 (Wikipedia).
When did Jenna Presley leave the adult industry?
In December 2012, after her last scene in Las Vegas (Wikipedia; Fox News).
What does Brittni De La Mora do now?
She is an evangelical preacher in San Diego; she married pastor Richard De La Mora in 2016, and the couple co-wrote the Fresh Fire book series (Wikipedia; Fox News).
How we fact-checked this
Every fact and quote was checked against the sources below. Quotes appear as the sources reported them; anything we could not confirm was left out. Personal events are her own account and are labeled that way. Opinions are Maximo Garcia’s own and are labeled as such.
Sources
- Fox News: “Brittni De La Mora left the porn industry for relationship with God: ‘I didn’t want to admit I made a mistake’” (January 4, 2019) — https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/brittni-de-la-mora-left-the-porn-industry-for-relationship-with-god-i-didnt-want-to-admit-i-made-a-mistake
- Wikipedia: Jenna Presley — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Presley
