Belladonna (actress)

She has appeared several times in the reality television series Family Business, which focuses on the life of porn director Adam Glasser a.k.a. "Seymore Butts". In 2004 she was one of a number of porn stars photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for a "coffee table book" on the adult industry, XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits; she also appears in the HBO documentary Thinking XXX about the making of the book.

In a 2007 interview with the Salt Lake City Weekly,[2] Sinclair expressed some regret about aspects of her career in pornography, particularly her early notoriety for performing acts and scenes that many other performers regarded as extreme or taboo. Lamenting the lack of guidance from more experienced actresses, Sinclair described an extended period of clinical depression. Sinclair stressed in this same interview, however, that she took responsibility for all her decisions and that she was never forced to perform.

In 2011, she was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn.[17] CNBC noted that while she had stepped back from acting to pursue directing and producing, she has maintained a loyal fan base, and has been nominated for 42 AVN awards and won 10 in the course of her career.

Belladonna attending the Los Angeles Erotica 2009

Her career in the pornography business was followed for two years by a crew from ABC Television, culminating in a January 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer as part of a Primetime Thursday segment on pornography.[16] At one point in the interview Belladonna broke down in tears, when Sawyer asked her, "You keep describing these awful things that happened to you. Yet, you keep smiling. Why?" Belladonna's smile wavered and her eyes watered up. "It's so I don't start crying," she said.[16]

The publicity provided by the interview boosted Belladonna's career.[16] The interview has since been used by a number of anti-pornography groups to support their case that pornography is exploitative of the women who appear in it; nevertheless, Sinclair remained an active performer in the industry. In later interviews, Sinclair claimed that she had never intended to make "anti-porn" statements.[1] In one interview, when she was asked if she were happy with how the interview came out, her reply was, "I am not happy about Primetime but I would love to see the whole story air one day so everyone can see how much I had to say that was FOR the porn industry. If you know me you know that I loved shooting!"[18] ABC contacted her once to do a follow-up to the interview; she refused saying, "No thank you. I don't want to be embarrassed again."[15] Several figures in the porn industry objected to her comments on the program.[1] In an interview with Vice, Sinclair admitted that despite being depressed at the time, the interview was embarrassing and that when she watched it, there were elements in the piece that were untrue.[8]

In August 2007, Sinclair decided to semi-retire from performing with other people over concerns of STDs, specifically herpes. She thought she had contracted herpes in 2002 and was worried the disease had spread; however it was later discovered that it was a skin rash rather than herpes. Regardless, she still decided to semi-retire.[19][20]

In 2008, she came out of retirement, and filmed a number of hardcore scenes.[21] She appeared in Digital Playground's Pirates II, the sequel to their top-selling DVD, Pirates.[22] She has also appeared recurringly in James Gunn's PG Porn. Her last adult film was Odd Jobs 4 in 2008.[23]

Belladonna was featured on the cover of the second album of British metalcore band Asking Alexandria, titled Reckless & Relentless, released in 2011.[24] She also later featured in their short film Through Sin + Self Destruction.

In July 2012, she announced via Twitter that she was "no longer interested in having sex on camera" and would be pursuing her other interests.[5] In 2014, she made her non-pornographic feature film debut in John Wildman's The Ladies of the House, a horror film about a group of female cannibals.[25] She appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's film Inherent Vice as Clancy Charlock in 2014 and in a short film titled Dream Murder Machine in 2018. She also considered becoming a sex positive speaker and instructor.[26]

Belladonna at the 2007 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo

Belladonna at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo 2012

The AVN Awards are sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine AVN (Adult Video News). Belladona has been nominated for 43 AVN Awards, of which she has won 10. In 2011, she was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.

The XRCO Awards are given by the X-Rated Critics Organization annually to people working in adult entertainment.

The Fans of Adult Media and Entertainment Awards (F.A.M.E.) were created in 2006 by Genesis magazine, WantedList.com and Adult Video News magazine, and Adam & Eve as a means for the public to vote for their favorites.

Ninfa Prizes are awarded at the annual Spanish pornographic film festival, the Festival Internacional de Cine Erótico de Barcelona.