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A Chat With Jewel DeNyle's Stepfather

From Erotica LA Sunday, June 12.

Duke: "How did you get into the industry?"

Larry Schwarz: "Our daughter Jewel DeNyle asked us if we would come over and help set up the business Platinum X. We started talking about it at Christmas 2002 and we moved here in March of 2003."

Duke: "How did you feel when you found out Jewel was working in the porn industry?"

Larry: "It was a shock obviously. She moved to California for totally different reasons. When she told us, my wife and I talked about it. We realized that this was something she wanted to do. In our opinion, it was better to be supportive of her and still be there for her. I was concerned that if we did anything short of that, she might do some things that would hurt herself. It's worked out well. She doesn't drink. She doesn't do drugs. She doesn't smoke. She bought her own home when she was 23. She called me when she wanted to know about investments."

Duke: "Who does she take after in her personality? You or your wife?"

Larry: "Certainly her mother. Looks too, thank G-d."

Duke: "She's very independent."

Larry: "I've always thought that girls should be able to do anything that boys can do."

Duke: "She's fiery."

Larry: "Yes. That she may have gotten from her real dad. I raised her eversince she was six."

Larry's wife, Jewel's biological mother, is head of sales for Platinum X.

Duke: "What do you love and hate about working in the porn industry?"

Larry: "Wow. I've never had a job I didn't like. This is the most fun I've ever had."

Duke: "What kind of adjustments did you have to make to work in this industry?"

Larry: "Not nearly what I was led to believe. I was told that the people would be different, harder to deal with. I don't think that's true. Business is business. The language is different. I don't mean bad language. Here we deal with DVDs, VHS, masters, etc. Billing is billing, collecting is collecting."

Larry served two terms as a state legislator in Colorado and for two governors on the parole board. "I was in the state legislature when I found out our daughter was in this industry."

Duke: "Did it become a political issue?"

Larry: "It did in the end, among other things."

From Rocky Mountain News, August 7, 2004:

Debbie, his wife of 24 years, is director of sales. Their 28-year-old daughter, Stephany, is co-owner and star of the company, where she goes by the stage name Jewel DeNyle.

People who knew Schwarz as a Republican legislator twice elected to represent a conservative House district in southern Colorado say they can't fathom his being part of the $6 billion porn industry.

"I could put my finger in an electrical socket and I wouldn't get this kind of a shock," says Ken Chlouber, the Republican president pro tem of the Colorado Senate, who worked with Schwarz on several bills and once wintered his burros on Schwarz's ranch in Wetmore. "If you knew Larry, none of this fits."

A former trucking company executive, Schwarz was tapped in 1997 by then-Gov. Roy Romer for a seat on the state's Parole Board. He was reappointed by Gov. Bill Owens three years later.

Then everything unraveled.

Authorities raided Schwarz's Wetmore home on Dec. 4, 2001, looking for child pornography. According to court records, police removed cartoon books depicting children having sex and other items, including tapes of DeNyle from Schwarz's home.

Police also investigated claims that Schwarz had sexually molested family members years earlier. No charges were filed, but Owens fired him from the Parole Board.

Schwarz says that after 15 months of unsuccessful job hunting, the position at his daughter's film company was the "only one available" to him.

Stephany, who refused to be interviewed for this story, spent nine years in the tiny town of Wetmore, 20 miles south of Caņon City. She is the biological daughter of Debbie Schwarz and was adopted by Larry while still a child.

People in Wetmore remember Stephany as a rowdy high school student, but Schwarz says he never detected signs that she was heading toward life as a porn star.

However people categorize his involvement in the adult industry, Schwarz says he will never abandon his Republican ideals of self-reliance, lower taxes and individual freedom.

Here's a Denver media report from 2001:

Authorities have seized dozens of pornographic videotapes and comic books from the home of former state legislator Larry Schwarz and parole board officer. [Schwarz is the father of porn actress Jewel De'Nyle.]

Schwarz, 61, who served as a state legislator from 1995 to 1997, is under investigation on allegations of incest and sexual assault on a child. He was fired Dec. 4 from the Colorado State Parole Board. He has not been arrested or charged with any criminal offense.

Custer County launched an investigation Nov. 5 after a therapist called the sheriff's office and claimed Schwarz molested her client, a 43-year-old member of Schwarz's family. The therapist said that two other family members were also victimized and that her client was concerned about a 7-year-old family member.

The search of Schwarz's Wetmore home turned up 75 pornographic magazines and catalogs, many of which contained photographs of a 25-year-old member of Schwarz's family. Investigators also seized 15 comic books with pictures of children having sex, according to court documents filed last week.

A state-owned Dell laptop computer, a Compaq computer, a black leather attache case with addresses and phone numbers and miscellaneous financial and phone records for the year 2000 were taken as well.

Duke: "Has this industry tarnished you?"

Larry: "Not in my mind."

Duke: "But in a lot of people's minds?"

Larry: "Yeah. That's their problem."

Duke: "Is Jewel a Republican?"

Larry: "Yes. We're fiscal conservatives."

Duke: "You're a religious man?"

Larry: "Yes. I was raised and baptized a Lutheran and switched to Methodist by my choice. I strongly believe in G-d."

Duke: "What do you think G-d thinks about the porn industry?"

Larry: "I think it's a matter of choice and how we each handle ourselves. My opinion is that I will go to Heaven the same as anyone else will."

Duke: "You don't think G-d has a moral judgment against pornography?"

Larry: "I don't know. That's for Him to judge. If I'm going to be judged the other way, then I'm going to be judged the other way."

Duke: "Do you feel any internal conflict about it?"

Larry: "No."

Duke: "Don't you think pornography tarnishes people's souls?"

Larry laughs. "I guess not. Any more than I believe that people who don't know about G-d are going to go to Hell because they don't know. I don't believe that G-d is that cruel."

Duke: "How often do you go to church?"

Larry: "Seldom. Mostly it is my feeling that on ranches and farms, I hunt and fish. I've always tried to explain to my mother, who's extremely church-oriented, that I feel closer to G-d in the open and in the fields. I've always loved Indians. I read a lot about the Native Americans. Just because they might've called G-d ...., it's the same G-d."

Duke: "Jewel is into Wiccan. How do you feel about that?"

Larry: "I'd prefer she would be more into normal religions. She looks at it as not a negative. I don't know where she got that. It certainly didn't come from our family. It came from being out here and associated with those people.

"She's getting in September in a Catholic wedding. She still believes in G-d. She doesn't look at Wiccan as cruel witchcraft."

Duke: "Does she cast spells on people?"

Larry laughs. "Not that I know of. The only spell that she casts on people is her beauty."

The first two years that Jewel was in the industry, is was hard on her mother Debbie. Then Scott Taylor, owner of New Sensations, took them to the AVN show in January 2000. Jewel's parents saw that she dressed in a classy way and handled her interviews in a classy way.

When Debbie became head of sales, she couldn't even say the names of her titles. Instead of "The Pussy Is Not Enough," she said, "The Kitty Is Not Enough." Eventually she and her husband used porn language, though they still feel a twinge at times when it turns graphic.

When Larry was a child, his mother would wash his mouth out with soap if he used the F-word.

Sunny Lane Sunny Lane Sunny Lane Sunny Lane Sunny Lane Sunny Lane

6/12/05

I talk to Sunny Lane's parents Shelby and Mike along with Sunny's manager, Mark C. Perry, a black man who lives in Tampa Bay. Sunny (an only child) and her parents are originally from Georgia.

I ask Mike what he thinks of the way the industry exploits his daughter. He says, "It's awesome." He wants to know if there are any older stars at the show.

Mom: "We need to find some old Traci Lords movies. [Sunny Lane] has been compared to Traci Lords by a couple of photographers. Sunny said, 'I know who she is, but I've never seen any of her work.'"

Duke: "What did you think when you found out your daughter was getting into porn?"

Mom: "Twenty years ago, if I could've done it, I would've done it. If you've got it, flaunt it, and enjoy what you do."

Duke: "What did the father think?"

Dad: "I think we helped her. She was an ice skater, then she couldn't skate any more. She wanted to still be in the limelight. I said, 'What about dancing a little bit?'"

It was four years ago. The family lived in Tampa Bay. "She went down to the Deja Vu club," says Mike. "She started dancing. Before you know it, she became Deja Vu girl of the year. Then Nightmoves magazine made a calendar of her. We supported her 110% and here we are."

Shelby: "We don't look at it as porn. We look at it as art."

Mike nods his head.

Duke: "How do your friends react when they find out your daughter is a porn star?"

Mike: "Everybody has been real supportive because they know she has potential in so many aspects of life. This is just one of them. This is just what she's in now. We don't know where she'll be tomorrow."

Mark C. Perry: "Mainstream America assumes that the adult entertainment is different from any other industry. It's not. She has made a career choice based on her goals in life. We expect she's going to be a star in this industry. This is film. This is entertainment. It is no different from anything else. Porn is nothing more than sex. These people are stars as much as anyone is, whether it is in Hollywood or the Valley. This is not the end-all or be-all. This is a branch to a lot of other things.

"These folks supported her 120% when she was vying to be a professional skater. They have not wavered from that support with any other choice their daughter has made. She's got a legitimate support system that's there for her every day."

Duke: "What kind of girl was she in highschool?"

Shelby: "Athletic. Always happy. She was training in skating. She's skated since she was seven. Going to school. Competing. Traveling.

"She had her bunions, her foot messed up [at age 21]. She had to have surgery. She couldn't compete anymore. She said, I've got to do something. I'm used to entertaining."

Duke: "Did she go to college?"

Shelby: "Nope. She didn't want to. All she wanted to do was skate. She's a certified professional iceskating coach. She can take anybody to the Olympics. She's a certified personal trainer. Pilates."

Duke: "What kind of crowd did she hang out with in highschool?"

Mike: "She didn't have an outside life from skating. She gave everything to skating."

Shelby: "She placed third in nationals pro-am ballroom icedancing [at age 17]. In freestyle, she placed fourth."

Proud mama Shelby says Sunny was on Playboy radio and TV during her first week in LA (in January 2005). Shelby accompanied her daughter to the interviews. "Playboy welcomes families."