Ericka Lockett

I follow Ericka into World Modeling at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb 14, 2006. Jim Jr and Sr have both had the flu.

Jim South tells Ericka he had work for her but he had no way of getting a hold of her.

She's been hanging out at World Modeling for most of the past week.

She chats with Jim about giving Brandon Iron a blowjob in his van in the parking lot last night across the street from Jim's office. They noticed Jim's lights on. Brandon laughingly suggested they come inside and use one of Jim's rooms for their business but Ericka nixed it.

Jim and Brandon don't do business. Jim believes Brandon owes him agency fees.

Irons is the only porn person Ericka has stayed in touch with for the past six years.

Ericka says she signed up with World Modeling in 1997 and did porn for two years straight, appearing in about "500 movies."

Luke: "What brought you back?"

Ericka: "I got shot at in the middle of November. Then I went to Utah to get away and hide. I cut my hair and dyed it back to my original color. People still recognized me."

Luke: "So how did that bring you back to porn?"

Ericka: "Because I didn't feel safe and I got tired of being treated like a freak."

Luke: "Who shot at you?"

Ericka: "I'm thinking an ex-psycho boyfriend. We don't know. My car got shot out. I was in it.

"It was a nice day. I was on my way to go to school and to do my stuff with ceramics. I remember I had left the door open because it was hot. Then you start your car up and then you turn the air on. When I went to start the car up, the window crashed and there was a [bullet] hole [the bullet missed her by about a foot]. It was scary.

"I talked to my friends at school and they were shocked. I went to work that night [at a strip club], and the night manager said, 'You must've done it yourself. You must've taken a baseball bat to it.' I said, 'Na ah.'

"Then I got sick to my stomach. I went home. I called a friend who said I should stay in a hotel room. I did.

"I went to the police the next day. They told me to leave the state. 'You'll fit in.' I'm Jewish. I didn't fit in. And then the porn business followed me."

Luke: "How did the porn business follow you?"

Ericka: "Because they recognized me. In Vegas, people aren't conservative. They're liberal and open-minded. They don't care. They ask questions after they get to know you. They'll ask supportive questions, not mean questions, not negative questions, not judgmental questions. After a while, you'll start talking to them and it'll bring up memories of something [in porn]. My friends at UNLV (University of Nevada at Las Vegas) were cool. I could talk to them about anything. But in Utah they were judgmental. I was in Utah from mid-November until a week ago [when she moved to LA and returned to porn through World Modeling]."

Luke: "What's it like coming back into the porn industry?"

Ericka: "It's great. My attitude's different this time. I don't care about being a star anymore. I've already had the fame. I will go to nightschool and then UCLA grad school. I will stick with my art friends. They're more open to me and accepting. Yeah, they ask questions but they're not judgmental."

Luke: "Why did you get into porn?"

Ericka: "I was on the cover of Hustler's Busty Beauties. I wanted to become a feature [stripper]. I found out that featuring wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Then I went back to dance in Vegas and I made a lot of money there and I had a bunch of problems.

"On Halloween night, at 11:30, I had two black guys come to my door in Halloween masks. And none of my friends would come to my door without callling especially when I had a pilates class at 8:30 a.m.

"A week before, I had someone call me up and say, 'I need help.' But they disguised their voice.

"I had a Mexican guy try to get into my house. He acted like he wanted to clean it for bugs. He tried to open my door. I opened and was like, 'Can I help you?' He said, 'I'm here to kill your bugs.' I said, 'I don't have any. You're not coming in.' And I shut the door in his face.

"Another time I left the club and I got harassed by a bunch of black guys on the way home.

"There were a whole bunch of little things that you just didn't think of at the time... I was walking down the street and this black guy said to me, 'You better learn to keep your mouth shut.'"

Luke: "What was he referring to?"

Ericka: "Hell if I know."

Luke: "How has being a porn star affected your life?"

Ericka: "I don't know. In a conservative state like Utah, they wanted me to convert to their religion and my being Jewish was a big issue. Our people are different. I got really Jewish over the past four years because I've been at UNLV. They have Hillel and a Chabad. I joined. At SUU (Southern University of Utah), they didn't have that. They claim it's a great college but it's conservative and close-minded.

"UNLV is open. The teachers are awesome. You can talk to them if you have a problem. I was going to get an Incomplete for Art History, but I worked my ass off and they worked with me. It made feel like a little kid. Everyone was proud of me."

Luke: "How did your family and friends react to your doing porn?"

Ericka: "My family disowned me. Then I found out that my biological father, who works at Crazy Horse Too [in Las Vegas], used to do porn too. He worked with Ginger Lynn."

Ericka says she never asked him for his stage name.

Luke: "Was your mother a stripper?"

Ericka: "No. She didn't like sex."

Luke: "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?"

Ericka: "A veterinarian."

She grew up in rural Michigan.

Luke: "What kind of crowd did you hang out with in highschool?"

Ericka: "Potheads. I didn't really smoke weed. I just wanted to be accepted."

Ericka's had two breasts jobs (1993, 1996). She went from an A-cup to 34DD. "I like 'em. My ex-boyfriend from Israel who went to UNLV, he didn't know they were fake.

"He moved to New York.

"I always wanted to go to university. My stepfather and half-brother said I'd never make it, but I did and I excelled. It's my dream to graduate [a year to go to get her BFA]. After I pay off my loans, I'll go online and get my own management degree as well through the Davenport School of Business. I want to get my masters in Art."

Luke: "How did your Israeli boyfriend handle your having been a porn star?"

Ericka: "He didn't care. He thought Americans were stupid. He didn't understand how strippers could make money because in Israel they have topless and nude beaches."

Luke: "How has being a porn star and a stripper affected relationships?"

Ericka: "It's hard to date. I don't think now I'll date somebody outside the business, unless it's a woman. You're a freak to people."

Luke: "What are the joys and tribulations of dating someone within the business?"

Ericka: "They understand. Brandon won't have sex with me because he has to do movies all week. I'm sure that if I were in the same situation, he'd be sympathetic and understanding."

Luke: "What do you love and hate about the porn industry?"

Ericka: "I hate the instability because I am so anal-retentive to my schedule. I always know where I'm going to be. That's why I have stalker problems."

Luke: "How many times have you had stalker problems?"

Ericka: "At least three times that I am aware of. My one boyfriend I had was really crazy. He shot three girls and killed two of them."

Luke: "Why do you get attracted to dangerous men?"

Ericka: "He was an ex-football player. I was attracted to the glamor and glitz.

"He was retired for 13-years. He was broke. I didn't know it. He lived off me. I got rid of him. I got attached to his little boy.

"The police said he did steroids. That made him crazy."

Luke: "What type of men are you attracted to?"

Ericka: "I used to be attracted to big bulky muscular men but now I just like little skinny guys."

Luke: "How are you adjusting to LA?"

Ericka: "I'm not looking over my shoulder anymore. I don't feel like a freak here. I need to find a place to live. I know there are temples here. I might start working in a coffee shop. Even if I don't work there, I'll still hang out there because the girls are rad."

Luke: "What kind of role does Judaism play in your life?"

Ericka: "It just gives me healing. I was in the hospital in October. I couldn't take it anymore so I shot myself in the neck."

She shows me the marks on her neck where the bullet entered and left. "It destroyed two vertebrate.

"I couldn't take it anymore. I snapped. I was in the hospital for five days."

Luke: "What did you conclude after that?"

Ericka's about to cry. "I've been shot three times [she was only hit when she shot herself]."

Luke: "What were you going through before you shot yourself?"

Ericka: "I was working for my dad's club and they were pushing me to date somebody and they gave me a day shift [because she would not date the guy]. Then they wouldn't let me dance for certain people. I had gone through so much pain from dating and being a freak. I wanted a relationship and couldn't get one. I was taking 18-credits and I wanted to get straight-As. And I was being harassed. I didn't tell anybody."

Luke: "You didn't have a support system?"

Ericka: "No. I kept it to myself, because when I was stalked by that first guy [ex-NFL player], they didn't do anything. They didn't care until it was too late.

"I was raped. I never dealt with that either. I was raped [by the NFL guy] in August 2001. I didn't report it to the police. He stalked me for six months. I was terrified of him. He would follow me home from work. I'd go half-an-hour of my way before I'd go home."

Luke: "Why did you stay in Vegas?"

Ericka: "Because of UNLV. I had a nice place to live. I had friends."

Luke: "What's your relationship like with your mother?"

Ericka: "She died [in 2001]."

Luke: "What's your relationship like with your biological father?"

Ericka: "I haven't talked to him. I wrote him a letter. I want a relationship with him because I think he'd understand. If I go to court for the shooting [of her car], I want him there."

Luke: "Your stepfather?"

Ericka: "I haven't talked to him in years. He molested me when I was a kid, from the time I was two until I was 17."

Luke: "Did your mother know what was going on?"

Ericka: "Yeah. She saw it and she didn't do anything.

"My aunt was molested by him. But a lot of people are molested. Welcome to America."

Luke: "Did you and your stepfather ever talk about it?"

Ericka: "I called him about eight years ago. He said, 'My [new] wife doesn't understand the relationship I had with you.' I said, 'You're a freak.' I hung up. That was the last time I spoke to him.

"I went to therapy and support groups."

Luke: "Did you have a horrible childhood?"

Ericka: "Other than that? No. We lived in a middle-class neighborhood. I was raised on a farm in Planesburg, Michigan."

Luke: "As a kid, how did you deal with being molested?"

Ericka: "You don't know it is bad until someone tells you it is bad. He worked hard so we hardly saw him anyways."

Luke: "What stopped the molestation?"

Ericka: "When I moved out."

Luke: "Did it affect your relationships with men?"

Ericka: "No. I had counselling a long time ago. I took a lot of psychology classes."

Luke: "When you look back on your life, what makes you happiest?"

Ericka: "UNLV. My favorite teacher is Mark Burns and Bob Watson. If I were to ever marry somebody, I would like them to be that. Bob graduated from Yale and Cal. He was open-minded. His wife had surgery and he cared so much about her. He made her go to college. He didn't mind that she went to college."