Former Disney star Maitland Ward credits doing porn with instilling her with confidence.
The “Boy Meets World” alum has written about her transition from family-friendly entertainment to a successful career in the adult film industry in her new memoir, “Rated X,” out Tuesday, which criticizes the House of Mouse and praises porn for allowing her to blossom.
While still a junior in high school, Ward became a regular on the soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” and starred opposite Mario Lopez in the TV film “Killing Mr. Griffin.”
In 1998, her character of Rachel McGuire was introduced to the ABC sitcom “Boy Meets World,” which starred Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel.
The actress, who grew up Christian with a Bible-thumping grandmother, is critical of the way she was objectified by employees of Disney — ABC’s parent company — while filming the sitcom.
“I was asked to try on lingerie for the producers in the office,” Ward writes. “This happened more than once, as Rachel was the only character to consistently take off her clothes. An assistant would gather me from my dressing room and take me upstairs where I’d be provided with a series of options, some playful and girlish, some so provocative I knew that Disney would never approve them, but still I would try them on.”
Ward says that she was forced to change behind a curtain so thin “I’m sure they could see the silhouette of my naked form.”
When she stepped out, the group of mostly men would pass judgment on whether the outfits “showed too much or not nearly enough to get the boys [watching the series] excited.”
She remembers a producer saying with an embarrassed chuckle, “You’re like a daughter to me,” before she was directed to try on another outfit.”
The actress stayed until the series ended in 2000 and followed that up with a comedic turn in the 2004 Wayans Brothers movie “White Chicks.”
But Hollywood work dried up and Ward took to appearing on red carpets wearing sexy cosplay outfits.
“To be expendable is to be a woman in Hollywood,” she writes. “And you’re not worth anything to anyone if you can’t prop your man up.”
A few years later, Ward, now 45, started posting nude and topless photos on social media — and garnered a large following. In 2019, she announced on Instagram that she was starring in a full-length skin flick called “Drive.” The movie, directed by veteran porn actress Kayden Kross, cast her as an “innocent” woman who’s starting to blossom — much like Ward’s own metamorphosis.
“I found myself a changed person after all this began,” she says. “I had new confidence and a full-time job, and it wasn’t because I smiled for any higher-ups. The validation that I was given, especially after being told that no one would ever pay a dime to see me sexy, was soul changing.”
Since marrying real estate agent Terry Baxter in 2006, Ward had been exploring her sexuality, which included the realization that she was also attracted to women.
She angrily dismisses claims that her husband, who she says is fully supportive of her career, is a “cuck,” and praises him for recognizing “my twisted-up sexual desires as something valid and real.”
Ward notes that her new sexy makeover boosted her confidence in the broader world. For so long, she relied on her past mainstream acting credits for validation.
Last year, Ward revealed that she was pulling in six figures a month from OnlyFans and boasted that it’s allowed her to do “more acting than I’ve ever done,” and make “more money and feel more powerful than I ever have in my life.”
“I was brainwashed into believing that nothing else mattered than a Hollywood job,” she writes, adding that the money earned from porn has allowed her to no longer hide or conform.
And now Ward’s career has come full circle as she’s now starring in the mainstream comedy series, “The Big Time” in which she plays an adult superstar. It’s set to stream this fall.
The actress admits to feeling nervous before filming began.
“It was like riding a bike, but a bike ridden again after walking in these old shoes I talked about for a lifetime on an unpredictable road,” she writes before adding that now it was infinitely better because “I was confident now, and I was not afraid of everything that had held me back as a girl.
“Porn gave me that.”
