- "Boy Meets World" star Maitland Ward left mainstream Hollywood for the adult film industry in 2006.
- She said being on the hit TGIF sitcom "hindered my sexual exploration."
"Boy Meets World" star Maitland Ward recently told Yahoo Life that starring on the hit TGIF sitcom "hindered my sexual exploration" — but she's since come to embrace her sexuality as a successful porn star.
Ward, 45, starred as Rachel McGuire in the later seasons of the show, from 1998 to 2000. She entered Cory Matthews' (Ben Savage) friend group as his brother Eric's (Will Friedle) roommate and eventually went on to date Shawn Hunter's (Rider Strong) brother Jack (Matthew Lawrence), who also lived in the apartment.
From the start, the character of Rachel was objectified on the show when Jack and Eric competed to date their new, gorgeous roommate.
Ward said that coming up in Hollywood at a time when pop stars like Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson were praised for their presumed chastity and then being expected to wear sexy outfits for the TV show was "very confusing."
"Having to go to the producer's office and try on lingerie over and over for a scene and for different setups was odd," she said in a video accompanying the article, referencing storylines on "Boy Meets World" that involved her character Rachel doing chores in sexy clothes and her friends sharing provocative photos that she took for her boyfriend as a prank.
She said she thought "that was just the way you do things as an actress" even though she felt "uncomfortable." Ward said that being "sexualized" without fully realizing it took away the "power" of her sexuality.
The "White Chicks" star said that powers that be on "Boy Meets World" would also hold her to different modesty standards when the cameras weren't rolling.
"If I was on a show, like 'Boy Meets World,' I could be sexy. I could wear a sheet with little feathers on it in nude pictures that I had for my boyfriend — that's fine," she said. "If I ever wore anything like that, or did anything suggestive like that in real life, Disney and producers and Hollywood would've come down on me."
Ward specifically called out "Boy Meets World" creator Michael Jacobs, saying that he "was very adamant about me being chaste and the good girl."
She began considering moving from mainstream Hollywood to the adult entertainment industry after she married her husband Terry Baxter in 2006 and very quickly became the number one creator of adult content on Patreon. Soon after, she was starring in feature-length adult films.
The actor said she doesn't just blame "Boy Meets World" for taking advantage of her sexuality, but mainstream Hollywood as a whole. She said she found freedom from the pressure to stay young that the industry puts on women when she began making adult films.
"Hollywood is very hard on aging but I have felt less of that stigma in porn," Ward said. "I've had more fans coming along as I've been older and been sexual."
Ward said she was told her age would hinder her, but she's found "major success."
"So that was bullshit that they were feeding. I think it's just all part of this Hollywood machine — they want to keep you in a certain place at a certain time," she continued.
"I'm unapologetic about sex. I think it's me in my truth," she said. "When I was young, I was so apologetic for so many years. I will never apologize anymore."
Ward's memoir "Rated X" will be available on September 6.