An American actress and model Ashley Maitland Welkos discusses her transition from Hollywood to the adult film industry. The Bold and the Beautiful, a CBS television series, featured the actress in her first role as Jessica Forrester. She was best known for playing Rachel McGuire in the sixth and seventh seasons of Michael Jacobs’ ABC television series “Boy Meets World.” In 2007, Ward quickly ceased acting in popular culture and launched a career as an adult film actor.
Maitland Ward maintained her career as an adult star after playing Rachel McGuire in the ABC series “Boy Meets World” from 1998 to 2000. The actress’ memoir contains all the information that fans who were inquisitive about this unexpected transition in her career were looking for. Finally, Maitland Ward has documented her journey in a thorough memoir that was released on September 6, 2022. “Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood” is the title of the autobiography.
Ward recently revealed in an interview, “I think it’s an empowering story for women and everyone really. It’s about living your truth and not listening to what everyone is telling you to do. For so long, Hollywood was telling me that I could only be a certain way. The industry wanted to keep me in some box. I reached a point where I just wanted to do my own thing. I’m now my authentic self. There are always going to be people who will try to pigeonhole you, especially as a woman. For me to break out has been so liberating. I think that’s true for anyone in any industry. My story just happens to be a little more scandalous.”
The actress claims that producers who were “mainly men” requested her to try on lingerie in the office “more than once” in chapter 6 of her autobiography. The actress added that while she was immensely “uncomfortable” during her time as an actress, she was never sexually attacked. She revealed, “Yes, it was uncomfortable and odd, and I wasn’t sure why I needed to be doing this. I thought it was my job to behave and be a professional. Or whatever I thought that was at the time. But it was very uncomfortable and made me feel exposed and gawked at. Even Michael commented that he was so embarrassed about this because I’m so much like a daughter to him felt weird. I never understood why we didn’t just take pictures of everything in the wardrobe and choose from there. Why did I have to put on a show?”
She went on to say, “My confidence was low with my body. I was young, impressionable and thought this is what you do. It would never happen today because somebody would get called out on it. And let me just say, I’m in porn, and I’ve never had to walk into a producer’s office or whatever and try on the lingerie for a shoot.” She continued, “I knew Hollywood wasn’t for me, but I kept wanting to hang on. I kept trying to think of ways to reinvent myself. I’m not one to give up easily. But my self-esteem was down. You’re hired for being a certain way, for looking a certain way. But if you stay the same, you lose success. The thing that makes you famous is the thing that will prevent you from ever getting hired for anything else.”