By BEN TINSLEY
@Copyright 2014 Ben Tinsley
GLOBE, Arizona – Retired adult film actress Sunset Thomas – once called “The Princess of Porn” – has renounced her career in prostitution.
During an extended interview spanning various areas in Arizona, Thomas explained to a reporter how many of the men in her life poached off her decades of earnings, first in the porn industry and later in brothels that capitalized off her high profile adult industry name. She said despite the fact she spent over two decades in the profession – her name and face known throughout the world – she has little to show in the way of savings.
“I’m finally out,” Thomas said. “I was tired of the stress and people forcing me to do things I don’t want to do. I’m tired of people trying to pressure me to keep doing it when I don’t have to do it. I want to live a normal life like everyone else.”
Thomas – who prefers to be called by her real name, Diane – said her fiancé, Dr. Robert Martin of Arkansas, has worked with her extensively to help her transition to a normal life. Dr. Martin supports Thomas financially. He said she has a very small amount saved up in an account. Dr. Martin said he struggled to emancipate Thomas from having to work in a brothel. It was something she no longer wanted to do – but out of financial necessity had no choice but to do.
“The conditions at the brothel where she was working were prison-like with two week, 24/7 lockdowns,” Dr. Martin said. “It was an existence for her that became more and more unbearable, mentally and physically. She wanted to leave, but the money she was making for them was an incentive for them to keep her in it.”
The two originally met when Martin was trying to help another legal courtesan escape the sex industry a few years ago, although that woman eventually returned to prostitution.
“There are many of these ladies who would love to be out of that life,” Martin said. “Psychological reprogramming takes a lot. It’s a chance to be yourself again, but you have to relearn how to do it. There are a lot of people who don’t want those girls out of the brothels because of the money they would lose.”
Martin said it took several attempts for Thomas to free herself. “I told her from the start, ‘You deserve better than this’,” Martin said. “But it took her a long time to get to the point where she was ready for me to get her out of there.”
SUNSET’S JOURNEY
Thomas said she had great hopes and dreams when she was younger. She said she had no idea her life would head in the direction it did. Born in Sikeston, Missouri on February, 19, 1972, Thomas was the youngest of ten siblings. As a teenager in Daytona Beach, Florida, she dropped out of high school in the tenth grade. She moved to Ft. Lauderdale to work as a model. Thomas shot her first adult film at age 18. Now 42, she has worked in at least 213 adult films. Thomas said she tried to be as genuine as possible while on camera, but ultimately the smiling, cheery character she played in her porn films was just a role.
“Right now, you’re seeing me. I’m not acting at all,” Thomas said during the interview in Arizona. “This is who I am. Either like me or don’t like me. But I’m not going to act for you or put on a show.”
Thomas said she left the porn industry in 2009 because of concerns that not enough precautions were being taken to prevent sexual disease.
“It was a couple of years ago,” she said. “I simply did not feel safe anymore. A lot of people were catching stuff. Like HIV. There were a lot of cases and people were catching a lot of things.”
Thomas said the long time span between when the AIDS test was administered to porn actors and the time they were allowed to come on set to perform greatly concerned her.
“I can go out today and get my AIDS test and it come in and I’m clear,” she said. “But you don’t know what I did the night before or a couple of days before I shoot that film.”
Also, Thomas said some of her male co-stars were complaining about having to use condoms in the adult films.
“A lot of the guys were iffy about using protection,” she said. I started to demand they do, but they kept saying, ‘Oh, it destroys the fantasy.’ But my life, my survival, is too important.”
During her time in porn, Thomas said she began to freelance as a legal prostitute in various bordellos in Nevada – her fame and notoriety as a porn star attracting customers by the droves. But then she met Martin in Las Vegas, who she considers to be her one true love. After escaping with his help in December 2013, Thomas worked up the courage to call the brothel at which she had been working to tell them she would never return.
LIFE AFTER PORN
Michael Sis, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, said he has known others such as Thomas who has successfully survived that kind of lifestyle.
“They can turn their lives around with God’s help,” he said. “What is usually most helpful is to have a supportive faith community to give them encouragement. They can get the moral support to weather the storms of moments when they are feeling down and tempted to go back to it. Having a good prayer life is important for the inner strength to withstand challenges.”
Those who wish to pursue redemption can certainly find it, the Bishop said. As examples he recalled King David in the Old Testament of The Bible. He bounced back after several sexual sins he had committed. Also, there is the story of Maria Gorreti, an Italian virgin-martyr of the Roman Catholic Church. She is easily one of the youngest canonized saints. Gorreti was murdered after refusing to have sex with a man. The man eventually repented and became a very holy man and was present when Gorreti was canonized by the pope.
Bishop Sis cautioned it would be wise for Thomas to find an entirely new set of friends who are not in the adult entertainment industry.
“Some of the most challenging moments come when they are running low on money and are tempted to think if they could just do some of the stuff they used to do it would be easy money,” the Bishop said. “The real trials are when times are tough financially. It’s important to lean on friends and family. God will take care of you.”
Texas Department of Public Safety Capt. Brian Baxter, who is based out of San Angelo, said work investigating sex slavery has made him very familiar with the dehumanizing effects prostitution can have on women. Women who work as prostitutes for extended periods of time can develop serious problems, Capt. Baxter said.
“It’s almost hard-wired in her to be abused,” he said, “Where do you go when you leave? Who do you go to? How do you keep the lights on and pay the bills and buy food without going back into that life?”
What makes it difficult for anyone fleeing that type of lifestyle is the negative public perception of pornography, the Captain said.
“We have been told that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession and in the process we have decriminalized what the pimps and johns are doing,” he said. “People assume they (prostitutes) want to be in that life. But I have yet to meet a woman who wakes up thinking, ‘Hey, I want to sleep with 12 strangers today’.”
Candida Royalle, a former adult actress and couples-oriented pornography producer and director, said she met Thomas near the beginning of her career but never actually worked with her. As an industry educator, Royalle said women who leave porn are highly advised to go into therapy as quickly as possible.
“When these women leave, even if they consider their experience good, they should go speak to someone,” Royalle said. “We live in a culture that watches and eats up these movies in record numbers and then condemns the women that are in it. It’s a horrible, hypocritical culture.”
Thomas and Martin acknowledged the former porn actress has not availed herself of therapy. But Martin said Thomas does find comfort riding horses with him in Arizona.
“It’s something she loves to do,” Martin said. “It is good therapy and very relaxing. It allows her to clear her mind and have some fun and be herself. She’s just a country girl at heart so this is very important.”
Porn industry veteran Ron Jeremy expressed surprise but approval that Thomas has someone who loves her and has left the life altogether. During a brief cell phone interview, Jeremy said he isn’t surprised Thomas is retiring because porn actresses do this quite a bit. However, these ladies usually have some kind of nest egg saved up, he said. Jeremy said it is rare that retiring porn actresses come out of the industry with very little, but he acknowledged it does happen.
“That can happen in any business, but most people do okay,” he said. “Some girls may have a miserable time, but that’s the territory. It’s a job like anything else.”
Ultimately, Jeremy wished Thomas all the best. “She’s a little sweetie,” Jeremy said. “I’m happy for her.”
FAMILY
Family support for Thomas’ new life has been strong. Thomas’ mother, Margie Stanley of East Texas, is hopeful for her daughter’s future. Stanley is currently taking care of Thomas’ younger son, who Thomas declined to mention by name. Stanley said the boy is doing well in school these days.
It’s been an interesting journey for Thomas, her mother said. “People are always asking me what I think about my daughter being a porn star,” she said. “I don’t have to like it, but as long as she was happy I was happy for her. It was her choice…but it was hard. It was harder these recent past years because she wanted to get out of the business.”
Stanley said it was difficult to hear her daughter say over and over again she didn’t want to live that kind of life anymore.
“I heard her cry and say she did not want to do these things,” Stanley said. “But no one would help, until Robert (Martin). She and Robert had been friends for a long time and when she called and asked him for help he went and got her, but she was nearly dead.”
Stanley was referring to Thomas’ poor state of health when Martin retrieved her from Las Vegas, where she had gone into hiding after being beaten and injured by someone she declined to immediately identify. After rescuing Thomas from a bad situation, Dr. Martin nursed her back to health, Thomas’ mother said.
“She looks good now – healthy and happy,” she said. “She has that cute little face. But the men she has worked with in the past, all they saw was dollar signs.”
Stanley said her daughter’s future is a lot brighter with Dr. Martin in it.
“I think she is very happy with Robert,” she said. “It’s a process and there will be issues that develop down the road. Someone might make a nasty remark about her and make her feel bad.”
Thomas’ older son, Zach Fowler, 22, of Mendocino, California, said he is equally happy for his mother – especially since she has put some distance between herself and Las Vegas.
“‘Lost Vegas’ is a slight hell and I can tell she’s better since she left,” he said. “She has a better vibe now. I’m happy that she seems more comfortable, more laid back. I have seen a lot of change in her.”
Las Vegas is a hard town to live in because it promotes a dangerous survival mindset, Fowler said. “Because she was able to back away from a few things, she seems much brighter,” he said. “She doesn’t look unhappy anymore. She is in love with Dr. Martin. He loves her and is concerned about her health and it has really helped her.”
THE MEN IN HER LIFE
Thomas and Martin took a reporter on a tour of some of their favorite spots in Arizona – to both display the horses she rides to relax and also explain the details of her exodus from the sex industry. In tears, Thomas said she places a lot of the blame on her choices of men over the years. She said the men in her life steered her – first toward porn, then toward prostitution. She said they tried their best to keep her there when she wanted to leave.
“It was all about, ‘You have to do this. You have to work.’ It was all about the name ‘Sunset Thomas’. I was forced to advertise the brothels constantly. I didn’t get a nickel. I was forced to do it. And I didn’t want to do it.”
Thomas said she is experiencing trouble with trust right now. Poisoned relationships with men are one of the dangerous after-effects of women fleeing prostitution, Captain Baxter explained.
“The trust just isn’t there,” the captain said. “They have been forced into this business and coerced and not allowed to exert their own identities. Many of them have been forced into perpetual debt – making them owe for utilities. Many turn to drugs during slavery because of the emotional or physical abuse.”
Thomas’ mother said her daughter’s poor choices in men in the past cost her dearly. “She wanted to stop, but the men in her life, they liked the money coming in,” she said. “She made some really bad choices.”
Candida Royalle said she encountered one of Thomas’ more ruthless men when meeting her as a fledgling adult performer years ago. “I remember she came to my office when I was running my production company back in the 1990s,” Royalle said. “She was with a man who brought her by my office. She was such a fresh, young, pretty face looking to get into the business, but I never ended up working with her. I was certain she would be a success story – for a while.”
But there were some red flags that popped up for Royalle when studying Thomas’ companion during the meeting. “I am pretty perceptive about people and I sniffed it out as soon as she turned up in my office with that guy,” she said. “He was what we in the business call a ‘Suitcase Pimp’. Basically they travel with them and supposedly take care of all the women’s business and negotiations. They even go as far as to work with the women in scenes. But they are really living off them.”
Thomas agreed that she has suffered greatly from her long-term romances with predatory men who leeched off her financially.
Royalle described Thomas as a delightful person. But the man she met with her? Not so much.
“She was such a little sweetheart,” Royalle said. “She was like the quintessential milk maiden from the Midwest. But you knew right way that with him it wasn’t going to end well.”
AND NOW?
Candida Royalle was very pleased to learn Thomas had found someone worthwhile to spend her life with. “It sounds like she has fallen in with a good guy who will at least take her in a good direction,” Royalle said. “This is the kind of business that eats girls up and spits them out in record time. And when they try to leave many don’t notice because there are so many girls there to take their place. This business doesn’t have a high regard for women.”
While vowing to live a porn and prostitution-free life, Thomas refuses to apologize for her career because it would basically be apologizing for the way she has lived her life. Thomas said she tries her best to stay in touch with her fans, while at the same time letting them know she is no longer in the porn industry and will never again work at a brothel.
“Many of them love me for being the way I am, love me for the new me,” Thomas said. “I love my fans. I am not hiding under a rock…I am so happy. This is the best medicine for me. I don’t think I have ever been so happy in my life.”
But it has taken work for Thomas to get to this point, Martin said. For a while, he said Thomas’ industry-inspired drinking problem was a huge obstacle. It caused nearly-fatal complications for her during appendicitis surgery in the latter part of January, 2014. Martin ended up prescribing Thomas medicine to block her receptors so she can’t get intoxicated. It helps curb her urges – which at one point were up to 20 shots of Jameson a day when at its worst.
“It has been a difficult road,” Martin said. “Alcohol dependence was her way of coping with the trauma of her life and the abuse she was living in. There has been a lot of trauma of the body and the mind.”
But things are better now, Martin and Thomas say. The two go dancing and play billiards as often as possible because Thomas very much likes to do these things. And she still loves the stage. Martin makes a point of providing Thomas with a lot of attention, holding her tightly when she sleeps.
“She asks me, ‘Why do you hold me so tight?’ And I tell her, ‘Because you’re safe. I want you to feel safe.’”
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKybI2qPM2s&sns=em
REBUTTAL: A LETTER FROM CANDIDA ROYALLE: https://medium.com/@bentinsley/a-letter-from-candida-royalle-8e9d1ce67aa1#.jk6u0txdg
@SunsetThomas on Twitter
Ben Tinsley is a veteran Texas news reporter. He can be contacted by email at btinsley@live.com or by phone at (702) 524-3773. Tinsley can also be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/BenTinsley, Google at http://plus.google.com/+BenTinsley or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ben.tinsley.12.
Ben Tinsley, veteran Texas reporter 
Reblogged this on Ben Tinsley, veteran Texas reporter.
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Sunset I’m glad your out
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I had the privilege of meeting Diane at a local pub “Shucks” and she was always sweet. She always asked me to call her Diane. When I saw her with “Kent” she seemed miserable and I new that he was making her do things she didn’t want too because she told me. He survived because of her and I never saw this however, abuse was evident. If you were to ask her if she had ever met me then u would have to say “her husband was an Airline Captain and she was a Flight Attendant for JetBlue. She would know who we are however, my husband passed away in 2015. Diane was a very sweet, kind person. It’s a shame she had to encounter people like “Kent” because it was obvious that he controlled her and was abusive. I felt sorry for her but at the same time I knew she would survive and without him…
He was in fact a pimp and a ugly one at that!
I pray that she will be told that there are people who knew her heart and appreciated her because of her strength..
Diane, Patrick passed away and I wanted to tell you that he lived telling his friends that you were beautiful inside and out. I lived a simple thing like helping you in the bathroom get out of the dress you were wearing to use the bathroom hehe. Was so fun laughing that we both about peed in our pants. I pray that you have lots of live around you because you deserve it.
I live in Tx now and was just thinking about you out of the blue.
Stay who you are and you will be okay.
Joann
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Thank you so.much.for your letter. I have retired from reporting to go.into film acting since I wrote this article. But I will always answer the letters of readers.
Sincerely,
BEN TINSLEY
btinsley@live.com
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Reblogged this on The Den of Iniquity in Nevada.
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I worked with Sunset at Chicken Ranch- not too long ago, but long ago enough for me to have good perspective on my own almost insane choices. I am also a former adult performer and model and sex worker. I am very surprised to hear of Sunset’s new phase of life- and very happy for her. She was very sweet and unaffected. I think her big career change happened exactly a year after mine. Maybe like me one day she’ll write her Story.
Miss you Sunset, best to you!
And YES, “we” do retire. “We” do have dignity, brains as much as a dire concept of the economic situation as much as basic survival. I am 47 years…old, thank you, and finally living a ‘normal’, free and happy life.
I discontinued Adult film for the same reason of risk and common sense, aside from the fact performers are virtually forced into having no limitations- or they are simply disqualified from any work at all.
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Thanks for writing. — Ben Tinsley
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I am sick of hearing women make excuses for being whores. You know. Maybe in some countries you may have to be one out of necessity. But not in America. There are lots of women I know that are single and with mediocre jobs making it. They struggle. But its honest. They dont cop out by becoming whores just to have it easier. And besides. being a whore is a sign of selfishness in this country. Because they are after nothing but money. Furthermore. Sunset Thomas cannot say she’s “retired”. Because you cannot retire from something that isn’t really legitimate. I dont care what society may think. But where I come from, being a whore on or off camera is an abomination to what is truly right and wrong. And I can think of billions of ancestors that would agree. Thats far more wisdom than you get from a single modern century.
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Johnsy T@ your comments somewhat reek of mysogynisism yet I do understand your point,since a lot of women in the prostitution/brothel and porn/adult/fetish industry do this line of work for both the money and to get their sexual kick from it,and once they’ve achieved in gaining the desired amount of money and feel the urge to leave(whether they fell they’ve achieved, their goal,are severely burned out,or have personal problems[that are family or business related[since {some}families and {most}businesses are very dysfunctional] to deal with) they do so,for adjusting to a normal life in your latter years(with enough money to avoid working in a regular 9 to 5 job) is a bit hard but you can easily get used to it,for all of the very best to Sunset Thomas and all of the ex-adult industry workers(whether it be in porn,brothel/prostitution,or fetish) in being happy with their newfound normal lives(that they’re now living today).
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Your male privilege is really showing.
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1.You missed the entire point of this article.
2. You can’t have prostitution without clients. Where’s your condemnation for the pimps and clients? I suppose only “whores” can be abominations.
3. Jesus loved whores. You should try actually following the words and deeds of your Lord sometime.
4. Fuck off, asshole. How dare you read this heart wrenching tale and come back with words of judgment?
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I am very happy for Dianne she went through hell and get to ride into the sunset with her soul mate .I love happy endings
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I read Candida’s letter to Ben Tinsley. I imagine the Adult Industry Power Players were not happy of her initial “heartfelt” responses to Ben’s interview with her, so they decided to take a shot at me. They don’t like it that they lost their MONEY from Sunset’s services. The truth is, Diane is doing very well and she is not one to go talk to or see doctors. She prefers to do her “own thing” and is very “headstrong” about what she wants to do and what she does not want to do. I can’t make her go see therapists if she does not want to go. Horses are good therapy, Candida. God Bless Your Soul. To Diane, getting back to nature, being a Country Girl, and getting to enjoy the outdoors on our horses was at that time very good for her and continues to be one of the things she loves doing the most. Despite all the attacks, stalking, and efforts of those that abused her to try and get her back by coming after us both the last 3 years….we have endured. There have been attacks on us, our families, and our children from a very Greedy Industry with some “bad eggs” in them. We still have good friends in The Adult Industry like Nina Hartley and a few others. Nina, unlike some others, has been very supportive of Diane and me. But, what some other people have been doing since she left Las Vegas beaten and battered by a thug and his helpers to keep her there to get her back is downright evil and criminal. Diane is living a normal life, or at least trying to do so, and we continue to fight off the pimps and criminal elements of an Adult Industry that need to be put in prison. I take great offense at Candida saying those words about me in her letter to Ben before she died…1) she has never met me 2) she don’t know me, and 3) her letter was just the words of a puppet with criminal’s hands up her ass moving her lips to take a shot at me. I normally don’t take shots at the dead, but when you see or hear a lie, you have to put your boot on it…no matter if it comes from beyond the grave or not. Has anyone seen Diane return to the life she fled yet? The answer is “NO”. And that is because the article is true. And the whole time Ben Tinsley was interviewing her on that haystack, I was off riding the horses in The Tonto National Forrest by myself. Ben will attest that I left him alone to speak freely and have Diane speak her heart to him without me being anywhere around. That was the intention. Whatever Ben wanted to ask, he could ask her. Whatever Diane had to say to Ben about her life or concerns, she said. And Candida spoke it correctly about the man she met with Diane way back when and she knew full well the sinister thugs she got with after that one got out of the picture. So, with all due respect and no disrespect to Candida’s memory or rebuttal, in the words of Ricky Bobby from Talledega Nights: “With all due respect, and remember, I’m sayin’ with all due respect, that ain’t worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin getting it on.”
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