Sheena Ryder doesn’t do many interviews so I feel privileged. Long before this eXXXclusive Q&A session, I told anyone within earshot that Sheena was one of the best and most complete porn starlets to hit the scene in years. All cylinders clicked with this Latina bombshell: She’s got a beautiful face, phenomenal body, monster culo and she performed with an intensity that very few starlets can match. From the moment she entered the game, Sheena strung together a series of knockout performances like Mike Tyson in his prime. Every scene she did was classic and no matter how many times she raised the bar for herself, the next flick would be even hotter. Not only was she having a monumental run through the adult industry, she was also working on her very own website: SHEENARYDERXXX.COM. The stratosphere was the limit.
Then her brilliant career came to a screeching, near-fatal halt on a stretch of highway in South Carolina. One fateful night in November 2012, Sheena was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident that mangled her leg and sidelined her indefinitely. Her grueling road to recovery was a true test of resolve. Yet here she is, a year removed from the accident, back in the porn game and filming new material for the recently-launched SHEENARYDERXXX.COM. Fans need to show their appreciation and patronize her site; not only is it filled with high-quality material, Sheena is taking input from her audience to see what kind of nasty stuff we want her to do. She’s truly a woman of the people and I thank her for giving me such thorough answers in this interview. Shout-out to the big homie Rico Shades for orchestrating Sheena’s website as well as booking this awesome Q&A session with her.
Calling this an interview is a bit of an understatement. It’s actually a narrative of porn and perseverance that will have you on the edge of your seat. Find out about Sheena’s military experience, how she got into the porn industry and of course, a detailed account of the night that changed her life.
Black Pacino: What branch of the military were you in and what was your job there?
Sheena Ryder: I was a nurse. I’d like to just generalize it by saying I was in the military versus saying what branch specifically because I don’t need anybody looking my records up and what not. I don’t need any of my battle buddies finding out it was me and trying to look up my stuff. One of the times I was in Vegas a year ago, I got recognized… a whole bunch of people had just gotten back from deployment. They recognized me from my tattoos and of course, my ass (laughs). I was walking around the pool in a thong and these other girls are looking in disgust and stuff like that. But the guys are all, of course, staring and commending me for being ballsy enough to go to the pool in a thong. Those Asian groupies will want to come up and take pictures and they’re like, “Can I touch it?” (Laughs)
So military nurse working the ER, immunization. I’ve seen everything unfortunately from dead babies to car accident victims. I never went overseas; that definitely was not on my things to do list. I’m patriotic by all means but I helped the soldiers families who had to stay on base while their husbands or wives were deployed and what not so I was supporting back on the home front. I had no intention of going over there. I did everything I could to not be deployed. Doesn’t make me any less patriotic, just means that really wasn’t on my things to do list. I’ve got a lot of experience though.
Black Pacino: How did you go from a career in the military to a career in Porn Valley?
Sheena: Well, I was born and raised in Los Angeles and these people are all my friends. I was a swinger at first. After you’re a swinger for a while you go to swinger parties and porn people go to those parties as well, seeing as we all like to fuck (laughs). People like Marcus London would see me perform at these swinger parties and they’re like “You should do porn.” Wish I’d done it back when they told me to back in 2007 when some of the last of the real heydays were, but I didn’t really get into it until about 3 years ago.
July of 2010 is when I signed up and it was slow at first because I really didn’t need to be in porn… I just did it (in addition) to my career and my day job. I was still in the military while I was in porn so I was hurrying up, trying to get out. I got out of the military around the same year I joined up to be in porn, so it’s not like I did much. But I needed to get myself discharged from the military so I could get that Honorable Discharge. If they found out I was in porn I’m pretty sure I would’ve gotten a Dishonorable Discharge. I did end up getting the Honorable Discharge.
Pacino: I’ve never been in the military but I would imagine that kind of life is very disciplined. Everybody is separated by barracks, there’s a curfew and things of that nature. How did you satisfy that superfreak side of yours when you were in the military?
Sheena: There’s really not much you can do. We heard stories about people that would go over to the cafeteria area and they were fucking in a trash can… like literally, those big tall rubbish bins… I’m disgusted just thinking about it now. People were that desperate. I met swingers in church (laughs). I went to church to go meet up with this guy and that was about the most I did. You know, I made out with him in the dark after you go for your run or whatever like that. I did that when I was basic training. However when I was A.I.T., which is what they call it when you to school to get your M.O.S. (job training), that’s when we got to go on leave and go off for the weekends and have hotel room parties. I would go off on camping trips and things like that and I corrupted quite a few southern boys who were stationed with me. They were like my prey and I’m like, “You, come here. Follow me. Come to my hotel room” (laughs). It was really hard to find people who could keep up.
Pacino: Being an employee of the government what do you think of this recent government shutdown?
Sheena: Aw shit. I voted for him the first time but I completely absolutely regret. Obamacare and all this shit being in health care, yeah… nobody knows what the fuck they’re doing up there and honestly, do we know if anyone can fix anything up there? No, it’s a fucking game. And the people that are self-minded and business-minded enough to make our country work well enough are smart enough to know that they don’t want anything to do with that. They’re just going to go their own fucking happy way with their business and make their lives successful and retire and do whatever it is they do. By the time everything goes to Hell in a hand basket they’re hoping that they’re dead (laughs). That’s another reason I got out of the military because I was like “I do not want to be a part of this” when we’re really just considered pawns in the game of chess.
Pacino: Like that Black Sabbath song “War Pigs.”
Sheena: Yes and also a lot of songs by System Of A Down. “Why do they always send the poor?” That particular phrase in the lyrics.
Pacino: A lot of people are misinformed on your motorcycle accident and resulting injuries. Can you explain what happened that particular night?
Sheena: I flew into South Carolina to hang out with a friend on November 5th of 2012. We were bullshitting around and decided to go for a ride. We got all the group together, I went to go meet all their friends. I was supposed to ride a bike of my own because I have my motorcycle license but I had been throwing back shots with my friend; y’know, I was pretty toasted. So there was one particular person’s bike I was supposed to get on the back of but he didn’t have his seat, he had a shell instead on it. So I ended up getting on the back of someone else’s motorcycle. We go downtown and we’re all having fun or whatever; I think he just had a beer. Again, me and my girlfriend were throwing back shots and this and that, hooting and hollering and having a great time. And then we head back… and we didn’t make it back.
He lost control of his motorcycle and he made impact with the road divider. His motorcycle made hit my girlfriend and her date’s motorcycle so therefore they were in the wreck as well. I’m thrown across forty to fifty feet of the highway so I have six pins, a plate and a rod in my ankle. And then I had skin avulsion and degloving from my knee… almost completely stripped off around my calf but all of this is on my right leg. I had a skin graft on there and they took the skin from my thigh so I have a lot of discoloration to my upper thigh where they took the skin. It’s almost completely looking normal, I have to get some laser treatment started and things like that.
But how I actually felt when I was going through this crash… I felt a moment of weightlessness. Then I was like “Oh my gosh, here it comes.” I fold my arms across my chest and I bail out. I was not wearing enough shoes so that’s why my feet got all jacked up like they did. I didn’t feel the pain of my ankle dislocating or my knee being injured because I was that drunk or the adrenaline. Thank God I didn’t feel it because I can only imagine how much that would hurt. The only thing I did feel was, as my legs are flailing across the asphalt, my toes getting all beat up from the street. I remember feeling that pain. Eventually all of my toenails fell off because of that trauma later on when I was in the hospital. I have road rash too on my left arm, road rash to my lower back and some on my buttocks from being in the hospital, bed sores and stuff like that. I’m going to put a fund together for laser scar removal and try to get all these little itsy-bitsy things put together. But there’s nothing I’m able to do about the skin graft. That’s gonna be the way it is.
When I’m done careening across the highways, I open up my eyes and I’m like, “Okay, I’m still alive.” I see the stars in the sky and things like that. And I picked myself up and lean up and there’s all fatty tissue and my blood and my skin is everywhere. I see my leg is all torn up, I see my ankle turning the wrong way. I’m like “Okay that’s great, I’m not going to be able to get up and walk right now. That sucks.” With my hands I pushed my body out of the middle of the street and I lean up on the center divider. I hear my girlfriend screaming in the distance, I guess she saw the body of her dude. And then I hear one of the other bikes that was behind us, because he had got stopped at the light before he made it on the freeway… he comes up, I guess he saw the body of their friend, who was the driver. He didn’t make it. He comes up to me and he’s bawling, he’s like “I don’t think so-and-so is alive.” My girlfriend is just going on. A car pulls up like, “Are you OK?” I’m like, “I’m fine, just call 911.” I was kind of beating myself up because I’m a nurse and I couldn’t get over to that person’s body to see if there was something I could do or anything. I was feeling bad bout that internally until I found out later on from the autopsy that he was dead on impact. Forty-seven broken bones, internal bleeding, the whole nine yards. That’s because he hit straight into the center divider.
The ambulance comes and I’m telling them all this stuff; that I’m in the medical field, I’m spouting off information they need to do, height, weight, age, things like that. Mind you though, I’m drunk so the adrenaline actually sobers you up (laughs). And I’m telling them don’t cut my jacket off of me, I’m like my arms aren’t that effed up. I didn’t want them to cut everything off of me, stuff’s expensive. I just bought this brand new leather jacket. I was like, “Bitch, I already did an exam on myself.” I can wiggle my toes, I can feel everything and it was just superficial. My bones weren’t poking out, nothing was amputated. I was like “Are you out of your mind? You don’t tell somebody that. You don’t tell them if they’re going to live or die. Take me to the best hospital in this fucking county.” They continued through the ER. The orthopedic people in ER are like “Uh, just give her valium and we’re going to set this right now” and I was like “The fuck you are! I’m not going to feel that pain” (laughs). I was like “You’re going to put me under (other medications)” and they were like “How do you know about that stuff?” And I was like “I keep on telling you, I’m a nurse. Fuck your valium.” I was a holy fucking terror the entire time during that ER.
“I’ve always loved sex. I’ve always been a sexual being. I was masturbating at 6 years old with stuffed animals. I had dreams as a little kid of fucking girls.”
Spent two weeks in a hospital in South Carolina and they didn’t give me quite the optimal care had I been in California. I was there for 13 days and they only did 3 dressing changes. I think that harmed a lot of my progress that I could have made had they been doing regular dressing changes every other day. Since I had Kaiser Insurance, Kaiser was like “No, we’re not going to keep you over there.” I had VIP treatment, my own airplane and my own nursing team pick me up in the middle of the night and take me back to California. But again, you’re dealing with fucking Kaiser…. you land in California and the med search ward doesn’t know who I am or why I’m there. All Filipino nurses and they all give me fucking attitude and they’re mean as hell (laughs).
They didn’t put me under for my dressing change, they just gave me some morphine and the type of dressing that the South Carolina hospital had used was not up to par and I can’t even express to you the pain I had to go through when they had to tear that foam dressing out of my leg. I screamed loud enough that the nurses were like “You’re scaring the other patients.” I’m like “Fuck yourself, you’re not going through what I’m going through right now.” I finally got a hold of my phone and I started tweeting out all those pictures… that really gross picture where it looked like chunk of my leg had been taken out by sharks, was that day I landed into California. I stayed the hospital for a couple of weeks then they transferred me to a nursing home/recovery house. It was a very long hard road.
Pacino: What was going through your mind as you were enduring all of this? Did you think your porn career is over? How did you keep your head up during the rehab?
Sheena: I thought I looked like fucking monster. I was like “There’s no level of plastic surgery that’s going to make me look normal again.” The doctor also told me I was never going to wear high heels again. I guess doctors tell you the worse-case scenario and if things end up working out better than that, then so be it. I pretty much used my own determination and my own way of working through it, I accomplished a lot while I was in the rehab place. And then when AVN came around, since it was my birthday, I decided that I’m done. My skin graft wasn’t until the day after Christmas, though. So I was in the hospital every week, every other day, getting my dressing changed and seeing how my skin was filling in and being just the anticipation… very similar to the anticipation of my website release right now (laughs).
It was disheartening, you want to give up because it hurts. I couldn’t walk for two months; I didn’t start walking until January 6th of this year. I decided that morning, okay… I got up and I started rolling myself around on my walker trying to get my strength up. I’m still having issues with my quads but I’m able to bend my knee and my calf has filled out a lot and my ankle flexibility is pretty much back to par because I’m back walking in five or six inch heels. It was a really long hard trip. I had a lot of depression; I would sit in bed and I wouldn’t go anywhere or do anything. I’d call myself a monster and my friends would be mad at me and say “You’re not a monster.” Sometimes I was feeling sorry for myself.
Pacino: At what point did you decide to get back into the game and what inspired you to return?
Sheena: I got out of the hospital in January. Around February I was really bad, I wouldn’t even get out of bed. March, I started using a cane. I was done using the walker. April, I was done with the cane and just kind of limping around. Between April and May was when I finally was like “Okay, I need to get into the gym and start putting my body back together. That’s around the time that I had a meeting with Rico (Shades) because prior to the accident I was working with him constantly. I had almost 40% of my content up for my website. We had a goal, we had a plan and this was a huge upset. So I had a meeting with him and I’m like “What am I capable of doing? Look at me.” And he’s like “As long as your face is intact and your snatch is fine and you’ve got your booty, you’re fine.”
My ass had shrank while I was in the hospital so I was not up to par when I had that meeting with him. I had to get my ass back so that’s what I worked on by doing squats and eating ridiculous amounts of food that you really shouldn’t eat (laughs). But of course calories put the weight on. The problem with that is you can’t just put the weight on one particular area, so then I started getting a stomach. But I’ve been going to the gym more and more. I’m still working on refining that; my ass is almost back to pre-accident capacity. I was about 40 inches before the accident. I’m at 38 & ½ inches. It’s a slow and steady kind of thing.
Pacino: Well, I’m glad to have you back.
Sheena: I’m glad to be back. It’s a lifestyle choice to be in the industry and to make it an actual career versus doing it for the attention, fun and quick paycheck. I like to consider myself what people would call a lifer and I take it very seriously. Because I’ve had a career before ever doing porn I’m not some teenybopper, I actually have a better work ethic. I’m not one of those girls you see on Twitter like “I got my Louis Vuitton purse back.” Fuck that shit. (Laughs)
Pacino: When all of the stuff happened with the HIV scares and the industry shutdown, you weren’t really back just yet, right?
Sheena: No, I’ve actually back shooting since July. I’ve been taking baby steps. I started off with just a couple of blowjobs. The problem was the wardrobe. I had to buy knee-high boots, thigh-high boots, get stockings… new wardrobe for my scar to be able to shoot. So it took me a while to build up wardrobe. I’d clearly gone through all of my savings and they wouldn’t pay me my disability anymore, so it was really slow financially and things like that. Like right now I’m literally pulling my fucking hair out hoping for this website to launch and just to really take off. When you’ve poured everything you’ve got into this career, people don’t understand…
Yeah we make a lot of money but it costs a lot of money to be a performer. Got to get your nails done, got to get your hair done, buy a bra and new panties and get your heels. You have to get it. You’re not provided with all of that. Sometimes you do, if you’re lucky you show up for a company but me, I’m working for myself right now. Getting tested however many times, all that shit costs money.
“Sex is going to sell no matter what, so I don’t know where you’re going to push us off to. But as far as these bible-beaters, they’re the biggest hypocrites in the world because you know the bible-beaters are the ones watching most of the fucking porn.”
Pacino: Speaking of testing, how did you feel when the industry got shut down because all these performers with HIV were popping up? And do you have any thoughts on how situations like this can be prevented?
Sheena: I’m thinking OK, what’s going on? How much is of this has to do with their recreational lifestyle choices… whether it has to be drugs or if they’re off hooking bareback on the side, which is a very poor choice. And the irresponsibility on how they’re trying to point fingers on everyone else instead of taking the blame on themselves. “Oh no, it’s Kink’s fault. Oh no, it’s so-and-so.” Really? C’mon. Were you not just having your own little fucking blow bangs with all your little groupies and shit? The truth will come out that hey guess what? You’re actually out of your fucking mind and you have a legal record behind you. And then also ethically you’re like “Okay. Is this going to work out?” Is this going to be the last straw to break the camels back when we’ve already got AHF trying to shut us down, basically? (They say) “Oh, AHF is trying to help us.” Really?
Honestly, uh… (Pauses) It’s always so touchy because you say stuff and it gets around and it’s going to get you on someone’s “No List” if they don’t like your tone… if they don’t like how your feelings are on it. But she needs a fund for her medication. Like come donate to this bitch’s fucking medical fund for her meds. I’m like, it’s her own poor choices is why she got it. Why isn’t somebody making a fucking fund for my laser scar removal? Really? C’mon. Ugh. (Laughs) Anyway… look how nonchalant Rod Daily was about it. Like we’re all sitting, waiting to hear on Twitter about his results. And like a week later he goes “Oh, I didn’t know you guys were all waiting on me. Well the results–drumroll please–I am HIV positive.” I’m like, really dude? So nonchalant about the entire thing. And I don’t blame that third girl.
You know how rough like to get into (sex). God forbid you integrate condoms into it. It’s going to tear me up even more. I don’t think I’ve ever attempted to have anal sex with a condom on, I can only imagine how uncomfortable that’s going to be. And that’s going to impede on my performance and the quality of the scene for you guys and I would hate to… you know.
Pacino: And that leads into my next question. Your performances are very energetic. You’re a hell of a performer. How much of that is for the camera and how much of that is really you?
Sheena: There are people that I’m sexually attracted to and you can tell my genuine orgasms. Like big, big orgasms are a combination of clitoral and vaginal or clitoral and anal, depending on what it is. But yeah, sometimes there’s a performance. If I’m not really into this dude and I’m just doing the fucking job that day, I like to hope maybe you’re not really able to tell. The only person that says he’s able to tell is my ex-fiancee and that’s because he fucked me for 10 years. But I like to hope everything’s the same quality whether I like it or not.
Some reviewers have been able to tell that the scene has had more chemistry or not. Like, there’s one I did with Anissa Kate and like, she’s hot as fuck. People are like “This scene deserves fucking awards.” It’s one of the most recent girl/girl films that got released. I did that a year ago but they take their sweet time releasing that stuff. That was something with a lot of energy. I was totally into her but I didn’t know if she was really into me; she doesn’t speak any fucking English (laughs). So I didn’t understand a fucking thing she was saying. I’m pretty sure she didn’t understand what we were telling her because you know how they’re just like “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” Like “yeah” is the only word they know how to say (laughs). It was fucking hot, I loved it. Chris Strokes, he’s really cool. I’ve worked with him a lot, we just get along. We’re fucking weirdoes though (laughs). We have a working relationship. You know, things like that. It’s not just all for the camera but it’s on a case by case basis.
Pacino: I haven’t seen a bad Sheen Ryder scene, that’s why I wanted to know. I’ve been talking about you at my site for a while now and I’ve always said that you’ve never done a corny flick. Some people just get on camera and fuck, some really perform and do great scenes.
Sheena: Yeah, I’ve always loved sex. I’ve always been a sexual being. I was masturbating at 6 years old with stuffed animals. I had dreams as a little kid of fucking girls. I was like “Well am I supposed to be a dude? Was I a hermaphrodite and my parents chopped off my dick when I was a kid or something?” Y’know, you always have those weird understandings and you don’t know. I had to be quiet about how interested I was in girls until like 19… that’s when I started being like “Fuck you, I really fucking like this chick.” Now you’re cool if you announce that you’re a lesbian in fucking high school. Now it’s cool to be fucking gay (laughs).
Pacino: So what can fans expect at your site? What can we look forward to at SheenaRyderXXX.com?
Sheena: Honestly, I want everyone to tell me what they want to see. I’m willing to push the envelope. Right now I’m trying to get into some trainees that want to work with me and do some strap-on play and stuff like that. Anything and everything, I obviously already do. A gangbang, I’m trying to organize that. I have an orgy scene on there. I technically have the gangbang on there but it was like, group sex. I think there was 3 or 4 guys that were all doing me but it was kind of an awkward scene because I wasn’t prepared to do anal that day and I didn’t have multiple guys on me at a time like normally. You’ve seen my Kink and Smash Pictures gangbang. That was a hard day (laughs), that one for Smash. Six guys is too many. Four was cool, five was cool and then six… that was a rough day.
Pacino: A little over the top, huh? Let me ask you a theoretical question. If you could do a scene or photo shoot with one mainstream celebrity, who would it be and why?
Sheena: That’s tough when it comes to acting because I’ve actually been with mainstream celebrities, just to let you know (laughs).
Pacino: So it’s not theoretical (laughs).
Sheena: There is a difference between porn sex and regular sex, people don’t get it. I would say Olivia Wilde as far as girls. She’s like my type; I’m not really into blondes but I’ll do them (laughs). No actually I lied. The only blond I ever wanted and she got out (of porn) before I could get to her was Jenny Hendrix.
Pacino: Aw damn! That would’ve been good. You and Jenny Hendrix? I’m running the scenario through my mind.
Sheena: I’ve done a photo shoot with her but I never got to actually perform with her. I think she’s a hairdresser now or something like that. Everyone always says Angelina Jolie but that’s going to have to be Angelina Jolie when she was in the movie Hackers. Because now she’s all anorexic and shit and lost her boob.
As far as guys, I like Lenny Kravitz. They’re all put up on a fucking pedestal like “Oh, Channing Tatum and Ryan Gosling” and I’m like “Meh.” I don’t know. Normally when guys are all chiseled like that, there’s absolutely nothing going on upstairs. So I’d have an intelligent conversation with them first before I’m like “Okay, now I want to fuck your brains out” (laughs).
Pacino: I guess the intellectual guys have a chance then. That’s good to know. Because usually when people think of porn stars they have that stereotypical image in their minds that you’ll fuck anybody. So let’s wind things down with this: What do you say to detractors of porn? Like Mitt Romney… he said he’d ban porn if elected.
Sheena: Yeah, take 13 billon dollars of revenue from the state of California. Crush something that fuels part of this fucking nation. Sex is going to sell no matter what, so I don’t know where you’re going to push us off to. But as far as these bible-beaters, they’re the biggest hypocrites in the world because you know the bible-beaters are the ones watching most of the fucking porn.
Pacino: They’re beating more than their bibles.
Sheena: I’m no longer religious. I’m agnostic, which is not atheist. Agnostic is that you understand that there’s spirituality and things like that. I’m very knowledgeable of everything from the Jewish religion, Christian, Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhist… all of those religions. I was christened Catholic and baptized Christian and pretty much after age 17 is when everything went downhill and I became my “sexual being self.” I know the Bible, I know what all that shit’s about. And it’s fucking overrated. Other than the Ten Commandments… you know what I mean? You go to church and it’s like high school; it’s all these little cults and these little groups of people. If you’re not part of the cool crowd, if you don’t go to practice with them after the church service, if you’re not there singing your fucking little heart out…
You can practice you religion at home. You can be spiritual in your own way in how you live your life and treat others how you want to be treated. It’s a job. I’m not walking the street for my next shoot-up of heroin. The performance, it is a form of art work—it’s extremely hardcore artwork and entertainment—but all of the hypocritical fucking religious people, they kill me. They really do.
Pacino: Any parting shots and final thoughts for your fans?
Sheena: The General is here for the Sheena Ryder Army and I’m gonna be kicking ass and taking names… and definitely being the biggest pain-in-the-ass ever, giving it to you just how you want it. So by all means, everyone tell me what you want to see and I’ll do it for you. I’m taking a while, I’m still technically recovering but I’m still going to give it 110%. Like Rico said, my 10% is better than some of these girls’ 200 (laughs).
Be sure to follow Sheena on Twitter @SheenaRyder1, call her for a private chat at VerifiedCall.com/profiles/SheenaRyder and of course, check out the gourmet smut she cooked up at SHEENARYDERXXX.COM. I’m in such a good mood right now, here are three bonus videos from Sheena Ryder’s YouTube Channel.
Previously posted:
SHEENA RYDER, BIG BOOTY INSPECTOR