Former Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein is the subject of a lengthy Q&A feature story in Razor magazine titled “How Al Goldstein Got Screwed.”
In his brash style, Goldstein answers questions about his rags-to-richest-to-rags journey with writer Josh Alan Friedman.
Friedman discusses how Goldstein squandered a fortune estimated at $10 million on a lavish lifestyle and how sightings of him in New York have become like “sport.” According to the story, the 69-year-old is living with his fifth wife in an apartment outside Manhattan and recently signed a lucrative deal as a pitchman for XOnDemand, a leading streaming video company (he is no longer with XOnDemand).
In the Q&A, Goldstein talks about how he contemplated suicide when his son turned on him, how he is writing his autobiography and his experiences as a homeless person.
“I want to dedicate it to my son,” he told Friedman. “I’m amazed Judith Regan hasn’t come to me. Jenna Jameson has a best-seller, so why hasn’t Judith Regan offered me an autobiography? I created the porn industry. How many people got their dick sucked by Linda Lovelace and Seka, had 22 arrests, a history of dealing with the Mafia? … The Washington Post ran a story on me recently and said it was the most popular piece they’ve run in years. Regan won’t return my call. Am I hated that much? I must be.”
Goldstein talks about how “Ninety-eight percent of the world abandoned me” when he was homeless, but some people, such as magician Penn Gillette, “best friend” Ron Jeremy, Vivid co-chairman Steven Hirsch and AVN president Paul Fishbein, helped him get back on his feet.
He even said that while he stayed at the homeless shelter that a hooker he’d been seeing regularly for 10 years gave him $1,000. “Can you imagine a hooker giving a john money back?”
