LOS ANGELES—Few are the blue cinema journeyfolk who can genuinely be called “porn royalty,” but by any and all measure, Christy Canyon claims a seat at that ultra-elite table.
So for a return appearance before triple-X studio cameras by the longtime AVN Hall of Famer to transpire is, to say the least, a very, very big deal.
After all, the last time she did shoot any so-called “mainstream” porn (outside of non-sex roles) was when she was still a Vivid Girl in 1997.
But now, in the year of our lord 2024, Christy Canyon has climbed back into the proverbial saddle and ridden again across the Big Porn screen—specifically, the one bearing the moniker of Vixen Media Group’s newest shingle and the reigning AVN Best New Production Brand, MILFY.
Canyon’s first outing back was a standalone scene released in mid-July opposite massively popular Spanish woodsman Alberto Blanco. And that was quickly followed by her starring role among the quintet of marquee luminaries (also including Maitland Ward, Brandi Love, Phoenix Marie and Serenity Cox) comprising the principal lineup of MILFY’s first feature, American MILF.
But before either of those things happened, the 1998 AVN Special Achievement Award recipient recounted, she began dipping her toes into the creator content pond.
“It started about two years ago,” Canyon told AVN. “I was gonna work with Dredd. I think he’s fucking adorable. He’s sexy, he’s hot. So I think I DM’d Dredd on Twitter, I’m like, ‘I don’t know if you know who I am, but blah, blah, blah,’ right? And he DM’s right back, he’s like, ‘Are you kidding, Christy? I used to steal my dad’s VHS tapes of you. I’ve always been in love with you.’ So we exchanged numbers, we talked ... we talked for like two hours. He’s a good guy.
“So we set something up, we’re going to work together,” she continued. “Then monkeypox breaks out. And I’m like, ‘Dredd, I don’t mean to be a wimp, but I was very lucky I never got anything—it was the ’80s, there were only 12 of us working every day, no one was fucking around. Then came the ’90s, I was a Vivid Girl, it was condom-mandatory. Let’s just table this for now. I don’t want to get monkeypox. Whatever it even fucking is, I don’t know.’
“So he’s like, ‘I get it.’ So then we reschedule for like, ‘OK, in two months we’ll shoot.’ Then the super gonorrhea bullshit breaks out, and I’m like, ‘Oh, Dredd, I swear to god, I don’t mean to be like this, but I don’t want to catch gonorrhea, let alone super gonorrhea.’”
Finally, last December, the stars aligned.
“I called him and I said, ‘Oh my god, let’s do it.’ He’s like, ‘Three days from now, I’m not letting anything get in between us again,” Canyon recalled. “I’m like, ‘You got it. My rule is, when I work, we’ve gotta get tested, you can’t do anything sexually for 24 hours, and then we work.’ He’s like, ‘No problem.’
“So we go to the testing, which is new to me, right? I mean, when I quit, I think you went to a doctor and got HIV once every 30 days. And Vivid paid for it. I never went to AIM*, I would always go to my own gynecologist. But anyway, we meet, they fucking, you know, put a swab up my butt, down my throat, they stick a needle in my arm, I have to piss in a cup. I’m like, ‘Holy shit, this is amazing! Like, I feel safe.’"
And thus, Christy Canyon’s first collab came to fruition. A couple months later, she would do another with fellow (albeit much more recently inducted) Hall of Famer Keiran Lee.
“I was like, ‘Fuck, I forgot how great porn sex is!’” she exclaimed. “I forgot how much fun it is. And the thing is, I’ve never left the business. I did different things, whether it was Playboy Radio, Vivid Radio, this, that and the other. It’s not like, ‘Oh my god, she’s been gone for 20 years.’ No, I’ve always been here. I just, you know, I had a husband, I had a boyfriend—because I don’t mix business with boyfriends, because that’s always a slippery fucking slope—and suddenly I’m single, and I feel like a teenager again. I don’t know, guys at midlife crisis get red Corvettes, I’m making porn again.”
It wasn’t long until yet another Hall of Famer—Manuel Ferrara—came knocking about arranging a collab. “Then two minutes later, Kayden Kross calls me,” Canyon disclosed. “She’s like, ‘My husband just told me that you’re kind of doing shoots again. Will you talk to me about working for MILFY?’"
She told Kross she was really only interested in creating content for her own sites.
“I said, ‘I’m not really doing it for the money ... I’m doing it because it’s this, like, teenager coming out again in me.’ And she’s like, ‘Just meet me. Just come to the office and meet me.’
“And her and [Vixen casting director] Mike Moz and I sat down, and she’s like, ‘Listen ... this is what we’re gonna pay you. I want you to do a scene for MILFY. Then I want to put you in our big-budget production for the year. So you’re gonna do three sex scenes.’ She’s like, ‘Trust me, it’ll bring you traffic, you’ll love it. You thought Vivid had great production? Wait ’til you’re on my set.’
“And I’m like, ‘Why not?’”
Bold though Kross’ claim may have been, she was not telling tall tales, as Canyon would soon learn.
“Let me tell you ... that was the best production value porn I have ever been on,” she reported.
While granting that “it was always tops in the ’90s with Vivid,” she described the set of American MILF as an experience of a whole different caliber.
“You just stood there, and they dressed you from head to toe, they put on the earrings, the necklaces, the fake wedding rings,” she said. “It was a two-week shoot, I think I worked eight days. Twelve-hour days. They spent six hours on a non-sex scene where we’re all riding Pelotons.
“I felt proud to be a part of this. It brought back that good old-school feeling where companies cared about their work. I’m proud and I’m honored that I was part of that set.”
She went on to heap praise on director Kross.
“Kayden Kross is ... where was she during the fucking P.T. [Paul Thomas] days? Probably in high school,” Canyon quipped. “She’s the best. She’s unbelievable. The crew is amazing. There isn’t one thing I would change.”
Kross returned the adulation, telling AVN, “Christy ended up being such a delightful surprise! I knew she was funny from her radio work, but seeing her in action on our sets was such a treat. It was hard to get through the takes without laughing, and we ended up using so much more of her footage than we had planned on because her timing and looks are so good. Fans have loved her comeback and I can’t wait to work with her again!”
That of course begs the question, when might we see Christy Canyon in any more studio fare?
“I don’t know,” Canyon mused. “That’s the beauty of the position that I’m in. I can do whatever I want. I’m doing it because I want to, not because I have to. And it’s fun. I’m just gonna enjoy it. I’m just gonna have fun with it.”
She did hint that “I’m talking to Ricky Greenwood, maybe I’ll do something for him. I don’t know.”
In the meantime, one thing definitely still on the way at the time of this writing is the closing scene of American MILF, which involves something Canyon divulged was an actual first for her: a reverse gangbang.
“I’ve done a gangbang, but I’ve never done a reverse gangbang,” she relayed. “And I gotta tell you, it was fun. I love it that after all these years, still there’s stuff I haven’t done.”
That fifth and final scene is due to drop on MILFY September 25.
Beyond that, Canyon assures she will continue to update her OnlyFans page, found under the same handle as her X feed, @ChristyCanyon11.
[*Ed. note: For the sake of clarification, AVN notes that AIM (Adult Industry Medical) was founded in 1998, after Canyon stopped actively performering.]
