VICTORIA, Canada – You might not have heard about this, because it has been written about by right-leaning media outlets only approximately 3.8 billion times since 2012, but a few years back a famous and very popular porn star stopped doing porn because she found God.
If you worried for a moment you might not hear from her again after the initial flurry of several million stories about her terrible experience in the porn industry subsided, don’t fret, because this is a story that never gets old — at least for those determined to tell it repeatedly.
“I never get tired of telling my story, because every time I do, it’s another opportunity to blame an entire industry for every regrettable personal choice I’ve ever made,” said former porn star Betty Holly, who now goes by Krysteee Van Del McPatel. “Also, it gives me a chance to glorify God, because without my devotion to God, people probably wouldn’t cut me nearly as much slack about my past as they currently do.”
Greg Koz, founder of Hardcore Assembly of God (HAG), a religious organization that does outreach to porn stars at adult industry trade events and over the internet, said he couldn’t be prouder of Van Del McPatel, whom he called “a true inspiration.”
“One of the main things we teach at our church is God loves and forgives everybody, even porn stars,” Koz said. “Although, frankly, he doesn’t love them nearly as much if they don’t leave porn, don’t go on speaking tours representing HAG and don’t lambast the industry for which they once worked as a den of iniquity populated by drug dealers, soul-rapists and dignity-thieves. But Krysteee has done all that, and so much more.”
Koz said while it’s also very important for people to realize HAG “does what it does to save souls, not to make money,” he encourages every porn addict who visits the church’s website to enroll in its HardcoreXCoach program.
“At its root, HardcoreXCoach is an educational system,” Koz said. “But it’s more than just classes and reading material. It’s also intensive one-on-one consulting with an experienced Decency Coach who has been through the same thing you’re going through and has beaten porn addiction. Bottom line: HardcoreXCoach is guaranteed to break your porn habit or charge you $3,000 a year trying.”
According to Van Del McPatel, the problems she has now left behind all trace back to her time in the adult industry, including a variety of issues she had several years before she made her debut as a porn performer.
“Just knowing other people were out there watching porn caused me to become anorexic as a teenager,” Van Del McPatel said. “Later, once I started doing porn, I also began to struggle with using heroin and meth — whereas before I did porn, I could do all the heroin and meth I wanted, no problem.”
Despite how much she hated performing in porn, Van Del McPatel said she was skeptical when she first encountered HAG representatives at an adult industry trade show.
“My first thought was ‘are these people really legitimate Christians?’” Van Del McPatel said. “I was doubtful at first, because they were carrying around these signs that said ‘Jesus Cured Syphilis, Too.’ While this might be accurate historically, I wasn’t sure we should read into this fact to mean the Prince of Peace would really be down with porn stars these days — you know, were he to come back and for some reason fly out to Las Vegas to get autographs, or whatever.”
The persistence of Koz and his HAG compatriots won over Van Del McPatel, however, and she immediately decided her next performance would be her last.
“The director reacted with total disbelief when I told him why I was leaving,” Van Del McPatel said. “He just stood there with this stunned look on his face saying, ‘Seriously? There’s really a church called HAG, and you’re actually joining it? I don’t know whether to cry or laugh.’ It was very touching, in a way, even though he did ultimately choose the laugh option.”
While leaving porn wasn’t easy — Van Del McPatel had to drop her old Twitter account, change her phone number and start dating pastors instead of bikers — the former porn star now says she wouldn’t go back on her choice for “all the heroin and meth in the world.”
“Nothing makes me feel as high as being in the presence of the Lord, anyway,” she said. “Except maybe thizzing while in the presence of the Lord, which I’ll admit, part of me would still like to try. I’m guessing my husband wouldn’t approve, though. Jesus may love recreational drug users, but Pastor Van Del McPatel is another story.”
