Content Warning: Descriptions of sexual assault.
In a recent tidal wave of assault allegations against well-established men in the adult entertainment industry, Ryan Madison’s name came up quite a lot. Madison, husband of Kelly Madison, who founded Kelly Madison Production, directs most of his own scenes for the company’s brands Porn Fidelity and Teen Fidelity. For years, he and his wife have run a successful business with strong brand recognition and top numbers on Pornhub. But now, more and more performers are coming forward to say that he violated them on set and off—and the details of their experiences are being released to the public.
The Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern published an article on July 7 describing, in graphic detail, the experiences of ten women who, wrote Stern, “accuse the 43-year-old Madison of a range of violations, from coercion and brutal corporal abuse to sexual assault.”
I’ll refrain from going into much detail here, as the original article is packed full of disturbing descriptions of violent and nonconsensual acts, and may be read on its own. Rather, I’ll talk about the several noticeable patterns that emerge in these women’s heartbreaking accounts:
First, they were mostly young and new to the industry. Lexi Lore was only 19 and had been in porn for “less than three months,” according to Stern, when she was booked to shoot with Ryan Madison. Jane Wilde was also 19, she told Stern, and “brand new to the industry,” as were Monice Sage, Khloe Kapri, and Amber Addis. Their age and inexperience put them at a notable disadvantage—not only were they new enough not to know what to expect or how to demand their boundaries be respected, but they also had nowhere near the clout to go up against someone with as much power in the industry as Ryan Madison.
Second, they allege they were groomed to feel comfortable by Kelly Madison and other women before the scene—then left alone with Ryan. Jane Wilde, writes Stern, arrived “at a house filled with women—including Madison’s wife and business partner, Kelly.” Wilde said, “’I felt empowered.” But, when she was driven to the house down the street where the scene was to be shot, “That’s when it started to get very predatory.”
Amber Addis was only on the third shoot of her career when she was introduced to Kelly Madison, who did her makeup. “She spoke to me about how much she enjoyed running a porn company that was started by women so people feel more comfortable on set,” Addis told Stern. “It’s almost like you’re being groomed to get your guard down.”
Third, wrote Stern, “The majority of the women I spoke to described being offered drugs or alcohol prior to shooting.” This isn’t unheard of in the industry, but it’s particularly telling of the power dynamic Ryan was setting up with these young women.
Fourth, the performers say they weren’t given enough warning about the roughness of the scene that was to follow. “There was absolutely no clarification with whether I’d be OK with things like choking or rough sex,” said Kinsey Karter of her experience—which resulted in her vomiting, bleeding, and remaining injured for days afterward. Monica Sage describes “politely” telling him to “go slow and be careful” for their anal scene, but instead was injured so badly that she bled (which, notes Stern, “is indeed clearly visible in their scene”). “I had an anal injury for weeks afterwards,” said Sage.
Fifth, Ryan allegedly repeatedly requested or demanded or simply performed creampies in the middle of scenes—rather than negotiating them beforehand, as is standard protocol. It put the women on the spot and often coerced them into acquiescing. Many of them, as the article points out, just wanted to get the scenes over with, or were afraid of what Ryan would do to them if they said no. ““I said OK to so many things I wasn’t OK with because I wanted it all to be over,” Jane Wilde told Stern. “I thought, ‘I’ll get paid and it will make this experience be worth it in some way.”
Sixth—and perhaps the most chilling—many of the performers Stern spoke with said that their agents and plenty of others in the industry knew about Ryan’s patterns and encouraged them to shoot with him anyway. When Wilde spoke to her agent about the nightmare she’d gone through at Ryan’s hands, he said, “I’m going to need to have a talk with him because he’s done this to other girls, and it’s not OK.’” That same agent (John O’Byrne from East Coast Talent) sent Annabel Redd to Madison two years later. Redd is the performer who started the conversation currently swirling around Madison with a tweet on June 5.
https://twitter.com/AnnabelRedd/status/1268962227849216000
It appears that Ryan’s behavior is a well-known industry secret. “We haven’t sent girls to him for about two and a half years,” an anonymous agent told Stern. “The girls can feel very isolated out there, way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, and he got increasingly rougher and increasingly intoxicated.” And, he continued, “Everybody knows it.”
Each of these six patterns seem prominent enough that it’s astonishing anyone would send a young, inexperienced performer into the jaws of this alleged serial abuser. And yet agents continued to do so for years. Clearly, it’s time for these women’s stories to be heard—and time for Ryan Madison to be blacklisted.
