The Rise and Fall and Size of Ken Ryker
It's been 10 years since Ken Ryker became the biggest thing in gay porn. Now, swerving between straight and gay, the superstar explains what the sex world, a religious upbringing and his impending porn expiration date have all done to him.


After nearly a decade of having his irresistible body parts--that shy smile, those broad shoulders, that jaw-dropping (and jaw-stretching) penis--worshiped on-screen, Ken Ryker has become one of porn’s most recognizable faces. Now 28 years old, Ryker has settled in Los Angeles and is putting his XXX experience to good use as the newest employee at Frixion Lube. He’s also looking to the future as he learns to make peace with his high-profile career in erotica.


Do you work for Frixion as “Ken Ryker” or as yourself?
I guess when you get one, you get both. [Smiles] So as far as promotions and stuff like that, I’m Ken Ryker. But for day-to-day stuff, I’m myself. I do everything from picking up the lube at the manufacturing plant and bringing it to the warehouse. Sometimes I even drop off orders to our local accounts myself.

Do the store owners get a little thrill from watching Ken Ryker walk into their store with their lube?
They might. [Smiles]

That in itself sounds like a porn film.
I kind of get some smiles of recognition here and there.

Are you still interested in doing some straight videos?
Yeah. How do you think it would be received?

I don’t think it matters.
It doesn’t matter?

It’s you. Your fans are your fans.
I actually just did a film with Jeff Stryker. It’s a straight film. He’s with one girl, and I’m with a different girl. Jeff is releasing it through his own company.

Your hard-core fans won’t care because they want to see you, but did you consider how your other gay fans would react?
My view is, in the year 2001 no one should be judging anyone else for who they have sex with. I’ve never picked a label--gay or straight--and I don’t want other people to label me.

I think views on sexuality have evolved a bit, judging from the mail we get at the magazine. There was a time when you guys had to maintain a certain straight trade image, but I think today’s porn fans have evolved beyond that.
I think that’s a lot of people’s experience. Most friends that I have, most people I know, they’ve all dated a girl--several girls--and they end up gay or straight or they’re still undecided. That’s just reality.

When do you think you became the Ken Ryker? Did it happen right away?
It seemed like it happened very gradually over a period of years. If I had to pick a particular time when people really started to notice me, it was when I came back and did that film for Odyssey, Ryker’s Revenge. That was about three years ago.

Your face was up on a billboard in West Hollywood too.
Yeah. [I would go into] restaurants and get those looks of recognition, or walk into a store and the clerks would more often than not recognize me, whereas before no one would look twice.

Seriously? Looking like you do?
Well, [before that] they didn’t react like they knew me.

When your first couple of films were released, did you have any sense of the heat that was building up around you? Lots of guys are popular, but it never becomes larger than they are. You, Ryan Idol, Joey Stefano, Stryker--all of you became larger than life.
I guess I realized I was on that level when I got the same offer for a video as Ryan Idol. I knew he was the big guy at the time, the highest-paid [model], and I thought, “Maybe I’ve made it.” [Chuckles] The first [video where] I got paid that much was Ryker’s Revenge.

Were you the kind of kid that thought about getting into movies and becoming famous?
I never thought about it at all.

Many celebrities describe their celebrity as surreal, as if it’s happening to someone else.
Yeah, that’s kind of true. It does seem a little surreal. I don’t think about it a whole lot. If someone recognizes me, it means my work’s appreciated. It sounds kind of cheesy, but if I go to a restaurant and there’s a 45-minute wait, more often than not they’ll find accommodations. That’s really cool. Or if I have a coach ticket and there’s a seat open in first class, the flight attendant decides to go ahead and give me an upgrade. That’s definitely nice.

That all started with the release of the book [The Films of Ken Ryker] and everything that happened with the Rocklands during the filming of Three Brothers, right? Perhaps we don’t need to rehash all that again--
I have no problem with that. I’ve never actually said anything about it.

OK. Around that time you also became someone that people gossiped about. According to the Internet message boards, you were having affairs with this celebrity or that one--you were doing everything.
[Nodding] Oh, yeah.

How aware were you of all of the gossip?
I ignored it because if it’s something bad, it upsets me. People are gonna talk. I don’t want to stress myself out worrying about what they’re saying. I know what’s true and what isn’t.

Do you want to set the record straight about Three Brothers?
No, but if there’s something you want to ask…

The story goes that as Vince and Hal Rockland were finishing up on Three Brothers, you called Hal and convinced him that he needed to reexamine his life. Then he walked away from the video.
Well, I know [other people] try to make it look like I sabotaged that film, but I didn’t even know they were in town. Hal called me--he and Vince had been filming--and said that he wanted to talk to me about something. So I went down later in the evening and picked them both up and brought them to my house. We were talking about stuff, and I told them I was going through kind of a spiritual awakening. I didn’t feel good about myself and about some of the stuff I’d done, and I was just being really open with them about my guilt and what was going on in my life. And it was kind of weird because Hal was going through a very similar thing. On his own, he decided he didn’t want to finish that film. I didn’t pressure him or anything like that, like people try to say. But everyone tried to blame me for ruining that film. [Laughs] It did really well anyway. The controversy probably helped a little in that regard.

Vist Ken on the Web at www.kenryker.com



Words by Benjamin Scuglia

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