Junior Stellano, 35, New York City
Escort and porn star. www.rentboy.com/juniorstellano
How did you get started in escorting and porn?
I’ve been in corporate America most of my life—I have a bachelor’s degree and an MBA. I was a project manager for a Japanese telecom company, and I went through a transition of leaving that company when they started laying people off, and I became overwhelmed by that life. The escorting started around that time. I’d been solicited many times on non-escorting sites, like hookup/dating sites or Facebook, by people who would say, “I don’t mean to insult you, but I would pay to have sex with you.” And then I started asking, “How much?” My first client was such a sweetheart and made the whole thing so easy, and then I thought I could take it a step further and posted an ad on an escorting site. After that, I was solicited by a few of the major porn studios to work for them, and I just thought, Why not?
Who would you consider a good client?
A client who is clean, smells good, does not do drugs, wears protection and shows appreciation financially. I ask for a specific fee for my services, and every single one of my regular, good clients gives me way, way more than I ask for. So those are good clients. Also, my regular clients are regular because we connect on more than a physical level in some way. I could have dinner with them, go away with them, or do other things besides keeping it in the bedroom. I look forward to seeing them. And sometimes they pay me to free my time just to hang out or see a movie or whatever, which is fortunate for them that they have that luxury.
What kind of client would you turn down?
Let’s face it—we all have our preferences. First, you have to remember, I’m in charge. With new clients, 90 percent of the time I have no idea what the client looks like until I get to their door. If I get to the door, and something about them turns me off, whether their apartment is filthy, whether they smell, they’re just so unattractive to me that I just can’t…they smoke cigarettes, or they have cats—I’m allergic to them—I will walk away. I have the final say in what I’m going to do and what I’m not. I mean, I’ve refused to meet with people I’ve spoken to on the phone plenty of times because they have a fetish I can’t accommodate or if they’re into unsafe acts I don’t want to do.
Would you ever let yourself fall in love with a client, à la Pretty Woman?
Absolutely. It hasn’t happened, but I have one or two clients that I absolutely love—but they go home to their wives and kids.
How do you balance your work with your own love life? Does one take away from the other?
Absolutely. When you’re selling sex, sometimes the last thing you want to do is come home and have sex. When you get home, you do want to have someone to cuddle with and have a more affection interaction with.
It sounds like you’re having so much fun, but if you could choose a career other than your own, what would it be?
It would be politics. If I could choose any one single job, I would definitely go the presidential route. I wouldn’t mind being President of the United States. Absolutely. Second to that would be a dermatologist. If I had to start all over again, I would go to school for dermatology.
If you were to write a memoir, would there be any famous clients we recognize?
Yes.
And be surprised by?
I have had two very, very high-profile clients. There were always rumors about them, but one of them I didn’t know there were rumors about until after the fact. If I were to write a memoir—I would love to, and a client of mine has suggested it and would pay someone to write it for me—I would never, ever, ever betray anyone like that. And this is something I think is a big tragedy in the gay community. We all know that if someone in the entertainment industry is outed, it ends their career. Leave it to Barbara Walters to end someone’s career.
Is the porn part of your job fun?
It’s fun. I get to work with a lot of beautiful men from all over the world, so it’s given me the option to travel. Plus, being in porn has definitely improved the escorting business; seeing me in a video makes people want me more. I have to say, though, that porn—on behalf of everyone involved in making it—is a lot more difficult than I ever thought it would be. I’d say the average sex between two people who are into each other is going to last anywhere from five minutes to an hour—but we’re on set for eight hours, and as a man, there are certain things you need to keep up.
Do the studios give you stuff to help?
Nah, the studios leave you to work that out on your own. There’s Viagra, different shots, different things you can take, but if we need it, we take it. But even with the supplements, it can still be a challenge. To me, the most difficult part is that sometimes, when you’re having sex on a rock-hard surface for four to five hours, and your knees knock against that surface the whole time, your penis is not going to want to stay hard anymore.
What does your family think of all this?
My family wasn’t always supportive of me being gay, period. But losing my dad has changed my mom. The reason I didn’t do porn long before—I’d always wanted to do it—was because I knew it would hurt my dad. At this point in my life, my mom is my best friend. And I can talk to her like a friend. I don’t think anyone who knew me and my family would judge me in any negative way because I take care of my mom, mentally, physically and financially. She’s completely supportive. Her initial reaction was, “The only reason you can do this is because you’re beautiful. But are you careful?”
What advice would you give to someone who wants to go into porn and escorting?
Only go into it if you have a backup plan or an education. If you’re using sex as a stepping stone because you’re paying for med school or college, or you’re putting a roof over your head while you’re doing something else, then great. If you don’t have something more lasting in place, this isn’t something to get into. It’s fast money, it’s good money, but if you don’t have something else going for you, it can end very badly for you. Because you will age and you will get less calls, and the economy will change and rechange. It doesn’t matter how hot you are—you’re going to grow older, and it’s all going to catch up to you. You need a 401k, you need medical, you need more than what this life is going to give you.
What’s the most gratifying part of the job?
By the time my clients and I get together, they’re so excited and horny as hell. They’re looking forward to it. And that makes it all the more intriguing. I’m their escape from life, and in a way, I think I’m making their marriages and family lives better by providing this release.