1984–1986: Start of career At age 15, Lords became pregnant by her high school boyfriend. Afraid of her mother's reaction, she went to Hayes for help, who arranged for her to have an
abortion without her mother's knowledge. Looking for a job to get some money, she was introduced to Hayes's friend and started working for her as a babysitter who offered to improve Lords's job opportunities by helping her get a fake driver's license. The woman provided Lords with a new birth certificate on condition that if she were ever caught, she would say that she had stolen the phony identification. In February 1984, she answered a newspaper advertisement for
Jim South's World Modeling Talent Agency. Posing as her stepfather, Hayes drove her to the agency. Lords made her first porn movie in 1984, when she appeared in
What Gets Me Hot! alongside
Tom Byron, who later became her boyfriend offscreen. In her next movie,
Those Young Girls, she appeared in a sex role alongside
Harry Reems and
Ginger Lynn. After appearing with
John Leslie in the porno parody
Talk Dirty to Me Part III which won the
AVN Award for the best movie, Lords was hailed as the "Princess of Porn". In May 1986, around three weeks after Lords's 18th birthday, authorities were informed that she had been underage when she appeared in the porn movies and that she had lied to law enforcement, photographers, producers, directors, co-workers, and the general public. The owners of her movie agency and X-Citement Video, Inc. were
arrested and charged. She was taken into
protective custody and hired high-profile lawyer
Leslie Abramson. On July 10,
district attorney's investigators searched Lords'
Redondo Beach home as well as the
Sun Valley offices of Vantage International Productions and the
Sherman Oaks offices of modeling agent Jim South. South and other industry officials said that Lords, who was seeking employment, provided a California driver's license, a U.S. passport, and a birth certificate, which stated that her name was Kristie Nussman and gave a birth date of November 17, 1962. Leslie Jay, a spokeswoman for
Penthouse publisher
Bob Guccione, also said Lords showed identification indicating that she was older than 18 before the illicit photos for the September 1984 issue were taken. When investigators used Lords's fake birth certificate and fake state identification cards to locate the real Kristie Nussman, Nussman said that her birth certificate had been stolen a few years earlier and that an impostor had apparently forged her name on official forms. Two adults who knew Lords, but who requested anonymity, said they saw her picture in the adult magazine
Velvet during July 1984 and telephoned the district attorney's office to inform authorities that she was underage, but that an investigator told themthey couldn't take action. On July 17, 1986, video rental shops and
adult movie theaters in the US removed their inventory all
hardcore material featuring Lords to avoid prosecution for distributing child pornography. John Weston, attorney of the
Adult Film Association of America, said distributors should withdraw any movie made before May 1986 that featured Lords in sexual conduct. The withdrawal of Lords' movies from the market cost the industry millions of dollars. Government prosecutors declared that Lords was a victim of a manipulative industry, maintaining that she was drugged and made to do non-consensual acts. Industry insiders, including
Ron Jeremy,
Tom Byron,
Peter North, and Ginger Lynn said they never saw her use drugs and that she was always fully aware of her actions. While most of Lords's movies were permanently removed from distribution in the United States, several were re-edited to remove her scenes or had new footage filmed with a different actress playing her part. Her only porn movie legally available in the United States is
Traci, I Love You, filmed in Cannes, France two days after her 18th birthday. Another case,
United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc., was brought against video store owner Rubin Gottesman, who was indicted in 1987 on charges of trafficking in child pornography by selling and distributing videos featuring Lords. Gottesman continued to distribute Lords videos well after other video wholesalers and retailers had removed those titles from their inventory, and undercover agents testified that he acknowledged knowing that Lords was under the age of 18 when she appeared in the videos. He was later convicted and incarcerated.
1987–1991: Transition to mainstream, Not of This Earth and Cry-Baby Lords enrolled at the
Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, where she studied
method acting for three months. After leaving the school, Lords placed an advertisement in
The Hollywood Reporter looking for representation. She was contacted by Fred Westheimer and although the agency declined to officially represent her, he decided to send her out on a few auditions. As a result, she was offered a guest role in an episode of the television series
Wiseguy. Shortly afterwards, she met the director
Jim Wynorski, who was directing the remake of
Roger Corman's 1957 sci-fi classic
Not of This Earth. He immediately cast Lords into the lead role of Nadine Story, and
Not of This Earth (1988) became her first mainstream film since her departure from the adult film industry. Although the film failed at the box office, it did well in video sales. Based on that success, Lords was offered to appear in Wynorski's next film,
The Haunting of Morella (1989). However, Lords turned down the offer due to the requirement of having a nude scene since she was trying to establish herself as a serious actress. She also signed with a modeling agency under her birth name Nora Kuzma and appeared on two covers of
Joe Weider's magazine
Muscle & Fitness. Around that time, Lords became a spokesperson for Children of the Night, an organization for runaways and abused children, and planned to release a book titled
Out of the Blue: The Traci Lords Story. In November 1988, Lords enrolled in another acting class and again began looking for an agent. In December, she mass-mailed her résumé to various agents and arranged a meeting with Don Gerler. Lords auditioned for the part of
Breathless Mahoney in the film
Dick Tracy (1990), but the role went to
Madonna. By May 1989,
John Waters cast her for his teenage comedy musical
Cry-Baby (1990). She won the role and appeared in the film alongside
Johnny Depp and
Ricki Lake. The film was a critical and commercial success, and her portrayal of the rebellious teenager Wanda Woodward established her as a legitimate actress. On the set of the film, she met the property master Brook Yeaton, whom she began dating. The couple married in September 1990 in
Baltimore, Maryland. In June 1990, the exercise video
Warm up with Traci Lords was released. Directed and produced by her former boyfriend and business partner Stewart Dell, the video had been filmed in early 1988. Lords was unsatisfied with the final version of the video. An extended version was reissued in 1993 under the title
Traci Lords: Advanced Jazzthetics. In 1991, Lords starred in the thriller
Raw Nerve and the action crime film
A Time to Die. Lords appeared in such popular TV shows as
Roseanne,
Married... with Children (Season 6. Chapter 11: "Al Bandi Shoes Detective" as Vanessa Van Pelt" in 1991)',
MacGyver and
Hercules. She continued modeling and walked the runway for fashion designers such as Janet Howard and
Thierry Mugler.
1992–1996: Breakthrough, 1000 Fires and Melrose Place Lords authored a chapter for Suzanne Somer’s 1992 book Wednesday’s Children, which focuses on celebrity childhood abuse. In her chapter, Lords described verbal and emotional abuse by her father and attributed her involvement in pornography to this abuse and her father’s “head trip” about sex. During 1992, Lords decided to emphasize her career as a recording artist. She first signed a
development deal with
Capitol Records. After meeting with
Rodney Bingenheimer at a birthday party, she was recommended to Jeff Jacklin, who hired her to record the song "Love Never Dies" for the movie
Pet Sematary Two (1992). The producer of the soundtrack,
Gary Kurfirst, signed Lords to his company
Radioactive Records. She was later featured on the songs "
Little Baby Nothing" by
Manic Street Preachers and "
Somebody to Love" by
Ramones. During 1993, Lords was cast in the television adaptation of
Stephen King's novel
The Tommyknockers. During the spring of 1994, Lords began working on her debut album. The company arranged her to fly to London and meet with producer
Tom Bailey. After finishing her recording with Bailey, Lords was introduced to producer Ben Watkins of
Juno Reactor with whom she recorded more
techno-influenced songs. She later met Mike Edwards, the main singer of the band
Jesus Jones. Around the same time, Lords was cast in the television series
Roseanne, appearing in three episodes. During January 1995, Lords appeared in four episodes of the television series
Melrose Place, where she played the part of Rikki Abbott. Her debut studio album,
1000 Fires, was released on February 28, 1995. It received generally positive reviews and the lead single "
Control" peaked at number two on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs. An instrumental version of "Control" was remixed and released on the soundtrack to
Mortal Kombat (1995), which was certified
double platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album's second single, "
Fallen Angel", was also successful in charts, peaking at number eleven on Hot Dance Club Songs. On August 12, 1995, she was the opening act of the
Lollapalooza after-party,
Enit Festival, alongside
Moby,
Sven Väth,
DJ Keoki and
Single Cell Orchestra. While not as commercially successful, the song "Father's Field" drew media attention because it was the first time Lords publicly claimed to have been sexually assaulted as a child. On January 17, 1995,
Star magazine published the article "Traci Lords: Rape Turned Me Into Teen Porn Star," in which Lords said she was sexually assaulted at age 11.
Details magazine ran another article in its May 1995 issue in which Lords described "Father's Field" as a true story. By the end of 1995, Lords divorced her husband of five years, Brook Yeaton. In 1996, she appeared in a commercial for
Guess with
Juliette Lewis.
1997–2002: Profiler, Blade and First Wave In 1997, Lords appeared in a small part in the
Gregg Araki film
Nowhere, and starred in the drama thriller
Stir. She also guest starred on television series
Nash Bridges and
Viper. In November, she became a recurring cast member in the second season of the crime television series
Profiler. In 1998, Lords had a supporting role in the crime thriller
Boogie Boy and starred in the drama
Extramarital. She appeared in the action horror film
Blade (1998) in which she played the vampire seductress Racquel. Lords was eventually approached to appear in the sequel
Blade II (2002) portraying Racquel's twin sister Valerine in seeking of vengeance upon Blade, which she turned down because of her contradictory schedule. At the premiere of the film, Lords announced she was finishing her sophomore album on
Radioactive Records that would be released in the spring of 1999. However, it was later neglected after she left the record label. In August, Lords ended her two-year relationship with
John Enos after they reportedly got into an argument because her cat was killed by one of Enos' dogs. In 2000, Lords had lead roles in the films
Epicenter and
Chump Change. Her role of Sam in the romantic comedy
Chump Change earned her the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Actress at the
U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. In September, she became a regular cast member in the third season of the
Sci-fi Channel television series
First Wave, becoming the first recurring female character to be featured on the series.
2003–2006: Underneath It All , 2006 Her autobiography,
Traci Lords: Underneath It All, was published in July 2003 by
HarperCollins. In the book, Lords chronicled her childhood, career, and two-year stint in the X-rated industry. Lords revealed that she received about $35,000 as total compensation for all her porno movies, including the $5,000 for her underage appearance in
Penthouse. Lords continued to use the now-famous stage name that she had given herself as a minor and ultimately made it her legal name. The book received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, making
The New York Times Best Seller list., but was criticized by pornographers, who claimed they were the victims. During 2003, it was announced that Lords was working on new music and had recorded a cover version of
Missing Persons' song "
Walking In L.A.". Directed by
Mike Ruiz, the music video was premiered during her interview on
The Oprah Winfrey Show. On December 28, 2004, she independently released two songs, "Sunshine" and "You Burn Inside of Me", via online music store
CD Baby. Both of the songs along with "What Cha Gonna Do" were featured in the television series
Joan of Arcadia. "You Burn Inside of Me" was also used in the commercial for Duprey Cosmetics, in which Lords appeared. She signed to Sea To Sun records the following year, and released the chart-topping single "Last Drag".
2007–2009: Motherhood and Zack and Miri Make a Porno In early 2007, Lords became pregnant unexpectedly, which she announced in June 2007. On October 7, 2007, at the age of 39, she gave birth to her son Jeff Lee, her first child with her husband of five years. In January 2008, it was announced that Lords had been cast in
Kevin Smith's comedy
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008). She said that at first she wanted to refuse, but changed her mind after reading the script. Initially, the character had a topless scene in the movie, but Lords refused. Lords chose to breastfeed her son in between takes. In 2009, Lords appeared in the direct-to-DVD science fiction movie,
Princess of Mars, alongside
Antonio Sabàto Jr. She was disappointed by the final project.
2010–2014: Return to music and Excision In March 2010, Lords announced she began working on her new album with "Pretty" being the lead single. However, the project was later shelved and "Pretty" was released as a promotional single only. Lords starred in the drama comedy
Au Pair, Kansas which premiered in April 2011 at the Kansas City FilmFest. In July, Lords officially signed to independent record label Sea To Sun Recordings and in October made her musical comeback with the song "
Last Drag". The single was successful in dance charts debuting at number forty-five and eventually peaking at number four on the
Billboard Dance Club Songs. Lords starred alongside
AnnaLynne McCord and
Ariel Winter in the horror film
Excision (2012), which premiered in January 2012 at the
Sundance Film Festival. Her portrayal of the controlling mother Phyllis earned Lords
Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as Fright Meter Award and CinEuphoria Award. In September, Lords released a compilation of dance music
Traci Lords Presents: M2F2 (2012). It featured three of her own remixed tracks as well as songs by other artists. The song "
He's My Bitch" managed to chart on the
Billboard Dance Club Songs peaking at number twenty-five. Lords also voiced the character of Layla Stockton in the 2012 video game
Hitman: Absolution. Following the
Steubenville High School rape case, Lords spoke up on the topic on the Piers Morgan Live show and subsequently released the song "Stupidville" as a response to the case. In 2013, Lords appeared in the horror movie
Devil May Call (2013) and an episode of the web series
EastSiders. She was nominated for the Best Guest Star – Drama at the
2014 Indie Series Awards.
2015–present: Fashion career and upcoming directorial debut In May 2015, Lords appeared in an episode of the fourth season of the reality television series
Celebrity Wife Swap, where she swapped lives with
Jackée Harry. Lords co-starred in
Jim Wynorski's television horror ''Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre
(2015) and made her second appearance as Val on the series EastSiders. In March 2016, Lords co-starred in the television thriller Nightmare Nurse (2016). Lords voiced several characters in the video game Hitman (2016) after having previously voiced the character of Layla Stockton in Hitman: Absolution'' (2012). In June, Lords announced her collaboration with Pinup Girl Clothing. The first pieces from her collection were inspired by the character of Wanda Woodward from
Cry-Baby (1990) as well as
1950s fashion. In 2016, Lords co-starred in the
Viaplay original comedy series
Swedish Dicks. In October, the series was renewed for a second season with Lords as a confirmed cast member. In the United States, the first season premiered in August 2017. Later that month, Lords confirmed she would direct her first feature film called
The Unquiet Grave. Filming was scheduled to commence in 2017. In November, it was announced that Lords voiced the character of Jackal Z in the upcoming video game
Let It Die (2016) and would appear on the third season of
EastSiders. In July 2017,
Helmut Lang's fashion campaign for the Fall 2017 collection featuring Lords was unveiled. In May 2018, Lords released the single "Come Alive" as a gift for her fans in celebration of her 50th birthday. Following the release it was announced that she began working on an EP with
Adam Barta and Jordan Von Haslow. In July 2018, the second season of
Swedish Dicks premiered in the United States. In 2019, Lords starred in a Los Angeles revival of the stage play
Women Behind Bars. ==Activism==