What it's like to grow up with a porn star parent

For one man, knowing about his mum's career wasn't the problem. It was keeping it under wraps from other kids. Photo / Getty

Few of us can lay claim to a childhood free from embarrassment over something our parents did, said or wore.

While you may still cringe at the memories, spare a moment for people who spent their early years desperately trying to cover up something about their parents far more embarrassing than a weird hobby.

A Reddit thread has revealed the experiences of people who grew up with parents working as porn stars.

According to user Zer0eater, whose mother was a Penthouse Pet and was involved in soft core porn, knowing about his mum's career wasn't the problem. It was keeping it under wraps from other kids.

"I learned early not to tell ANYONE. Every few years word would get around on the playground, and fistfights would start.

"It wasn't until high-school though, that some of the other students were 18 and could go to the strip club my mother worked at. More fights."

He also revealed how his mother's line of work impacted his relationships as he grew up.

"All in all, it made me pretty f*** up. My standards for what women should look like are incredibly high.

"I was told my entire life, while seeing pictures of my mom's friends naked, 'This isn't sexual'. That f***ed me up."

The thread saw numerous users come forward and share their ordeals as the children of porn stars, although their experiences couldn't be verified.

User rrosulek wrote: "I have very early memories of seeing hundreds of porn videos lying around her office.

"Honestly children are just blind. I will say that being around that environment started me
being sexual at an early age.

"Once I was older I kinda used it to brag to my friends."

Rrosulek says despite being around it at such a young age, he doesn't believe it affected him.

"Overall, I feel like I am relatively unscathed, it's just something my mom did. I did stumble upon a video of her once and quickly exited the site."

While some say they were always aware of their parent's career, others found out unexpectedly.

"I found out by looking through my Dad's old stash of porn," wrote one user. "Turns out, more than half of the movies in his box also star him."

He went on to explain that he watched a video for about 20 minutes before a familiar tattoo on the man's arm revealed it was his father.

Another user says they found out their mother worked in the adult entertainment industry when they were 11 years old. Had they been even a year older, the impact would have been far worse, they wrote.

"Sincerely, it would have been far worst even just a year later.

"If I had been a full on bratty teenager when I got the truth, I probably would have been more p***ed than that.

"I love my mother. Even though it's really, really a turn off when I stumble upon her work while trying to find 'solo time visual support'. She has cancelled so much of my erections (sic)."