BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ Not many people need to reinvent themselves at 19. But actress Traci Lords did. Today she's celebrating 17 years of marriage, motherhood and a whole new career.
Lords became a cause celebre in the early '80s when she starred in several adult films at 15. When authorities discovered she was underage, most of her films were confiscated, and she was labeled persona non grata. It seemed to her she'd never live down the stigma.
But Lords is a fighter. Today, at 50, she's co-starring in the Pop Television Network series "Swedish Dicks," adapted by Peter Stormare. The series is about two struggling private eyes in Los Angeles. Lords plays the chief of a rival detective agency, a powerful nemesis to the hapless pair.
"When I very first started trying to cross over and do legitimate acting, I was 19 years old," she recalls.
"Still a very young lady, and I had a lot to answer for. And people felt free to ask me whatever they wanted without any kind of regard for what I might think, feel, me as a human being _ nothing. And they had all kinds of judgments about it," she says.
"It was even a time when local news stations would air the salacious headline of 'Teen Porn Star ... blah, blah, blah.' 'Small Town Girl.' They'd use one of the illegal pictures of me with block-outs. That was the time we were living in ... That's how bad it was. I couldn't look. I just had to put my blinders on."
She had been introduced to the adult film industry through her mother's ex-boyfriend, whom she says she relied on. "There's a difference between being sex-trafficked and being taken and exploited and abused in what happened to me. I want to be very specific in what I say because there is a difference there," she says.
"I was under the influence of a much older man who was supposed to be a parental figure that I trusted. And he basically fed me to the sharks. He was the key of it and I, of course at 15, I was angry. I was rebellious and pretty much perfect pickings. I thought I knew everything. I thought I was completely in control of everything. And I wasn't. So I ended up in this whole world, and I am very lucky to have walked away from it, survived it. And not only that, I refuse to call myself a victim _ although I was _ I see myself as a victor."
But victory took its time. Lords began therapy and studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in L.A., eventually landing some modeling jobs. "My formula was: Every single day I will try to make better than yesterday. That was for everything across the board _ for my mental health, where I was at trying to deal with the issues I had with my upbringing, and just the guilt and the righteous anger about, why didn't my mom protect me?
"Where were all the saviors, the good guys that were supposed to ride in and sweep me up? And I realized it was about me, that I didn't want to waste my time saying, 'Why didn't you? Why didn't you? Why didn't you?' I took kind of an immature, but a hard stance on it and said, 'I'm going to own all of this. This is me. This is what I did. I thought it was a good idea. This was the mind of a 15-year-old and OK, next? Now I'm going to do this.'"
Even then, she says, people accused her of orchestrating her fall and recovery. "It further fed the machine of people saying I planned the whole thing. 'Look at her take charge.' Even that was criticized. 'Oh, no, you're supposed to fall apart now.' So sorry I didn't get the f _ _ memo."
Lords's first two marriages ended in divorce. But 20 years ago she met her husband, Jeff, (she doesn't want to reveal his last name) through a mutual friend. "He's an ironworker. He does structural iron, does high rises and hospitals," she explains.
They have a son, Gunnar, who's 10. "Having my son changed everything," she says. "My priorities immediately changed and I realized what was important and what wasn't. I immediately knew I would be the kind of mom who wanted to be there even if I had to quit the business. I wanted to be there. I didn't want to miss it."
Lords feels she received some intervening help in overcoming the betrayal of those close to her and the censure of her past. "I think I've always had a connection with a life force and always believed that there is a higher power, and I'm a living testament of it," she says.
"I'm not talking about a book or a specific religion. I'm not talking about any of it. I'm talking about feeling a god force within yourself. I've always felt that, and I still do."
COWABUNGA! SIMPSONS CREATOR TRIES AGAIN
Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons" and "Futurama," is back at the drawing board with a brand-new animated series, "Disenchantment," premiering on Netflix Friday. Groening began his career with a comic strip, "Life in Hell," which featured goofy rabbits and a gay couple and ran until 2012. Groening says attacking a new subject on TV is no walk in the park. "One of the things that's great about animation is it doesn't get any easier," he says. "You'd think after all these years our loads would be lightened, but actually we're getting more and more ambitious as time goes on. And this show, in particular, is very visually ambitious. And so, the chagrin and frustration and agony of trying to do a good show never goes away. So, and to that extent, life is still hell."
PBS HONORS BETTY WHITE
PBS will be celebrating Betty White's 80th year in television on Aug. 21. Titled "Betty White: First Lady of Television," the show will commemorate the fact that the 96-year-old actress holds the Guinness Book of Records for achieving the longest career ever in TV. The show will feature comments and reminiscences by people who have worked with her over the years. Gavin McLeod, who co-starred with her on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," says, "Betty White can do anything, and look as good as she looks and live the life she's lived and inspired the people, and has done things for people to inspire their lives. I mean, it's a lesson. Betty has been a lesson to all of us people in the business, especially with her love for animals and love for people."
'GET SHORTY' BACK FOR LAUGHS
The best caper show of last season, "Get Shorty," is back on EPIX and as funny as ever. Based on Elmore Leonard's tale, the series features Ray Romano as a sleazy film producer and Irish actor Chris O'Dowd as the loopy criminal who longs to make a movie.
"I remember being very interested by laughter when I was a kid," recalls O'Dowd. "I was the youngest of five, so getting a laugh from everybody was a big deal. It was a house full of laughter, laughter, and people kicking the s _ out of each other, like most Irish families. I had three older sisters and an older brother _ 10 years older. I got away with more because I was the youngest. By the time the fifth comes along the parents say, 'As long as he doesn't end up in prison, I think he's going to be fine.'"
