The Hidden Damage That Happens "Behind-The-Scenes" In The Adult Entertainment Industry, With Former Adult Actress Felicity Feline

My name is Ben Greenfield, and on this episode of The Boundless Life Podcast, I signed a deal with the devil when I got involved in porn.

I sort of agreed to this type of lifestyle that's going to just be something I have to embrace, and you have to be okay with that. People are going to see you naked on the internet, and they're going to judge you, and it's going to be a part of your life forever.

Welcome to The Boundless Life with me, your host, Ben Greenfield. I'm a personal trainer, exercise physiotherapist, physiologist, and nutritionist. And I'm passionate about helping you discover unparalleled levels of health, fitness, longevity, and beyond.

As anybody knows who's listening to this episode for some time, I'm not a fan of the effect that porn has on the brain, whether it's the developing brain or the adult brain. But there's even more to the story because there is damage also done to the people within that industry. And so today, I interviewed former adult actress Felicity Feline. I have to admit I was a little, I guess, apprehensive or unsure about doing this interview because I know that there are some people who might Google her or look her up and stumble across porn themselves in the act of doing so. My only counsel to you is don't do that. Especially based on what you hear in this interview. It's bad for your brain, it's bad for the people in the industry, and overall it's a loss for everyone involved.

So, uh, check yourself.

I do give some tips about how to do that during the interview, and all the show notes are at bengreenfieldlife.com/feline. Felicity does a great job sharing some of her health, nutrition, and fitness tips and strategies. So a lot here for you, bengreenfieldlife.com/feline. And let's dive in now with Felicity Feline. Ben Greenfield: My guest on today's podcast is Felicity Feline. She's a certified health coach, she's a yoga instructor, she's a professional drummer and model based out of LA. So, Felicity has a really interesting story and she reached out to me about her health journey and her biohacking journey and her unique perspective on the adult entertainment industry because She left the porn industry in the early 20s and kind of became pretty outspoken about what she went through there and some of the emotional and physical health issues that particular industry presents. And, she also spends a lot of time just biohacking the life of a professional musician, someone who experiences late night and all the beautiful pollution that LA has to offer, So, I wanted initially to interview Felicity about the porn industry and her take on the damage that that might be causing socially and to the actors and actresses and to the people who consume it, a topic I've discussed in the past but never with somebody who's kind of got the inside baseball perspective. And then, it turns out Felicity who I happen to have dinner with in LA a couple of weeks ago also has pretty good perspective on a lot of the ways you can manage your health when maybe you don't have the ability to go to bed at 10:00 PM every night and sleep 8 hours a night and some of the tricks she has up her sleeve for that. So, Felicity, welcome to the show.

Felicity: Hey, Ben, thank you so much for having me. I am so grateful to be here. I've been listening to your podcast and reading your books for, man, I mean, over 10 years. So, I'm So stoked to be here.

Thanks for making me feel old right off the bat.

Well, I appreciate it. I've learned so much information just from listening to your podcast and your guests, and it's really impacted my life amazingly. And I've shared it with a lot of people I know. So yeah, thank you. I'm so stoked to be here, and I'm really excited to share some insight to people. A different perspective, you know, about the adult industry and just different industries in general and like how to navigate it.

Yeah, for sure. What got you into that industry in the first place?

I have a wild story. I mean, it's just, I guess I could go back to my childhood. You know, that's the best way to start it. I grew up on Long Island. I'm from New York. And I grew up in a pretty rural area, beachy town. You know, my family is amazing. I'm very close with them. We were all very athletic. We played sports growing up. Very just grounded. A lot of family traditions. You know, my mom liked to cook dinner every night and just have everyone together. And I had a great childhood. And I grew up playing drums. I picked percussion up in 5th grade. And I had a lot of healthy outlets. Like when I was a kid, I just had a lot of things to get my energy out. And that was a really good foundation for me growing up, a good structure. But as I got older and as a lot of young women do, when I started to kind of explore my, I guess, sexuality and like my sense of self. I was confused and I grew up kind of a tomboy, you know, and I, I wanted to kind of understand why I was insecure and jealous about porn and models and things like that. Like, I always wanted to think, you know, maybe I could be that, you know, like there was always this underlying insecurity for me as a kid. To see what that would feel like. And I also just, I loved art and music and I wanted to kind of be this rockstar health person. And I just, in college when I was— well, before, let me back up. In high school when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for college, I was sort of in between going for art, health science, or music. And I got into college initially for visual art, graphic design, cuz I was really into that. So I went to art school for 2 years. Wasn't really my thing. After 2 years I was just kind of over it and I wanted to go more into like health and fitness. So I went for health science. At Stony Brook University on Long Island. And I tried that for another 2 years. During that time, I was starting to experiment a bit with modeling and different things. And I got very tempted, I guess you could say, by fast money.

Yeah, almost like the early-day equivalent of what I think, at least from my perspective, a lot more women are now going through with OnlyFans.

Yeah, I mean, and this was even before OnlyFans. Like, you know, this was before the OnlyFans days. And like, I want to get into that. You know, about like how OnlyFans kind of changed the whole game regarding like the adult industry. But yeah, when I was a kid, I mean, I was just, I was confused, you know, there was a lot of things I wanted to do. I had a lot of different passions in life. And There was a lot of things that I was into and I was very creative and artistic and athletic and I just, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. But the idea that I could make money by utilizing my body, like just, you know, and modeling, that was kind of intriguing to me. And in art school, like I had done some nude modeling. Like portrait modeling and things like that. And it kind of like exposed me to this very like psychedelic world of just offering like, wow, you know, people will pay for this. Like people appreciate beauty, like of the body. And so that mindset, I guess, opens me up to the idea that like, okay, like maybe I could do stripping, maybe I could do webcam, maybe I could do this.. And so I sort of just slowly kind of got more comfortable with everything.

Yeah. I'm almost like gaslit to a certain extent.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's a dangerous thing during this time, like this age, because I mean, I'm 19, 18, 19 years old. And a lot of people nowadays, like these agencies, like they're grooming young girls that are around this age because they know they're very susceptible to being influenced because they want this lifestyle.

And then, I'm just curious, by the way, just to put this in perspective, I'm assuming there's kind of tiers like when you go from something like nude modeling to webcam to porn videos, et cetera. When you say that cash, the fast cash was kind of attractive, What is it that a young woman is kind of looking at, in your case, when it comes to how much you might make from, let's say, modeling or nude modeling, versus full-on porn?

I would say like an average would be like around $500 to $1,000, you know, for a shoot, like for, you know, like, that's like a pretty standard thing. In porn, like, it increases depending on the content and depending on who's, who's in the scene. There's a lot of factors.

Yeah. And are you, are you paid like any type of royalty on the perpetuity of that video if it, you know, is owned by a certain website or used in other ways?

No, not really. It's pretty much— and this, I mean, this is something we can dive into, but with the adult industry, pretty much back. So before OnlyFans, really, people created a following, like they created identity for themselves as a porn star, like by working for external companies, right, like using them, using their website to build them up. And they'll pay you a flat rate. And you don't really get royalties, like, you know, you just, they pay you a flat rate, you show up, you shoot the scene. And then they put the images on their website, their videos. And that's just kind of how it rolls. But OnlyFans kind of changed the game because it was this online platform for people to be able to create their own content and to essentially like be their own boss.

Right, cut, cuts out the middle person to a certain extent.

Yeah. And so that's what really intrigued me when I was around 25.

And, we should probably clarify, I mean, cuts out the middle person, it seems like I think to the user, but I actually listened to an interview. Actually, when I was in LA, I told you I was on that Soft White Underbelly podcast. He interviewed an OnlyFans manager who just really opened the kimono, pun intended I guess, on the whole industry and how If somebody's communicating with an OnlyFans model, they're chatting with some dude in Pakistan or India. I know many of these photos are just recycled. They're not customized for the customer. They're just pulling them out of a database that was shot years ago. And, it really isn't what you see or what you think you're seeing.

No. I mean, OnlyFans really just— I mean, so if I could just go back a little bit to kind of like my childhood, like how I got to going into porn. Because basically, like, once I started shooting for mainstream porn companies, I ended up moving to LA and just working for companies. And I was, you know, making decent money as like a 20-year-old living in LA, like building my life. And I used the extra time that I had to pursue my other goals in life, like drumming and health and fitness and like do all these other things. So I kind of had other things like in, you know, in, in my vision that I wanted to do. Like I kind of just looked at porn as like maybe a stepping stone to get to the next chapter of my life. But then more like online platforms like OnlyFans and, um, Sex Panther, like phone sex apps, like these things started coming out and people realized that like they could make residual income just online from fans that follow them that they acquired from porn. And they can just, they could reap the benefits from that. So like, I was sick of, you know, I was sick of shooting, like with companies and just having sex with people that, you know, I, I didn't want to have sex with. And it was a very strange world. It was very, very wild. You know, it's, it's very hard to maintain healthy relationships in porn. Just the dynamics just of STDs and just intimacy. Like, there's so many things within the porn industry that make it very difficult to have like a normal life.

Yeah, yeah, it's such a foreign world to me too. You know, just based on some of my writings in my book and on my website about the sacredness of sex as an act, and also my perspective as a guy who got married at 20 and has been married for 23 years with one partner, just that whole world seems so foreign and so strange from my perspective.

It really is. And, that was the hardest thing for me because coming from a very traditional family with— my parents are very happily married and I had a great childhood and just seeing all that, it was It was hard for me because like I wanted this like, you know, kind of rock star porn star life, like living out in LA. Like I just wanted to be wild and free. And from pretty much like 20 to 25, I was single. You know, I just kind of did my own thing. I explored. I just, you know, I got to really know myself essentially. And I saw so much in the industry. Like, I just, it was really sad, a lot of it. I mean, I don't want to say, I don't want to demonize it. Because, you know, I think, in a sense, like, porn can be used as a tool. I'll put it like this, right? Like, if in a relationship, a couple are very outspoken about like, hey, like, you know, I'm watching porn, this is what I do. Like, if they're very communicative about it, and they know what each other are doing, that's fine. But, I think if someone is watching porn behind someone's back, that essentially is cheating.

There's definite potential for relationship erosion. And, I think some of the sacredness of sex if you are thinking about what you just saw or thinking of another person even if it's not a real person per se and some kind of digital experience, it can still affect your relationship, not only your physical relationship but the mental and spiritual relationship that's downstream from that in my opinion. And, I think that there's a lot of things that I've talked about and I'll link. If you're listening and you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Feline, F-E-L-I-N-E, I will link to some of the other podcasts I've done about porn. But, you've probably seen a lot of this, Felicity, like the impact on neurotransmitters and dopaminergic transmission and dopamine sensitivity, meaning across the board outside just sex needing more and more of a certain stimuli to feel better. Erectile dysfunction is an obvious issue. Relationships, objectification of the opposite sex. There's a lot of things that I think are no longer a secret in terms of what it does to a male or female mind. But, one thing I haven't talked about much is the other side. And, I've told my sons this, I'm like, "Look, you have to realize it is somebody's mom or daughter or sister or granddaughter or whatever that you're viewing." And, to a certain extent, if you are funding that, you are supporting that person being in a position that might not be— well, I wouldn't say might not be, is not good for them to be in. So, I want to bounce that off you. As somebody who was inside the industry as a performer, as an actress, do you think that there's harm or danger or just a negative experience being an actress in the industry?

Yeah, absolutely. I was going to say you had Dr. Tricia Leigh, I think it was.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And, that podcast was amazing. That's actually what made me really want to reach out to you to talk about, you know, having an alternative perspective about this. Because, yeah, I mean, it affects relationships so intensely. And it's something that I think is very uncomfortable for people to talk about, you know, even parents like talking to their, their children, because it's, it's just such a prominent part of society nowadays. Like, I mean, porn is just everywhere. It's in social media. It's, it's everywhere online. You can, you can access it it so easily. And so you have to have a sense of self-control. And like, when I was saying, with the idea of it being a tool, because, you know, as someone that's worked in porn, like, I don't want to demonize the adult industry. It's like, people make their living, like, people are hustling, and people want to make their money. Like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna shame anyone for doing what they want to do. Like, if that's, if that brings them happiness and joy, like, let them do it. But I really think that in relationships, like, if you can't have an open relationship about what you're consuming, like, when it comes to porn, and if it's affecting how you view your partner or how you view sex in general, because it can easily warp your perspective of the human body, just of how sex is in real life, um, you know, because a lot of porn, you know, even just, it's staged, it's, it's very specific, you know, it's targeted to people. So it can be addictive. And I think it really affects relationships, and it affects people to connect and to understand like what sex really is.

How did it affect you being in the industry? And specifically, how did it affect you in a way that didn't really serve you, um, or, you know, left you, you know, either psychologically or otherwise harmed?

I think having my other outlets, like being a drummer and, you know, and being an athlete, like, that kind of, like, gave me this other thing that, like, I identified myself as. So, like, I didn't really, like, tie myself up so much in my, my sexuality as a porn star. Like, I was just kind of looking at it like I wanted to experience it. Like, I was curious. I mean, I, I just love to experience different things in life. I love to experiment. Like, I just, I was kind of fascinated just to know, like, what it was like to be a porn star, you know, like, just, just to experience that. So, looking back, like, when I see videos of myself when I was young, like, I mean, I'm 33. When I see myself at like 20 years old. It's, it's, it's crazy.

You mean see yourself at 20 years old in porn?

Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's, it's a very trippy thing because my mindset was so different then. And when people are that young, they're so susceptible to just impulsive decisions. And that was me, man. Like, I mean, I was like, I was a fiery, impatient kid. Like, you know, I just, I wanted to get everything quick and fast and just explore. And, um, yeah, like, I made decisions that I really wish I thought twice about because, like, I didn't really think about the circumstances that would come down the road. And with porn, it's like, it's so difficult to navigate. Like, once you put yourself into that industry and you put yourself in such a vulnerable way naked on the internet for people to judge you and see you, you're going to be pigeonholed in a sense. And it's going to be very difficult to get maybe normal jobs or just to have normal relationships because people are going to see you in this light.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're basically talking about you walking down the street not knowing how many random strangers have been like looking at you naked the night before., you know, in their dorm room or bedroom or whatever.

Yeah. But even just like how you view yourself. I mean, I've, I've, you know, a lot of friends that I've had within the industry, you know, they've really struggled with their mental health, um, just navigating life. They're like, you know, I don't know what I want to do long-term or like, you know, what, what do I do with my life? Because like they identify themselves in this way and it's very hard to escape it. I mean, even like I see it with, You know, if I post videos of myself drumming, or, you know, I try to, you know, make a health and wellness video, or it's just something like that, I'll get comments sometimes of people just saying like, oh, go back to porn, you know, or go do this. And it's just, it's, it's, it's sad, you know, there's a lot of just gross things on the internet that linger.

How much did you have to like numb with, well, specifically like drugs, chemicals, et cetera?

Yeah. Well, I mean, fortunately my early 20s when I moved out to LA, I kept a very straight, like I was, I was pretty solid. Like I, you know, I partied, I had fun. You know, I was more of a pothead. Like I loved weed and I wasn't a huge drinker. Like I liked psychedelics and like, you know, I do MDMA and things like that. But like, I was pretty, pretty solid, like, because like I knew I had to keep my shit together, um, because I was not gonna ask my parents for any help. And like, I wanted to prove myself that like I was taking care of myself and I could, you know, handle my business. So, um, I was pretty level-headed for most of my 20s, but later on, um, I definitely struggled with experimenting and partying way too much, festivals, traveling, you know, it's just all of that, like, got very into ketamine, GHB. I mean, like, oh man, like a lot of the drugs and stuff and porn too is very prominent. That's another thing that I don't think people really understand. In the porn industry, I mean, it's rampant.

Meaning what people are watching when they view porn are often people in some kind of inebriated state.

For sure. I mean, I would go to set houses sometimes and girls would just be like zonked out on Xanax and meth or, or something, you know. I mean, it's just, it was a very common thing for people to just sedate themselves in a way because like they couldn't really deal with their reality. And that's just a very common thing in porn. And it's sad because it's like, why are you doing this as a job? Like, you know, it's like, if you can't deal with your reality, you know, maybe you should do something else. But then they don't know what else to do, you know. And it's like, to get a normal job is, is, is very difficult and, and maybe even frustrating because you're not going to make the same fast money or have that excitement that the adult industry can give you.

What do you think— I mean, by the way, you're not making a good case to me for supporting the industry right now. Not that I would anyways. I know I have a different perspective than you. I think you know my traditional Christian background and the fact that for me, porn is pretty much off-limits besides maybe some photos that my wife and I send to each other of each other. When it comes to porn, let's say that the industry— and actually the OnlyFans interview that I listened to with the guy on Soft White Underbelly, he mentioned this, that he was trying to get out of the industry because he saw it basically getting nuked by AI and VR porn. So, let's say that nobody 10 years from now is in the position that you were in, Felicity, because everything's digital. Where you just point and click and tell your avatar what you want to do and maybe you're wearing a haptic suit and VR glasses or whatever. Do you still think that there would be some kind of harm or damage done to the psyche of people consuming that form of porn?

Yeah. I mean, the VR and digital world is pretty scary. I mean, it kind of terrifies me. I mean, you see it in every industry now like music and video and editing and everything. But in porn, it's extremely scary because it's creating these extreme unrealistic expectations, you know, and people think that, oh, the body needs to look this way, the vagina needs to look this way or this. And it's, it's sad almost because it's creating like these, these standards that are very unattainable for, for most people. Or, or just, you know, it's like beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it should be about connection and just how you feel about the person. And, um, I feel like porn just creates these like very extreme prototypes that are extremely unhealthy. And the generations coming up, like, I think it's making it very confusing with their relationships with sex. Um, And one thing that I've been very vocal about over the years was breaking down the whole underage, barely legal category. Yeah, there's an organization, Exodus Cry, like I've worked with them.

Exodus Cry, like E-X-O-D-U-S. Exodus Cry.

Yeah, they, yeah, they, they've done documentaries about um, abusive porn and underage, like, like underage, barely legal porn things, like just kind of exposing like the dark side of the industry. But basically kind of exploiting the fact that, um, people in porn, like, they, they prey on vulnerable young women that are like, you know, starting to come to their, their more feminine, their feminine world and exploring their sexuality. And they're young, and, and these are the people they target, and they room to get on OnlyFans or to shoot porn. And like the categories in porn when it says like, you know, barely legal or high school or college, like it's very creepy. And like, I always thought that like it almost makes this underlying thing like it's okay to be a pedophile.

Yeah, and I've spoken with a couple men, at least, who started with that. And within several years, I know one guy in particular, he was convicted of raping a 7-year-old. That's the slippery slope.

It is. And there's a lot of that in porn. Like, there's just a lot of darkness that lurks in the industry because it's, it's unfortunate that like this industry, it's so monetized and it's, it makes so much money, but like there's so much darkness and weirdness in it. And like it sort of just sugarcoats it and makes it seem like it's okay. And now it's becoming kind of more mainstream.

When you talk about the darkness, like, again, my faith-based background just brings this question to mind. Do you think it's like demonic? Do you think there's like demonic influence in that industry?

I think for sure. Yeah. I mean, I think it attracts certain types of people too. Um, I mean, I'm sort of an anomaly, uh, for getting in porn because like I had a really good background. I actually went to Catholic school till 4th grade, so like I had a, I had a Catholic background. And, um, so I have like a very spiritual side to me, and like I definitely, definitely, um, felt a lot of weird darkness in the porn industry, you know. But, but then, you know, I have this other side of me. I, I think that's more of like the musician thing. Like, I wanted to be like a rock star, and like, I thought like, oh, well, you know, I'm a girl and I'm hot, so like I could kind of like do the, the modeling thing too. Like, so I tried to like combine the music and porn like together, like thinking that like that would that would work. And they're similar, the industries. But in porn, I mean, man, like some of the parties and the expos that I would go to, the energy in the room, like just the vibration of all the people there, it's very strange. Like, you know, because I've worked a lot of expos and conventions, like I've been a sales rep and a brand ambassador for a lot of different health companies over the years. Like working in health and fitness. And, when I go to health conferences and expos and biohacking stuff, I love it. The energy is amazing. People are really connected and they're there. It's like when you're at a porn convention—

Ben Greenfield: I believe it. My personal philosophy on this is if you read a book like Napoleon Hill's "Outwitting the Devil," you kind of get a decent understanding of how The dark forces like to use sex, drug, and rock and roll. Those are 3 tools. And again, I know caffeine is a drug and there's some great rock and roll out there, but painting with a broad brush, sex, drugs, and rock and roll carry with them a certain type of dark energy or at least they have high potential for that when bastardized. And so, when you look at things like whatever excess use of Xanax or ketamine or drugs and alcohol and then you look at the bastardization of the sex act. And then, if you look at just what type of energy really, really dark music can bring with it, it's almost like from a religious perspective, Satan has found a really, really good way to try and sully and damage and blemish this creature that God made in his image. And, why not come at it from the most intense dopaminergic angles possible? Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, you're just basically harnessing, you're leveraging the built-in dopamine pathways that God gave us to basically drag a human being slowly to hell for lack of a better description.

Yeah. And, I mean, I've been a metal drummer for many years, so I've played in a lot of metal bands. And, metal music is sort of similar in that way where it has sort of a dark energy, but I sort of channeled— I think a big reason why I survived, honestly, like, getting out of mainstream porn, because I channeled so much of that darkness into music. And so I would just like get on my drum, like, be like, you know, I just, I just got it out with like metal drumming.

Yeah, cathartic response.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like, it was very, very cathartic and, and just so healthy for me. You know, and also just, you know, physical activities like hiking and playing soccer and things like that.

How hard was it to get out?

Like quit? This is the hard thing, right? It's, it's very hard to quit. And this is a lot of, a lot of the issues that women I've seen, or men too, that struggle in the adult industry. Because if you want to leave and like, you know, maybe like you want to have kids or you want to like start a family or you want to have a more normal life or you just want to do something different or you're just burnt out, you know, like you just, just, you're just sick of it. It's kind of very difficult to start navigating in a more normal life because there's that temptation. The fans, like they're always going to want to pull you back in and I guess I'll explain, like, when I was 25, that was when the time OnlyFans and more of the online apps came out. And so I sort of stopped shooting for the external companies. And I was just like, alright, I can just monetize, pretty much like make the same income by just working for myself and making my own content. So I don't need to shoot for anyone else. So I did that. And then I was focusing on my other stuff.. And then I want to just have normal relationships. Like, I just wanted to date people. Like, I didn't want to have to worry about shooting porn, you know. So I kind of exited it then. But when I would go through a bad breakup, and I was feeling insecure, I knew that there was these companies that being like, hey, Felicity, like, you want to shoot? Like, you look great. Like, do you want to shoot a scene? Like, the door was always open. You know, and like, it's hard because the money was always there. And like, your fans always want you to come back. Like, they always want you to just to keep doing it. Like, and it's a, it's really, really hard to not feed into that.

Yeah, you want to buy mom and dad a nice new air fryer for Christmas, you know, you just got to give a couple hours of your time and you're back in.

Yeah. So really, like, relationships is what kind of kept me focused on not getting back in the, in the industry. Like, like, because I wanted, I wanted monogamy, I wanted to have intimacy, like, I wanted to have like a real relationship. So that's what really drove me to not get back into porn. But then there was times like I slipped up, you know, and like during a gap when I was single, I would, I would shoot a couple scenes or something, and then I'd realize I'm like, nah, I don't want to do this anymore. And like, so like I really haven't shot anything for probably 4 or 5 years, like mainstream. But that was during a time, you know, where it was a little slippery for me. And I wanted to also say too, as far as like mental health, because my last relationship, my boyfriend passed away, like he overdosed. And we had— yeah, I mean, we had a wild life because just with partying and shooting content. And, um, that was like the epitome of what the adult industry and drugs and everything like combined could do to a relationship. And he couldn't handle it mentally, you know. And, um, that was a very difficult thing to experience. And like a lot of other people I know trying to maintain a healthy relationship in that world is really, really difficult.

Ben Greenfield: Oh, yeah, I can imagine. I don't think any surprise to somebody who's watching or listening that there is a lot of darkness and damage that happens behind the scenes in the industry. And I know you've alluded a few times to how you're into health and biohacking, You used some of it then, you use it now. But, for people, not that we want to give people a playbook for being an adult actor or actress, you do these biohacks, but instead just for people who kind of maybe don't have the perfect life, perfect job at their disposal, they're shift workers, maybe they're a musician, maybe they're playing poker, whatever, working in a casino, just all these positions where you do fight an uphill battle. I want to turn to the health piece of this. What has been some of your biggest wins and some of your best tips and strategies for kind of managing health while being in a career like drumming in LA that isn't necessarily considered the healthiest career?

This is a fun, fun topic for me. So, it kind of also stems back to childhood. A lot of my health journey began with my skin, which is— yeah, I love skincare and just nutrition and just how food affects the body. So, when I was a kid, I used to have really chronic eczema and I would just get very inflammatory responses on my skin from certain foods. And, I noticed it at a very young age and my mom didn't really understand like, you know, why that I would get these skin issues and things. And I realized it was from the food that I was eating. And so I got blood tested. I found out that I had both genes for celiac. Um, I started eliminating things from my diet and I started to just slowly realize like how much food was impacting my health. And so I became just very obsessive and curious just about nutrition and ingredients and just everything. So, I became fascinated just with food and herbs and nutrition and like just everything at an early age. So, that kind of snowballed me into getting into the health and fitness world. But, I definitely went through some weird journeys. Like, I went vegetarian for periods of time. I was a raw vegan for a period of time. I'm sorry. Yeah, man, I mean, that really wrecked my body, my hormones. And then, slowly I realized as a blood O positive that I just thrive on a more paleo, more carnivore-based diet.

Ben Greenfield: It's so funny you say that, by the way. I mean, if you've listened to the podcast for any number of years, you know this, Felicity, but my first foray into anything that might be remotely considered ancestral or holistic nutrition was when my wife, was struggling severely with eczema and acne and brought home a book from the student library called "The Dietary Cure for Acne" by Loren Cordain, an early forefather of the paleo movement. And it was in that book that I realized, oh, maybe some human beings can't consume dairy and grains might have an impact on insulin in such a manner that it affects things like pores and the skin. And yeah, very, very similar. My wife kind of got me turned on to holistic nutrition via the skin, the skin-gut axis.

Yeah, exactly. Some people just have different ways of knowing when you put something in your body that your body's not happy. For me, it was my skin. It would immediately show up in my skin in some way. So, I just became very aware of this. And, my— as far as my diet, it's just something that, like, you know, I've always been very disciplined about. And, um, yeah, I feel like now I really fine-tuned and, like, I understand my body and what it needs. I mean, my— as far as my diet, I mean, I'm— ancestral is, I guess, the best way I could describe it. My diet's basically grass-fed meat, eggs, um, I'll do some low glycemic vegetables like squash, organic fruit for my carbs. I really don't eat grains or much dairy. I'll do organic Parmesan cheese, but I'm very, very simple. I don't really like to eat out a lot. I just prepare my own food, but I try to keep it as simple as possible.

Ben Greenfield: Yeah. And, what about the nightlife piece? I know that you're aware of circadian rhythmicity, light mitigation, certain tactics whether it's supplements or strategies for sleep. What's your stack for late night out, want to feel good the next day?

Yeah. I used to take a lot of more supplements when I was a raw vegan because I had to because I wasn't getting the animal-based nutrients.

So, your brain didn't slowly waste away.

Yeah. But now, I mean, I try to get most of my nutrients from food. I just get really high-quality organic meat and eggs. I feel like I'm getting like majority of what I need from that. But then I also, you know, I take magnesium digestive enzymes every day, amino acids, and then I'll take certain herbs like just for cognitive health, like ginkgo biloba. And I cycle with things. I'll take lecithin sometimes, you know, just I'll, I'll experiment with different things. But I've been trying to dial down on supplements, honestly, I mean, I do take a lot of collagen too, collagen peptides. But yeah, I mean, I've kind of dialed down honestly on a lot of synthetic vitamins and whatnot or just supplements in general because I feel like my body's been really getting everything I need from food.

Ben Greenfield: What about things like strategies for blocking light at night or things that you're doing to manage circadian rhythm.

Yeah. Well, I was also going to say I do take vitamin D3 and then krill oil too every day and astaxanthin for my skin. But so, for me, see, this is the tricky part in my life. I've always had sleeping issues. I think just from touring and being on the road a lot and traveling, I struggle with sleep because I'm a night owl. And, I just get very active more in the night for some reason and it's very hard for me to unwind. So, usually, my nighttime routine is just CBD, reishi, magnesium, and then I'll take melatonin at a certain point, not too late. But, I try to do that and then I just make sure the lights are dim. I don't expose myself to a lot of bright light, but yeah, it's really hard. It's really hard because I'm up late a lot.

Yeah. And, you're no doubt familiar with the idea of social jet lag where go to bed 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. 4 days a week, but then you have 3 others that widely vary. That's where sleep consistency actually trumps sleep volume in terms of the health benefits of sleep.

Yeah. I mean, and, and I'll take certain things like, I mean, like tyrosine helps me a lot and theanine, like, you know, the next day if like I'm, I'm sleep deprived and I'm not a big stimulant person. I, cuz caffeine, I, I think I'm a slow metabolizer of caffeine because if I have it past any time after 4:00 PM, I just won't sleep. Like I just won't sleep. I, I just, I'll stay awake and I just am not tired. And I've been that way my whole life.

Right. Slow caffeine metabolizer, probably from a, like a CYP genetics standpoint.

Yeah. So I try to just minimize honestly, like just my intake of stimulants in general. My morning routine, sometimes if I do need to be caffeinated, if I need energy, like I'll do mushrooms, different mushrooms like lion's mane and chaga and reishi. With things. But, I usually just do my organic matcha with collagen and organic coconut milk on Sweetened and just make my little keto latte. And, I'll drink that usually at the beginning of the day. But, yeah, caffeine is just really, I don't know, I'm very sensitive to it.

Ben Greenfield: With the crystallized intelligence that you've developed up to 33 years old, What are some of the bigger health tips broadly speaking that you would give to people that you've kind of discovered along your journey?

For me, I try to keep processed sugars very, very low. Seed oils, no. I do not consume seed oils. I just avoid oils really in general. I cook everything in organic butter. You know, I just stick to just high protein, easy digestible vegetables like squash and sweet potatoes, cucumbers. And then I get organic fruit for my carbohydrates. Like, I just keep it super simple. And I find that like that keeps my body very clean. My digestive tract is good. It just— I don't have excess bacteria or yeast coming in because I think that's a big thing too. A lot of people consume like these carbohydrates that create just yeast in the body, which just creates like a whole host of problems. So that and that also affects the skin, you know, and hormones. So yeah, I mean, that's sort of like how I just gauge myself because even like if I go to an expo, right, and I'm like sampling stuff and I try some like protein bars and like, you know, little things with like sugar alcohols, like, oh man, the next day I'll get like a whitehead.

I've had food belly after food baby after the healthy food expo. 12 ketogenic donuts will really do the trick.

Yeah. So, it's just my body is just very sensitive, so I just stick to kind of what I know is good for it. And then, I take supplements as I need it. I mean, I think, yeah, the core for me is just the krill oil, magnesium, D3, 3 digestive enzymes, you know, amino acids when I need them. Um, yeah, and then occasionally, you know, just herbs I like to cycle with it. And then for me, like, I don't cheat with my food ever. Like, it's just like, I don't, I don't look at food as like a cheating thing. Like, if, if I'm cheating on my body, it's like I'm partying, you know, like I'm drinking alcohol or I'm, I'm doing some drugs and I'm out all night. Like, you know, that's like my way of kind of beating my body up. And then, I kind of take the protocols to kind of get myself back up. I mean, I do sensory deprivation tanks a lot. I do float tanks.

Oh, that makes really good sense with the amount of sensory stimuli you're immersed in at night.

Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. I do them twice a month at least just because it's like an Epsom salt on crack. Like literally it's just all the salt, all the magnesium from it just absorbs right into your skin and you just feel amazing after. Like, it just— my whole body feels regenerated after I do a float tank. I do those very regularly. I get massages regularly. I do my vibration plate every day. I do foam rolling every day. I stretch and do my yoga every day. So, it's like I have a a very, very disciplined way of doing healing modalities for me. Yeah. So, I balance it out.

Ben Greenfield: Yeah. The only thing I didn't hear is some kind of axial loading of the bone, strength training. I know you get a little bit of that in yoga, but even though I know you— well, I mean, I don't know how much you're focused on aesthetics now that you're not in the porn industry, but are you still lifting or or doing anything with the weights?

Yeah, I mean, I, I'm pretty naturally muscular because, um, I grew up playing sports. I was a really competitive soccer player, like, up until college. Um, I even played at, like, a pre-Olympic level at one point. Like, I traveled internationally and, like, yeah, I loved soccer. I was really, really into it. Um, but yeah, I fell out in college and just stopped, you know. Now I just kind of play for fun, but I still have a lot of that muscle, you know, just from, from being an active kid. So I can gain muscle very easily if I want. I just kind of like to do more fluid exercise. Like, I like hiking, I love swimming. I just, you know, I like active things that, like, are engaging and get me into a flow. I'll occasionally walk with dumbbells or I'll go to the gym and just kind of do cables. Or just, just dumbbells. But I do low, more low weight, high reps. Um, I just don't want to bulk a lot of muscle personally. I mean, I think, you know, women, it's great if like they want to gain a lot of muscle, and muscle is so important for the body, but, um, I just never wanted to be overly muscular, um, with my frame, you know.

So yeah, I try to keep it like more lean muscle not that I'm going to make you feel old, but 10, 15 years from now as perimenopause gets on the horizon, that bone loading becomes so important. Yeah. Not only the pulling of the tendons and the ligaments against the bone or the ligaments from the muscle to the bone, but also the loading of the bone. So, even if it's single set-to-failure training, one set for each muscle group that isn't going to result in significant hypertrophy, That's a big one to focus on at about this stage of your life.

Yeah. No, you're right because osteoporosis runs in my family too. My mom, she broke both her hips actually. She had to get both hips replaced. So, I'm very conscious about that with my bone health. And, that's why I really make a conscious effort too to make sure I'm just very mineralized my body like getting salts, getting Good protein. And then, I also forgot to mention silica. I take a lot of silica. Silica is a game changer for me.

Yeah. That'll be good for the bones. You just need to stimulate the bone growth cells, the osteoblasts. What I'll do for people listening is if you go to BenGreenfieldLife.com/Felicity, I have a podcast with Myriam Halton. You'd like this one too, Felicity. Or actually, it's BenGreenfieldLife.com/Feline, F-E-L-I-N-E. I'll link to this podcast I did with Mira Kelton, which really is really good for the bone density piece. So, back to the adult actress piece and the porn industry, what would you say to people right now in terms of like if you were to give one big warning message or one piece of advice when it comes to navigating that whole world. And before you do, while you're thinking about that, what I do with me and my sons is we just have an app installed on our phones and on our computers, on our browsers, and it's an accountability app, meaning that no matter where we go on the internet, at the end of each week, I get an email with all my sons' activity, they get an email with all my activity. So, that one's called Victory App. And, it's super useful just knowing that you're going to be sharing this stuff with your family. So, kind of like you mentioned, be open with your partner if you're going to use porn. And, I think if all men did that, there'd be a shockingly low number of partners just nodding their head in approval. And, I suspect it wouldn't go over well. What's your message to people watching right now?

I would say you really— you are what you consume, right? So if you're consuming a lot of porn, it's going to affect you in one way or another, your relationships, or just how you view sex in general. I, I've always— well, in previous videos that I've made talking about just thinking twice about getting involved in porn, I would just seriously ask yourself, if you're 100% okay with knowing that people are going to see you naked on the internet, and they're going to judge you. And it's going to be a part of your life forever. Like you can't erase it.

They own your image. You having been in that industry, you can't write a cease and desist, or like, like a name, image, and likeness letter that just doesn't work.

It doesn't, because I mean, it's, you kind of sign your soul away. I mean, in a sense, like I've I kind of felt like I, you know, I signed a deal with the devil, like, when I got involved in porn. Like, it's like I sort of agreed to this type of lifestyle that's going to just be something I have to embrace. And you have to be okay with that. And it's so hard because when you're young, you know, you don't really think sometimes the long-term effects. You don't think like, oh, 13 years from now, 10, you know, like, I'm, I'm I'm growing, I'm a different person, I want to pursue different things. Like, you know, it's just, these are things that you really have to ask yourself, like, if you're really okay with that, and you have the mental fortitude to be strong, to be able to be okay with that, and the harassment, the cyberbullying, the comments, like all that stuff that you're going to experience, you need to be okay with that. And also that you might have difficulty navigating relationships, like big time. You know, it's, it's something that is a very, very common thing with people that get involved in the adult industry. They really struggle having healthy relationships.

Yeah, yeah. And men, women, teens, etc., who are contributing to the success of that industry by being customers, probably aren't doing those people any favors when it comes to, you know, funding that entire amount of damage that occurs to, you know, to people like you, what you experienced.

Yeah, well, part of the thing is too, I always thought that they really— well, this is one of the things with Exodus Cry, that they were trying to organize a petition to raise the age of porn from 18 to 21.

You mean 18 to 21? That would be to be an actor or actress.

Yes. Yeah. So to be able to shoot pornography, to put yourself on the internet, like, you should be 21 instead of 18. I mean, because I, I was so— I was 19, you know, when I got involved, and I just, I was such a vulnerable point in my life. Like, I was lost, I was confused, I was experimenting. Like, people make bad decisions when they're young, or impulsive ones at least, you know. Like, they, they want to experience things, but that's not necessarily good when you know it's, it's going to be out there on the internet and can haunt you for the rest of your life. So, um, I really think that the age should be raised to 21 because at least like it gives people a little bit more of a time frame to make a more solid decision about how this will affect them long term. Um, yeah, so that, and then I also just think, you know, the categories in porn, like I've talked a lot about, like abusive porn, just some of the extreme taboo things that people consume. I think that can be very detrimental to how people view sex and like view their partners.

Oh, absolutely. There's no doubt.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's scary because like, I've, I've shot like types of porn like that. And I've spoken publicly about how, like, I really, you know, really wish I thought twice about doing that when I was younger. But, you know, it's like when you're in the industry, you get exposed to a lot of opportunities and offers. Like, they want to push you to, to, to explore your boundaries and your limits. And, you know, I— yeah, like, looking back, I really wish I thought twice about all that. But when people watch that type of porn, it's like they think that, oh, is this what my partner wants? Is this, is this normal in sex? And then I feel like it's creating this kind of perspective for young people growing up that this is the type of porn that they want to experience. And it, yeah, it's, it's creating a very unhealthy perspective on sex.

Yeah, we're moving forward into a future in which I think the problem is going to go away in certain sectors such as live human beings getting damaged as much as AI and VR rolls in, but there's going to be far more scalable damage to especially young boys and young girls who are discovering this stuff before they've even been warned or ready. So, I think it's going to be a big battle. Felicity, thank you so much for coming on and doing this and for sharing with us.

Yeah, no, of course. Thank you so much for having me. It's been amazing. I'm so grateful to be here.

Awesome. Well, folks, you can access the show notes at BenGreenfieldLife.com/Feline. That's F-E-L-I-N-E. And until next time, I'm Ben Greenfield along with Felicity Feline signing out from BenGreenfieldLife.com. Have an incredible week.

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