Marshmallow Girl: AVN’s BBW Performer of the Year Keeps Busy

This interview by Rob Perez originally ran in the July 2014 issue of AVN magazine. Flores is pictured here in a still from Marshmallow Girls: BBW Icon April Flores, an Evil Angel title directed by Aiden Starr that streets July 16. To see more images, click here. Among her many achievements since April Flores debuted in adult films nearly a decade ago, being crowned BBW Performer of the Year at the AVN Awards Show in January of this year clearly ranks near the pinnacle, according to the plus-size beauty. “It’s up there at the top for sure. To be recognized for a body of work, it feels like a goal has been accomplished. To me that’s huge, and to be recognized by AVN, the voters and the fans ... is definitely one of the highlights of my life and of my career.” In the months since she was announced as the inaugural winner in AVN’s BBW Performer of the Year category, Flores has been bestowed with congratulations from the industry, friends and fans as well as fellow BBW performers. It really isn’t surprising that her peers, especially the younger BBW performers, look up to her. April Flores has been the longtime face of BBW porn, and while other plus-size performers can take some credit for popularizing BBW porn over the past decade—Samantha 38G, Kelly Shibari, Desiree Devine come to mind—no other performer is more identified with the genre. “I’m not a person who’s had too many goals but my goal was performing,” said Flores, who originally wanted to show the world plus-size women are equally as beautiful as their thinner counterparts. “It was to try to tell other women that we’re still sexy even though we’re not whatever society deems as beautiful, or the ideal body type. I think that message has reached a lot of women and men. That goal has been reached and that makes me feel really happy and very proud.” Rarely does a performer reach such heights without a strong support system, and there was no stronger support system than April’s late husband, Carlos Batts. The night of the awards show was bittersweet for Flores, who was feeling his absence on that night strongly. “I know he was there with me in spirit. I would have loved for him to be there physically and enjoy the award with me.” Still, it’s not stopping Flores from making the most of her BBW Performer of the Year win. A week prior to this interview she had already shot new content, and she told AVN that plans are “in the works” for her to shoot new scenes in the coming year. “I’ve had a lot of talks, a lot of texts ... so yeah, I’m definitely going to be performing a lot this year. I’m still being very selective on what I work on. I’m just still in a fragile state right now. It’s more about me being emotionally prepared to do my best in terms of shooting a scene. I just want to make sure I can give the best performance I can for the director, my scene mate and for me.” In March, Flores performed in the first of several new scenes for her friend and fellow BBW Performer of the Year nominee Courtney Trouble, appearing alongside queer porn performer Q-Tip in a scene for Trouble’s Lesbian Curves 3. She also is appearing in a scene with Trouble and female-to-male performer Rodstein for James Darling’s FTMFucker.com. And in June she made a spotlight cameo in an orgy scene in Trouble’s Chelsea Poe: Fucking Mystic. “April performed in her new scenes with all the same love, passion, energy, hilarity, gorgeousness and attention to detail that she always has,” said Trouble, who has worked regularly with Flores over the years. “I wasn’t sure how I would react to shooting again but I realized after the orgy and shooting two scenes that ... performing is something I really enjoy,” Flores said about her recent scenes. “It was good to go back to performing and doing something that I really love and I’m used to doing, and I feel like I’m good at doing. My goal is to make it through this year and grow in the process. I want to see personal, professional [and] artistic growth. I want to see growth within the next year in every level of my life. Ultimately, performing to me has always been an outlet for me to express myself, to empower other women, and to have fun and enjoy myself.” One of those projects “in the works” turns out to be a showcase movie shot by performer-turned-director Aiden Starr. Titled Marshmallow Girls: BBW Idol April Flores, it is the first in Starr’s new BBW line for Evil Angel. The director explained that “marshmallow girls” is a Japanese term for BBWs. Starr also performed in one of the scenes with Flores. The title will street on July 16. Director Starr was thrilled to say a few words about the five-scene showcase movie, which she called “super epic.” The action starts with a tease, as Flores—always a fashion plate—tries on various outfits. Initially, Starr said, plans were to do four scenes: tease, b/g, b/g/g and b/b/g. But once she started working with Flores, her vision changed. The action “builds up to some of the heaviest scenes I’ve ever shot,” Starr said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be rough, but it’s right up there with Fucking Hostile [one of the director’s recent releases from Evil Angel, which explores domination and submission].” In the end, Starr added a blowbang scene. When talking to Flores about what makes a showcase movie, Starr explained, Flores told her it should involve seeing a performer “doing something they’ve never done before, and that’s why I put a blowbang into the movie.” On the other end of the spectrum is Flores’ scene with Betty Blac. “I didn’t know Betty Blac before I cast her. She is just so attractive—what a pretty girl,” Starr said, marveling, “She’s like a ninja with pussy licking. … Her tongue is like crazy fucking long. She knew exactly where to put her face; she knew how to make it real and how to get April off.” And as for Flores herself, “She’s super sexy and can really throw down,” Starr said. “She’s so pretty—what a beautiful woman. She was just a dream to shoot.”