Good Vibes Only: Braylin Bailey Turning Heads in Adult

A version of this feature appears in the September issue of AVN magazine.   SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. — Her alarm clock sounds at 5 a.m., and 30 minutes later Braylin Bailey is at the gym.Monday it might be Pilates. Tuesday could be hot yoga. Perhaps boxing on Wednesday and cardio on Thursday.“I want abs!” laughs Bailey, whose weekday workouts are usually followed by a trip to the grocery store for ingredients to prepare a home-cooked breakfast for her and her boyfriend, male talent Apollo Banks.“I’m really into being as healthy as I can. It’s important in this industry to take care of yourself physically—but also mentally and emotionally. It puts me in such a good mood when I start the day early. It makes me happy.”Bailey’s career-focused mindset would hardly surprise anyone who has followed her ascension thus far. Since entering the industry in the spring of 2021, the California blonde with the dreamy blue eyes has made all the right moves.Whether she’s working for a high-end studio such as Brazzers or Mile High or simply shooting content trade with another star, Braylin always arrives early and alert. She maintains an upbeat presence on social media and asks directors to critique her performances. And when it comes to being on set, Bailey’s attitude has made her a favorite among talent and crew.“She shows up with an energy that’s hard to describe,” veteran director Mike Quasar says. “When she walks into the room, you can just feel it. She changes the entire vibe. I’ve never ended a shoot with her and thought, ‘Braylin wasn’t on her game today.’”Bailey entered the industry in April of 2021—just a month shy of her 21st birthday. But the Northern California native had been pondering a career in sex work since her early years of high school, when a senior jock mentioned that her new pair of glasses “made her look like a porn star.”“It made me feel like a woman,” Bailey says. “I pretended like he was mean for saying that. But in the back of my mind, I was intrigued.”Bailey enrolled in college thinking she may want to become a real estate agent—“Mostly because I just loved pretty houses,” she says—but eventually times got so tough financially that she had to scrounge up money simply to buy fast-food burritos. Bailey began selling pictures on Snapchat and then realized how much more money she could make if she transitioned into porn.“It really changed my life,” she says. “Now that I’m in the industry, I’m able to afford the nice, comfortable, healthy lifestyle that I’d never had before. And I’m surrounded by so many great people who feel like family. It really shows you what’s possible in life when you decide to go after something.”The 22-year-old Bailey, who is represented by Hussie Models, says she’s shot approximately 100 scenes since joining the industry, and she’s not planning to slow down anytime soon.Even more than her sultry performances, Bailey is regarded as one of the kindest female talents in the business, with stories of her good deeds circulating throughout the industry.“She’s genuinely one of the most wholesome and well-grounded people that I know,” says Anna Claire-Clouds, a standout performer who has become a mentor of sorts to Bailey. “Everything she does, she does with other people in mind.”Claire-Clouds discovered that first hand within hours of meeting Bailey last summer during a shoot for Allherluv’s “Rich Bitch.” In one scene, the performers were tied tightly together with rope as Claire-Clouds sat in a metal folding chair. Bailey, who was straddling her, was pressed against her chest, and both of them were blindfolded.After about 20 minutes—with 10 people on a crowded set and no air-conditioning in the small room—Claire-Clouds began to overheat. During a break in dialogue she whispered into Bailey’s ear.“My legs are numb,” Claire-Clouds said. “I think I’m about to pass out.”Without hesitation, Bailey demanded crew members untie the rope. With Claire-Clouds arms draped over their shoulders, she and fellow cast member Chloe Surreal—one of Bailey’s closest friends—carried Claire-Clouds outside and laid her on the ground. Bailey placed Claire-Clouds’ head in her lap and dabbed her forehead with a cool towel. She lifted up her shirt and wiped down her torso, which was beaded with sweat. Eventually Claire-Clouds felt well enough to continue the scene, but she was embarrassed by what had just occurred.“Braylin was like, ‘Girl, you are fine! We got you!’” Claire-Clouds says. “She was giving me excuse after excuse to make me feel better and boost my confidence. I just remember laying there with my head in her lap, looking up at her and thinking, ‘This girl is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.’”Since that day, Claire-Clouds has counted Bailey and Surreal as two of her closest friends. They make frequent trips to the beach, shop for lingerie and go to wineries to sip vino and nibble from charcuterie boards. One of the trio's favorite activities is to visit new restaurants. Bailey—who counts oysters, sushi, Chilean sea bass and Eggs Benedict among her favorite foods—is known for researching the menu and scouring Yelp reviews beforehand so she can advise her friends on what to order.The only arguments occur when the bill arrives. Bailey always wants to pay.“If I left the industry tomorrow,” Surreal says, “the thing I’d be the proudest of is that I got to meet Braylin. She’s my best friend.“She has this silly sweetness about her. She’s so easy to talk to because she remembers things you’ve said and knows all the right questions to ask. With her, it’s always about the other person. She cares so much about everyone’s feelings. She’s genuinely curious about you and what’s going on with your life.”The compliments make Bailey blush.“I believe in being kind to everyone,” she says. “It could be a simple compliment, or touching someone a certain way, or doing a small chore for someone. I love making other people happy. It makes life so much better.”As the stories about Bailey’s selflessness and warmth continue to mount, the question becomes obvious. What makes Bailey this way? What fuels her spirit? Posed with the query, Bailey pauses for a moment and looks away.“I’ve been hurt so bad in my life that it makes me want to be nice to people,” she says softly. “I don’t want anyone to ever feel what I’ve felt.”Indeed, Bailey’s upbeat presence might surprise some of the people who knew her as a teenager.Originally from Florida, Bailey moved with her father to a tiny town in northern California when she was nine. With only about 1,800 residents, the community was tight knit—the kind of place where you could leave your front door unlocked and your car keys in the dashboard. Bailey described many of the residents in her neighborhood as hippies, saying that people smoked weed openly and even skinny-dipped in broad daylight at area ponds. At night Bailey loved climbing into the treehouse her father built for her and watching the sunset.“Being outside was a big thing,” she says. “You’d always see other people. Everyone knew everyone, and we all looked out for each other.”Shortly after she entered high school, though, the vibe began to change. Bailey says she was degraded by her stepmom daily and assigned an over-abundance chores. Bailey woke up every morning determined to approach the day with a positive outlook, but her spirit was squelched before she ever left for school.“I felt like Cinderella, with the wicked stepmom,” Bailey says. “She just didn’t like me. She was very jealous about me having blonde hair and blue eyes. She always made that a very weird thing. She hated me for it.”The constant berating took its toll on Bailey. She became shy and introverted. She walked through the halls of her high school staring at the ground.“I was a fragile child,” she says.During her sophomore year Bailey decided to make a change. Only 16, she moved out of her father’s house and began living with various friends and relatives—bouncing from home to home and bussing tables at a local steakhouse until she graduated.“Lots of people stepped up and basically co-parented me,” she says. “Once I was able to live on my own, without my stepmom, I learned a lot. I was able to blossom and become my own person, and not feel so uncomfortable.”By the time she enrolled in a college near her hometown in the fall of 2019, all of Bailey’s insecurities had vanished. Head held high and blonde hair cascading down her back, she turned heads when she strolled through campus. A parties, Bailey was the hottie all the guys wanted to meet—but were too shy to approach.Well, all of them except Apollo Banks.Even though he wasn’t enrolled in the college, Banks was a regular at the bars and social gatherings frequented by students. When Banks spotted Bailey at a lingerie-themed birthday party for a mutual friend, his jaw dropped.“Her ass was looking phenomenal,” Banks recalls with a laugh.He approached Bailey, asked for her Snapchat ID and then made a bold proclamation.“He told me I was going to be his girlfriend one day,” Bailey says. “I thought it was a pretty ballsy thing to say to someone you’d just met. And then I saw him talking to all of these other girls, so I thought he was a ho.”Still, Bailey engaged with him over the next few months on Snapchat, and after the well-endowed Banks sent her an X-rated photo, she decided to meet up with him in person.“I showed his dick pic to my friends,” Bailey says, “and they were like, ‘No way! Is that fake? You’ve got to go find out if it’s actually real.”It was, indeed, and Bailey and Banks have been inseparable ever since. Banks provided encouragement in the spring of 2021, when Bailey dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in adult. After making countless trips to visit her in Porn Valley, Banks decided to enter the industry, too.“It’s cool that we met before porn,” Banks says. “That’s why our relationship is so strong. It’s nice when there’s a sense of understanding when you come back from work and want to have someone to talk to. Rather than some random person.”Bailey agrees, and said any “jealousy issues” that may arise are only minor.“We learned not to look at each other’s stuff,” says Bailey, who estimates she had just five male partners before porn. “I used to go on Twitter and get annoyed and mad. I’ve been in it long enough now to realize that it’s just work. I love him and only him. The girls I know that he’s worked with are gorgeous and sweet. I know they’re not going to do anything to damage our relationship.”Banks’ career is rapidly ascending, as the Hussie Models star is regarded as one of the top male newcomers of 2022. Bailey, who recently eclipsed the 100-scene mark, has worked for some of the biggest studios in the business and has been cast alongside stars such as Isiah Maxwell, Mick Blue and Oliver Flynn.Most recently, Bailey said she’s proud of her scenes in a rather unlikely genre: girl-girl.“I’ve become way more into girls and more comfortable with them,” Bailey says. “At first I was really nervous to work with a girl. I hadn’t done a lot with girls in my personal life other than make out. But now I’m really into them.”Surreal says she’s noticed that Bailey is taking more and more pride in her work.“She’s an amazing performer,” Surreal says. “It’s hard to find people who are so genuine and love what they do in any industry. Most people are just doing things for a paycheck, but Braylin really cares. She wants it to be as good as possible. It’s important to her.”Claire-Clouds agrees.“Some performers don’t try as hard in girl-girl,” she says. “But Braylin really goes for it. She moves around, she moves you around, she opens up. She’s all about making sure the scene looks the best it can—but also about staying connected in the scene, which is a really hard thing for girls to do.“She’s been working with a lot of people lately that are really inspiring to her. She’s done a lot of scenes that have her super excited, super pumped. She’s excited about what's ahead.”Not just on the screen, but off of it, too.Bailey is grateful for the life she’s found in the adult industry. Along with a host of new friends, it’s given her financial stability for the first time in her life and also a sense of purpose. It’s evoked a sense of pride. And a sense of peace.“I like that everyone in porn is a little bit broken,” Bailey says. “They’ve overcome something in their lives, and it’s led them here. Everyone understands each other and isn’t judgmental. It just feels right. This is where I belong." Photography by @damonloble