Lexi Stone Discusses Comeback

LOS ANGELES—Lexi Stone calls her first go round in the adult industry “very vanilla.” “This time I’m a little less vanilla,” she jokes. “I’m not full chocolate but I’m a swirl… I’m branching out a lot more. I’m super excited.” The native of Fort Worth, Texas, returned to performing for the first time in 12 years this spring with a new attitude and a better understanding of who she is and what she wants. Now represented by Nexxxt Level Talent Agency, the former real estate agent and hairdresser is making this trip around Porn Valley count. “This was something I wanted to do and I wanted to do it better,” Lexi tells AVN. “I feel more in tune with my body and I feel more accepted in this industry. And I just felt like quite honestly, I’m hotter than I was back then.” No argument here. Stone made her porn debut in 2009, appearing in about 70 titles in a whirlwind year-and-a-half in which she appeared in multiple scenes for studios such as New Sensations/Digital Sin, Hustler Video, Penthouse, Brazzers, Naughty America, Twistys, Red Light District, Zero Tolerance, Vivid, Bang Bros and Reality Kings, which produced her first-ever hardcore encounter for CumFiesta, opposite Ramon Nomar. “It was a crazy day,” Stone recalls. “Everything I did in that first round was a shock to me. “I was straight off the plane from Texas—the Bible Belt—and I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I watched porn… I had seen it in passing and I had done Playboy before, but ultimately I was vanilla and had no idea.” Still she managed to leave an impression on a lot of fans even if that first stint was somewhat brief—she admits that falling in love with a civilian and transitioning to girl/girl and solo scenes only may have affected her opportunities toward that end of her initial foray into the business. Fast forward to last week, when Stone did a VR scene with AVN Hall of Fame performer John Strong and Jill Kassidy, the 2018 AVN Best New Starlet, for SexLikeReal. “It was really cool,” Lexi says. “I’ve actually never worked in VR before. Back in 2009-2010, we weren’t quite there with VR, so I learned a lot…. For the positioning it’s a little bit different. John wasn’t allowed to say anything—they didn’t even want to hear him breathe. And with the position of his head, we can’t see him and he can’t really see us. “But it was a really cool setup, I enjoyed it.” It marked Lexi’s first time working with both Strong and Kassidy. “He’s a pro,” Stone says. “And Jill was just a doll. She’s so sweet and gorgeous. Both of them were great partners.” Lexi has been staying in L.A. for almost two months, landing scenes for high-profile studios such as Deeper that have yet to be released. Now she plans to travel to the West Coast as often as she needs to as she gets back into the groove. “I’m going to keep my house in Texas,” Stone says. “I’m really just rolling with it. I’ve been trying to say ‘yes’ to everything that I can.” Lexi published her memoir, My Real Dad Was a Stripper, in November 2021, marking a turning point in her life. The book recounts her journey from birth all the way to making the decision to do porn the first time and then walking onto the set. “And that’s where it stops,” Lexi explains. “Whether it was true or not, I felt like I was carrying baggage—secret, hidden baggage—and once I released my book I didn’t have that baggage anymore.” Now she feels free and focused. “I actually have nothing to hide anymore,” Lexi continues. “I’m 40 now and life starts to look different. I don’t give a fuck. Those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.” It’s why this time Stone is just being herself—and anyone who sees her on TikTok can attest that’s entertaining enough. She built a following of 32,000 there without posting any thirst-trap content. It’s also where Lexi promoted her book in a big way. Now she would like to use her growing social media platforms to “stand up for the industry and be a voice for the industry.” “That it’s not what you think it is,” Lexi says. “I want [the fans] to understand what the business is like and what it’s not.” Her website MsLoveStoned.com links to her book, her merch and her social media, tying all of her entities together in a way she never would’ve imagined doing in 2010. She started writing her book about 12 years ago, acknowledging that “so much has changed since then.” “I wrote it back then and it was my true feelings about what happened between me and my mom,” Stone says. “And not having my dad in the picture.” Stone says her mom met her dad when she was 25 and he was 22—and dancing at a male strip club called LaBare in Dallas. “She picked him off the stage,” Lexi says, adding that her mom decided she wanted to have his baby and that he didn’t have to play a role afterward. “He did find out about me... He knew about me when I was born and he went and lived his best 22-year-old life,” Lexi adds. “My mom never spoke poorly of him.” Stone remembers brief flashes of her dad from when she was 4 or 5 years old, but she mostly grew up without him around. About eight years ago, she started “heavily looking” for him. She wanted him to be part of her life. “He had like an Instagram page that he hadn’t been active on for four or five years and every Father’s Day I would go there and write a comment just in hopes one day he would open it and see that,” Lexi says. When Lexi found out about a 44th anniversary reunion event for LaBare was happening in September 2022, she decided to make a funny post on TikTok holding her book, just in case her dad might be planning to attend. “I was kind of telling TikTok this and within 12 hours—I had never said my dad’s stage name—this woman writes in the comments on my TikTok, ‘Is your dad Michael Eagle?’ “I practically fell to the floor—and I messaged her back.” While her dad did not attend the event, she and the TikTok commenter “did some digging” and found a YouTube video of him, where Lexi left a simple comment. The following week on Oct. 1, Lexi and her father met face to face. “It was an amazing surprise,” Lexi says. “I was super blown away how social media can really make miracles happen, how connected we are. And now I have my stripper dad who is in his 60s with bad knees from all the lap dances he gave back in my life. We have a great relationship. “He fully supports me and tells me ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’ It’s kind of cool how all that came together by showing the cover of my book.” Lexi says her dad gives her “best friend vibes.” “He understands me,” she says. “It’s a unique, interesting little place we’re at. He texts me every single day... "And my mom, she fully supported it. She always wanted me to know him. For all of this to transpire years and years later it makes me think the universe has a plan and everything happens in its time.” A legendary dancer at LaBare, Eagle—who is Native American—was known for shooting fire. “It played into his whole stripper vibe with his name being Eagle,” Lexi says. In fact, on July 21, 1988, when Eagle was shooting fire during a show, the flames hit the ceiling and caused the Dallas club to burn down. Fortunately, no one was injured in the blaze. Stone says the fan who helped her find her dad saw that the cover of her book featured wings—and drew the connection to Eagle. But Lexi says those were designed as angel wings—and her legal name is Angela. “I’m also a big believer that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future,” Lexi says. “I felt like those wings were my angel wings. I’m an angel. I don’t have to be this frowned upon, secret devil because of this industry.” In addition becoming successful in real estate in both West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, Stone appeared as herself on two reality TV shows in 2016 during her hiatus. She was on The Celebrity Plastic Surgeons of Beverly Hills on Netflix and Million Dollar Listings LA (Season 9, Episode 8 “Nightmare on Altman Street”); and then also received a spotlight on After Buzz TV. In addition, Lexi worked as a DJ for a couple months. “You don’t get to redo life,” she tells AVN. “The only things you truly regret as you get older are the things you did not do. Those things might have some shame attached to them, but ultimately you learn something from them. You fall down and you get back up and start new. I rebuilt myself. “I had buried Lexi, she was gone. Now, let’s bring her back.” Photography courtesy of Lexi Stone