Sex may sell, but it is porn that pays. Many have felt up to the job, but most last only a few brief minutes before fading back into obscurity. For those that succeed in going the distance and making a career as a porn star, a life time of on-demand, under the spotlight, bring-me-my-sedatives pleasure awaits – as well as a small fortune. Here is our handpicked list of the wealthiest porn stars in history, a motley crew who have become cultural icons – celebrated and reviled in equal measure – and who’ve educated several generations in all things nasty.

7) Houston

Houston is one of life’s great artistes, renowned for tirelessly playing the lead role in the 1999 masterpiece, ‘The World’s Biggest Gangbang 3: The Houston 620′ – yes that’s right, 620 men, non-stop. Since being discovered in 1995, working as a stripper at the Tropicana, Houston has gone on to porn stardom and the money to go with it – reportedly earning well over $1 million a year. But it seems this wasn’t enough for the sordid star. In 1999 (she got up to quite a lot that year) Houston put her art before her body when she had her labia surgically ‘trimmed’ to enhance her look during close-ups. Fair enough you say: a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, but… crazily she then decided to supplement her already massive income by auctioning off said labia to a willing and perverted moron – for $10,000! Priceless.

6) Hillary Scott

This blonde bombshell claims to have had her first lesbian encounter at the shockingly young age of 11, and aside from a brief stint selling mortgages (what else…), has continued on with a life of smut to this day. With a hatful of dubious awards under her belt – including ‘Best Oral Sex Scene’ (2006), ‘Best Group Sex Scene’ (2007), and the coveted ‘Orgamsic Oralist’ (2006) – Hillary finally got the big one in 2007 when she signed a million dollar contract with SexZ Pictures – the largest porn contract in history. Now that’s something to tell your mom about…

5) Maria Takagi

Maria, aka Rika Inoue, followed the well-trodden and timeless route to Asian porn stardom: schoolgirl —> teen pop idol —> porn starlet. Today she’s reached the dizzy position of Japan’s most famous and highest paid adult star, and believe us, there’s plenty of healthy competition. Her deal with production company, Max A, is for a whopping 300 million yen, which is around $2.6 million. But just to show you that porn isn’t all smut and sleaze, especially as far as the Japanese are concerned, Maria scooped the award for ‘Best Conversation’ in 2003. Yes, that’s an official Japanese porn award. Anyway, would we take up a life of all-day sex and wild parties for $2.6 million dollars a year, you ask? Yes. Yes we would.

4) Ron Jeremy

This glorious hulk of a man, this sacred legend, sported one of THE all time classic taches. For that alone you might argue he should be given a salary of $10 million per year, bathed and washed in a golden bathtub by the fairest maidens in the land, scattered with sweet-smelling garlands of herbs, granted the freedom of New York City, and allowed to take tea with the Queen whenever he damn well likes. But alas, Ron Jeremy will have to make do with his $7 million fortune, amassed by appearances in over 2000 adult films (he directed another 281). If Ron was still going on today’s salaries, he would surely be the richest (as well as the most oversexed) man on earth. So fearsome was this man’s reputation, back in the day it was often joked: ‘The kinkier acts some actresses will not perform are bestiality, sado-masochism and sex with Jeremy’.

3) Jesse Jane

Jesse Jane’s explicit career began when she read an article on Tera Patrick and thought: I’m grabbing myself a piece of that action. No, not of Tera (although we’re sure this has happened…), but porn star glory. Her first appearance was with the delightful, Devon, in the underrated ‘No Limits’. From there she went on to scoop more awards then you can shake a dubiously shaped stick at, introduce her own line of sex toys (not to mention her ever-popular ‘Decadent Love Sex Doll’), star as the leader of the ‘Pussy Patrol’ in the hit series Entourage, write a sex and dating column answering reader’s queries for Australian mag, Ralph, as well as maintain a glittering porn career worth over $8 million. How does she do it? Oh and by the way, her favorite band is Slipknot.

2) Tera Patrick

Tera has said: “When I got into the industry, I made millions for everyone else. Now I make them for myself”. And she isn’t far wrong. This former nurse holds the record for the fastest selling Hustler release of all time, the cunningly entitled ‘inTERActive’, as well as owning her own porn empire centered around her company, Teravision. The company is worth a staggering $30 million, even though it only produces 15 titles a year – clearly more evidence that when it comes to sex, it’s quality not quantity that counts… In an interesting twist, a long, drawn-out legal battle saw Tera sue Jenna Jameson – the Queen of the porn world – in 2007 for failure to pay royalties. We’re sure we could think of a few ways they could settle the dispute…

1) Jenna Jameson

The Queen of Porn. Jenna Jameson has successfully crossed over into mainstream culture as the representative for all things erotic, after appearing in over 140 adult movies. In recent years she has concentrated on growing her porn company ClubJenna, founded with her ex-husband Jay Grdina, which has estimated revenues of over $30 million annually. Playboy has since acquired the company for an undisclosed sum (read: undisclosed massive sum). Jenna claims she first got into porn in retaliation at a boyfriend who cheated on her – quite the comeback, we say. Her initial performances were girl-on-girl, apparently the way many budding starlets are eased into this merciless industry, but she quickly went on to bigger, more conventional things: her famous ‘signature move’ was…. well, we’ll leave that for you to discover in your own time (be warned: it’s messy…). Quite simply THE porn legend.

Written by Julian on May 19th, 2010 | Tagged as: Popular Culture