Product Description

The moving, gripping, and tell–all autobiography of Traci Elizabeth Lords, a former child porn queen, electronica maven, and cult movie and TV star.

At 14, Nora Kuzma ran away from home and ended up on the dirty streets of Hollywood. She fell in with a fast crowd, and her dreams of modelling soon landed her a spectacular centrefold in Penthouse Magazine, where at 15 she became internationally known as TRACI LORDS. From there she appeared in numerous adult films and magazines, denying her past and battling a deep addiction to cocaine and men. Three years later she got out. This is her memoir–a tale of loss, redemption, and ultimate survival as Traci Elizabeth Lords takes you into her secretive past, faces her demons, and shares her extraordinary journey of personal growth.

Her scandalous tenure in the skin trade--undeniably the sole basis for her infamy and subsequent legitimate career--is glossed over here in a few score pages, with more attention paid to the heavy-metal musicians that dotted her life than the motivations and machinations of the Feds who literally changed her life; Slash's snake gets more ink here than Attorney General Ed Meese. Quick to ladle generous sympathy on her own plight, she heaps little but scorn upon those from the seedy past of her porn-star alter-ego, yet seems to have had few qualms about formally adopting that moniker as her legal name. --Jerry McCulley ... Read more

Customer Reviews (85)

She never gave up!
You got to hand it to her.....she came from nothing and made it despite everyone using her along the way.

Full of it
Through out this whole book, Miss Lords never once takes responsibility for her actions. It was the Stepfather's fault, it was the cocaine's fault, it was the adult industry's fault. It's NEVER HER FAULT!!! She has to be the most naive, innocent person to ever walk the face of the earth. Do I believe she was raped? Yes, I do. Something happened to turn a 15/16 to wanting to do porn. Something turned this woman into a cold hearted, finger pointing sociopath.

This is a woman who grew up poor. When she was a kid, her mother took her and her siblings to go live with a boyfriend who happened to be a drug dealer. Ok, that could happen. But when she talks about her "modeling" shoot, she says in order to loosen up (no pun intended) she was given a line of coke. However, she puts the word coke in parenthesis, like she had never heard of this drug before that moment. Really? But you grew up poor and your mother dated a drug dealer, and you don't know what coke is? That's crap. Another thing I find really odd is her relationship with her stepfather. In my opinion, I think she just had some relationship with her mother's man. This is a guy who supposedly molested her when she was a child, yet he's taking her on these photo shoots (she supposedly didn't know it was nude modeling) and he's with her in the same room watching her get photographed topless. She allows this to happen, even though she thinks he was masturbating under his coat (she's innocent and naive, though, so she's not 100% sure if that's what he was doing) Not only that, but never once did she say he made moves on her during this time, even though he molested her as a child, but wants nothing to do with her as a buxom naked teen who's getting naked in front of him. Strange.

Finally, she gets a fake ID from someone (she doesn't take responsibility for this, either) and gets into doing porn. Supposedly she hates this, and is screaming inside for someone to help her. Her moans on the set are not of ecstasy, but mental pain. Sure. However, she claims to not remember any of her porn days, doesn't remember posing for Penthouse (but remembers the check she received) and claims by the time she was in the magazine she was a full blown (no pun intended) coke head. She never speaks of the time her coke use turned into full addiction. One day she did a line of something she never heard of, and the next thing you know, she's a full on drug addict.

Finally, she's "busted" for underage porn. She claims when she's been told that she's been watched for awhile by FBI or whatever, she says, "What took you so long?" She also says she refuses to apologize to an industry she almost destroyed because "they exploited" her. SHE went in with a FAKE ID at the age of 15/16 and said, "I want to do porn." Nobody forced her to be there. She chose to be there.

I do notice thought that she does remember and take full on responsibility for all the good things that happened to her after porn; the movies, tv series, her album, modeling, etc. This is all clearly her doing and nobody elses.

Everyone who worked with her on her porn sets say she was sober and knew what she was doing. She was always in the makeup chair early and was a professional. Porn stars who were ten years+ older than her said they actually picked up pointers from her. This is a promiscuous girl who slept around and didn't care about anyone but herself. I've seen some of her scenes, and she looked pretty aware and happy about what was going on.

I don't think Traci is ashamed of her porn past--I honestly don't think she's capable of feeling humiliation. I think she wants everyone to forget her porn days, because she wants everyone to think of her as this amazing actress who's famous because of her "talent." When we think of Traci Lords, we think of the underage girl who was doing child porn, not of her so-called "acting" career.

Since she doesn't taker responsibility for any of the bad things that happened to her in her life, I hope she eventually blames this horribly written book on someone else, too. She'll eventually realize what a bad writer she is, and say someone wrote this without her consent. It wouldn't be the first time she blamed her trash on someone else.

She loved and left him, she even refused to marry him, such are The Days of Traci's Lives
The early years of Traci's life outshine most of what is written in this autobiography, detailing her abusive father who in a jealous rage hit her mother and caused severe injuries. She claimed she was raped by a teenage boy when she was ten years old, if that's possible.The three years of porn are covered a bit too briefly where she has an abortion and a fake ID from Lynn, a girlfriend of her stepfather, to make it easier for her to find a job. She's arrested by the FBI for appearing in child pornography, but no one explains who tipped the FBI that she was using a false name and driver's license.The second half, her "after porn" life seems to dissolve our sympathies as it plows on. An agent produces a legal adult film and bails her out of her financial troubles. He lives together with her and wants to marry her.She moves out and marries a prop man from a John Waters film instead. Here, she believes unproven rumors he is having an affair with an actress while she goes out and dates her hairstylist, even buying sex toys together. But she expects him to be faithful while she travels on location, flirting with the leading man on every film. This is supposed to be grounds for divorce for her and Brook who she said she was very much in love with. The easiest route for failure in a film career is to form relationships with a man who is evaluated in terms of promoting your own status and advancement, and measuring everything and everyone else in the same way, otherwise known as "screwing your way to the top."

Not what you were expecting at all
A very open and (for me) painfull look at how she wound up in the porn industry and how she has fought her way out.Very well done for a book of it's type.

Traci, I Love You
I'll start off by saying this book isn't a literary masterpiece in the sense that it's incredibly well-written. But, that doesn't make it a bad thing. Traci's autobiography may at times feel weak, but it's honest, and that's what draws me to it. Lords could have easily hired a ghostwriter or like Jenna Jameson, received help from another established author, but instead she did it all on her own - and that's what makes her novel stand out. It's personal, at times reading like the pages from a diary.

To me, Traci Lords is one of the most fascinating celebrities in modern time - a woman who in the 80's caused national news and controversy when it was discovered that Lords was underage when she had filmed well over what are now 100 titles. Her notoriety has stuck, and will remain so in future pop culture. I'll admit that I initially had no real interest in Traci, only knowing her by her reputation, but after reading Jameson's memoir, I sort of developed an interest in the grittiness of the porn industry, and what it's really like for these actors behind the scenes. And I'm glad I picked this novel up, now developing a new-found respect and admiration for Traci. In her book, Traci talks about life as an abused child, who later experiences rape, molestation, neglect, pregnancy, a drug addiction and a stint in porn, all before she turned 18 years old. It's a great read, often a heart wrenching tale, but one with a fairy tale ending, as Lords has overcome her struggles and obstacles in life, proving all those around her who during the time she caused headlines, went on to say Traci would never amount to anything other than her 15 minutes of a being a "porn lolita". Less than a year after her 18th birthday, Traci would go on to star in arcs on numerous popular television programs such as Melrose Place, Roseanne, Married with Children, and Tales from the Crypt, launch a music career with a #1 dance album, and a moderately successful mainstream career in movies, starring in Cry-Baby, Blade, and The Tommyknockers.

If you want to read an honest, inside look at the incredible life of a young woman, make sure to pick up this title. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

BUYER BEWARE IT IS ILLEGAL TO OWN THISISSUE UNLESS ALL OF THE TRACI LORDS PHOTOS HAVE BEEN REMOVED.I THINK I WOULD AVOID THIS .
I AM PRETTY SURE IT IS STILL ILLEGAL TO OWN THIS ISSUE OF PENTHOUSE, WITH ANY TRACI LORDS PHOTOS IN IT. SAME WITH ANY OTHER MAGAZINES FROM BEFORE 1987 STATING THAT THEY CONTAIN A TRACI PICTORIAL.BUYER BEWARE!!!SHE ONLYMADE ONE PORN MOVIE THAT IS STILL LEGAL TO OWN . TRACI I LOVE YOU. THIS WAS MADE IN FRANCE A FEW DAYS AFTER SHE TURNED 18.


DR SLEEPLESS ... Read more

Product Description
Has a Review Of Traci's Movie "Traci ,I Love You" And a Couple of Pictures ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Traci Elizabeth Lords, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 852 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author