At the age of 18, Sasha Grey moved to Los Angeles with a solid plan to make it in the entertainment world, but her goal wasn’t your typical Hollywood Dream. Sasha had her sights set on the adult entertainment industry. She became an instant superstar and was heralded as the next Jenna Jameson. By age 21, Sasha decided to retire from the industry, wanting instead to focus fully on developing a career outside the world of pornography.

She successfully made the transition to mainstream acting by securing the lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, followed by roles on shows such as Entourage and the independent films Quit, The Girl From the Naked Eye and the soon-to-be-released Open Windows. Sasha recently released her first novel, The Juliette Society, which was a number-one bestseller in the U.K. FAULT had the pleasure of spending the day with the multi-talented actress, which resulted in one of our favourite shoots to date. We found out why she decided to turn to writing and where she got her inspiration for her book from. Pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions is something we find FAULTless!

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FAULT: You’ve been in the entertainment world since 2006 and have dealt with the world of fantasy and celebrity. Is any of that fictional world—the secret society, etc.—based on or inspired by your own personal experiences?

Sasha: Of course a secret society like this one isn’t that far off-base!

The novel is fiction, but some of my fans will recognise the erotic scenes as scenes I actually did. I’m also lucky enough to have travelled the world and met so many  ascinating people whose stories I pulled from. Most of all, I wanted this book to be an homage to classic erotica like Candide, 120 Days of Sodom and Therese the Philosopher.

Those novels were satirical and a reflection of the authors’ time, and I hoped to do a bit of the same. There isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t hear about a sex scandal or the mysterious death of a beautiful young woman, and there are a lot of stories that aren’t front page news but can be found with just a little bit of research.

What did you learn about yourself in the process of writing your novel?

Good writing and good sex have one thing in common: You need to hit a good rhythm. You need to know when to slow down, when to draw things out and tease the reader, and also when to pick up the pace and hit them with everything you’ve got.

 

What do you want readers—especially your female readership—to take away from the book?

I didn’t set out with the intention of sending a message or hoping to create change. However, if people find themselves questioning themselves or questioning society, I will wear that badge with a sense of pride. That’s all I can ever hope for.

De Sade wanted to get rid of the way we categorise sexuality. He wanted to stop labelling our sexual preferences as necessarily good or bad. I almost agree with that. I think sex between consenting adults is either consensual or it isn’t. So if someone didn’t consent to sex . . . then that’s where I have to draw the line.

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What is your FAULT?

Cinema. If I don’t watch enough films in a week I start to get anxious. Suffice it to say that I’ve been rife with anxiety lately!

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