Tasha Reign: I Was Assaulted on Stormy Daniels’ Porn Set and Spoke Out

“This is Devon. Please call me.” I received semiregular texts like this that sent chills through my body. It either meant my agent had booked me for a photo or video shoot… or that he needed to discuss something he was upset with or confused about. Devon has lived here in Los Angeles for thirty-plus years, and the fact he never lost his English accent is telling. It shows the type of person he is: stubborn.

“Tasha, Stormy would like to book you for November 15 and 16 as the lead in her new comedic movie, The Set Up.” Butterflies fluttered in my belly and excitement ran through my head. Being the lead in a Wicked Pictures film was a big deal to me, as these roles were often reserved for their contract stars. To have the legendary Stormy Daniels direct the movie was even better. Stormy was a performer, contract star, director, model, and mother. I had looked up to her for years. In high school, she was the first adult film star I had seen in a documentary on television. I thought, Wow, what a bad-ass boss! as I watched her on my couch. When Devon told me about the role, I tried to play it cool because I didn’t want to appear starstruck or shocked that she had booked me, but actually, I was both. She had chosen me, and that meant a lot.

Sure, I had signed autographs at the same booth at conventions as Stormy Daniels, danced at the same strip clubs, and I had even chatted with her multiple times, but for her to cast me as the main actress with lot of lines in her project was a milestone. I packed for set that day with lots of cute wardrobe options and made sure to have a fresh face for hair and makeup application. Hair and makeup, or “glam,” can take anywhere from an hour to two hours, and you want to be a blank canvas so that the artist can do their job.

The makeup artist kept talking about how the stigma of porn stopped her from meeting eligible men. I had heard this sentiment repeated many times by fellow performers and by creatives in the industry. I had even complained about how the misunderstanding of the adult industry wore on me. But at this moment in time, I felt the real issue was internalized misogyny. The hardest part of being in the industry is the way people outside the business perceive you. Trying to actively avoid being the character projected upon me had become tiring.

Immediately upon arrival, Stormy and I got to chatting about the red carpet at the AVN awards a couple months prior. AVN is by far the adult industry’s biggest award show, and it’s considered one a true honor to be nominated. She was complaining that her costar jessica drake was too liberal, and she didn’t want to be photographed next to jessica because she was wearing a faux burned American flag wrapped around her body as a message to President Donald Trump. She had just marched in the Women’s March against corruption of his government and abuse of power regarding immigrants, the rights of sex workers, for black lives matter and the LBGTQ community. He had stated that anyone who burned the American flag should lose their citizenship and be thrown in prison. I agreed with Stormy, because I am a patriotic person myself.

I wouldn’t pose next to someone who would wear a burned fake American flag . . . After all, even if I empathized with jessica, which I secretly did, I certainly wasn’t going to voice a political opinion against my director. Directors have a lot of power.

Porn can often feel like a comedy set. People don’t take them- selves too seriously; they think of themselves as entertainers, which can be fun. The problem is that porn is not a comedy set. It is a sensitive place for some people and certainly a place where performers should be treated with care and respect. Showing up to a film set is not easy. You don’t know exactly what you’re getting into. You don’t know who is going to be there. As Tori Black once said at an intimate dinner, “You want to know either the director or a performer on set.” To know neither can be intimidating, or even dangerous. Luckily for me that day, I knew both.

The conversation got dark when a couple of the crew members started cracking jokes about Stormy being a Harvey Weinstein. Stormy herself admitted that she was physically and verbally flirtatious with a PA or a camera guy who was working for her, and that she tied him to his chair. I laughed because it was uncomfortable, but I also didn’t want to get into a whole explanation of why the power differences and gender inequalities weren’t comparable. I just swept it under the rug like so many other days on set and tried to get ready for my dialogue scene.

I had heard Stormy was a real bully if you forgot the lines. I rarely had a lot of lines. I more often had sex-driven scripts than dialogue-driven scripts, so I was nervous. The movie was filmed over two long days. The adult industry doesn’t have a union like mainstream SAG. Sadly, we as performers are not paid overtime or compensated when we arrive at 8:00 a.m. and leave at 3:00 a.m. any more than if we left at five p.m. We are just expected to show up, be grateful we are working, and not complain about it. It was one of those days.

I had two sex scenes and a few dialogue scenes to get finished within the forty-eight hours. I got to go home and sleep in between. My two separate sex scenes, with two awesome male performers I knew, were scheduled with one on each day. The first scene went swimmingly. I knew my dialogue, and my pretty-girl stills, and box-cover photos were fabulous. I was having a good day. I enjoyed sex with the male talent, Seth Gamble, whom I had previously worked with at least a dozen times and had even flown to Japan with. We were like dancers in a routine that we knew very well. The angles, the shots, the sex; all of it was so warm and familiar. I loved my sparkly pink rhinestoned Skye dress, and my hair and makeup were on point.

I recognized several men on set, who were talking down     to Stormy and joking around with her. I noted how rude their behavior was, but I was just there to get my job done and have some fun, so I tuned out their distasteful banter. Bad language, inappropriate sexual jokes, lots of laughing around the serious matter of Harvey Weinstein were all things I was offended by but sadly not surprised by. Being on set can be unpredictable depending on the crew. Some crews are feminist, some crews are just trying to get the job finished, and some crews are inappropriate. Like a recipe, what you add to the mix matters, and the taste comes out differently depending on the ingredients.

The day wrapped late, around two the next morning, and I headed home to rest up for the following day’s early call time. Wicked sets are known for wrapping late after extremely long days. I felt good about the production and my acting. I was missing an industry event that I had helped plan to shoot this movie, but it was worth it, because I was shooting top-notch content that I was sure to be nominated for during award season.

I woke the next day feeling rested and ready to shoot my last scene in The Set Up. I drove myself to set, casually chatting with my girlfriend on the phone about how exciting the project was, and then went through the process of hair and makeup just as before. I shot whatever dialogue I needed to get out of the way before the sex scene. I posed for the pretty-girl photos and potential box-cover shots and continued with my character, Tasha Reign, just as I had the day before.

Order From Princess To Porn Star: A Real-Life Cinderella Story

My paperwork hadn’t been filled out for that day of filming yet, or for the day before, for that matter, and a production assistant reminded me that it needed to be done. He handed it to me to fill out after I had taken my solo photos for the upcoming sex scene. There are endless photos taken on set. I changed back into the skimpy outfit that was my designated costume for the scene I was about to shoot. Then I propped the paperwork up on a table nearby.

That’s when I was sexually assaulted.

A cameraman I had never met or noticed before came up behind me and said, in the creepiest tone possible, “Oh yeah, baby, mmm, yeah…” while firmly groping my ass from behind. My heart sank. I knew instantly that this was not my costar Michael Vegas.  I had been openly harassed and assaulted at work. Not just on any production set, but on a set run by arguably the most professional company in the adult industries. And it wasn’t someone I knew, but a random crew member. I wasn’t alone, either. I was in a room with open doors near many other people. It wasn’t the sex on set that was an issue in porn, it was the culture.

My stomach immediately hurt, and I felt sickened. I called out the camera guy right there and then, saying, “WTF are you doing? Why did you do that? What is wrong with you?” He wandered off into some corner. People on set wanted to know why I was so angry, but I was about to do my sex scene. I couldn’t cry off all my makeup, report this predator, and then shoot, so instead I got to work. The burden that people place on victims of sex crimes is outrageous — was I supposed to lose my job, too?

I compartmentalized. I gave my all to Michael, to the film, to the scene. I acted, I modeled, and I performed. Then, as soon as the scene ended, I started bawling my eyes out. I couldn’t believe that this had happened, and I wanted answers. Poor Michael looked terrified and confused, worried he had done something to cause my reaction. “Did I do something wrong, Tasha?” I assured him he had not — that he was not the problem. I too would have been perplexed if I just had sex with someone and they were acting the way I was acting.

I looked directly into this cameraman’s eyes and said, “Why did you do that to me? Why did you grab my ass and sexually assault me? Why?”

With Stormy standing right there, he said, “It was a joke.”

I felt like I was living a nightmare. This guy had openly admitted what he did, and no one cared.

I felt like I was living a nightmare. This guy had openly admitted what he did, and no one cared.

Stormy then took me in a bedroom and had a talk with me. “Tasha, he’s so upset — you really hurt his feelings.” I couldn’t believe I was being gaslit by this woman I had looked up to for so long. I explained in depth over and over again what happened and how I felt. She seemed to have empathy. She seemed to be listening. But then I realized there would be no repercussions. Nothing was going to happen to this abuser. Nothing. He got to stay on set. She just wanted to wrap this movie and not lose money by having me walk off.

Being a producer, director, actress, or PA comes with a unique set of challenges. I got that. But this behavior was obscene. Was this going to be ignored? Was Stormy going to report this to Wicked Pictures’ producers? What was going to happen to rectify what had already been done? I felt like my dignity, my pride, and my sense of self-worth had been taken from me.

After calming down and finishing my cry, I got back into hair and makeup and back to work. I was beside myself, but I didn’t want to cost the production money by forcing them to replace me and stalling the movie any longer. I also didn’t want to lose my job. I was the lead. That’s how show business works; you don’t get sick days or sexual violence days. You finish what you start, and so I did. I felt humiliated and used. I felt unseen and unheard. I felt like shit. I emailed Sandra, my agent.

“Hello. So… yesterday on set I was sexually harassed by one of Stormy’s workers. Really fucking unfortunate timing. As I was filling out paperwork, he walked behind me, grabbed my ass, and even made a sexual sound as he pressed behind me. Fucking disgusting. I called him out, and there was a witness as well, although he won’t comment on what happened. I confronted Stormy and him. He set a horrible tone for my shoot. I’m not okay with this behavior, and I don’t want to get lawyers involved. However, I do want to be put in touch with Wicked’s HR or Steve Orenstein, the owner, to notify him. They are a huge company, and there is simply no place for this behavior in my opinion. I want to make sure he’s notified and does something to correct it. Firing this employee isn’t even my intention. Instead—I want them to have all their employees have sexual harassment training. They use the same guys on set, and they shoot regularly, please advise.”

I wasn’t looking for money.  People assume that if you involve a lawyer in a sexual harassment or assault case, you are looking for money. All I wanted—deeply wanted—was for this to stop happening. For other women to be able to wake up and go to set and not fear for their safety. Was this so much to ask for?

Sandra called a meeting with Steve and his contract star jessica drake. He seemed annoyed that I had this issue with his company. “Have you never been groped on set before? What were you wearing? What do you want me to do about it?”  were just some of his dehumanizing questions. At one point in my career, I had met with Steve about possibly becoming one of his contract girls. I had traveled with him to Washington to test out my people skills at a Wicked event. Ironically, Stormy had been there too. I didn’t get the job, but I thought he respected me.

Now, years later, I was sitting in his office telling him I didn’t feel safe at work, at his company. He was pissed. He kept saying that he could try to look into “sensitivity training,” as if being groped at work by a complete stranger made me too sensitive. Jessica was much more progressive. She took notes and listened to what I had to say. She is an exceptionally caring individual, and I feel blessed that the industry has her in it. She regularly does charity work and raises money for disadvantaged groups of people. Steve was unhelpful at best. He just didn’t get it. I left the meeting feeling unresolved.

My father had employed a wonderful attorney for his businesses, who is, ironically, primarily focused on defending the perpetrators (people doing the crimes) of harassment claims and cases. I begged for her to take my case and to represent me in a potential lawsuit against Wicked Pictures. She obliged and called me to talk about the details of the day and what I wanted to be done about it. My vision was to have protocols put in place to protect performers on set. I wanted training videos, paperwork, and education around what was appropriate set behavior. The fact that the adult industry runs businesses without basic safety proto- cols being enforced and with no one holding them accountable is criminal. With the influence of the #MeToo movement, I felt more confident about standing up for myself when bad things happened. I would no longer keep quiet and pretend like everything was okay. Things were not okay, and I wanted everyone to know.

Was this the first time I had been assaulted on an adult film set, or at work, for that matter? No. But it was going to be the last. I had had enough. I had finally awoken to the toxic culture that was engulfing the industry. It was there all along, I just hadn’t had the tools to speak up and do something about it. I had finally heard and seen so many actresses outside of the adult industry use their voices to take action. I had overcome the shame that was being perpetuated, attempting to silence my voice. I had hit rock bottom. I was never going to let this type of behavior slide again. Never.

Months rolled by, and I hadn’t booked a role since the incident. I couldn’t determine if there was a correlation, because work had been slow before and had always ebbed and flowed. But I couldn’t help feeling like maybe directors were scared to book me. Maybe they were scared that I would report them and speak out again. They knew that they were inappropriate, and they didn’t want to get called out for it. I got a call from Sandra, my agent.

“Tasha, can you shoot for Skye Blue for a Penthouse production? It’s a tutorial type of video, a boy-girl scene with Danny Mountain.” I was thrilled. I loved working with Danny, and I loved working for a female director. I thought this would be easy and fun.

As soon as I got out of hair and makeup, I noticed the production assistant looking nervous. I had been in glam for nearly two hours. “Tasha . . . I have some bad news; you’re being asked to leave. The cameraman won’t shoot you. He says it’s a liability.” I was disturbed. Without any compensation, I was being asked to leave. The cameraman who had groped me months prior was on set, and they cared more about pleasing him than letting me keep my job. This was my new world. That night Danny called me to ask if I was okay because everyone had been bad mouthing me all day at work as soon as I left. Speaking about how “crazy” and “ridiculous” I was for “fabricating” a story. My own peers claiming that I had made up the story entirely for money and attention.

The Set Up was nominated for all sorts of awards that year. I was personally nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy Release. How ironic. XBIZ Awards called to ask me if I would present an award at their show, but I declined. It felt like the whole industry was against me. From social media to movie sets, my world had been turned upside down because some asshole had assaulted me at work. On Twitter, other performers were calling me a liar, saying that I made everything up. It hurt.

LOS ANGELES — Wicked Pictures has announced a new sexual harassment training program for all of its U.S.-based production sets.

Beginning immediately, all talent and crew, whether employed by Wicked or for a contractor that plans to sell photographs, video or other product to Wicked, will be required to take a mandatory online training program that Wicked Pictures will pay for, and also sign a code of conduct agreement to ensure the safety and comfort of both performers and crew members alike.

“Since Wicked began in 1993, we have been in the business of creating ethically produced, high-quality adult entertainment, and we owe our longevity in part to every crew member and adult performer who has helped build our brand,” said Wicked Pictures’ owner Steve Orenstein. “We have always cared about the safety and well-being of the performers in our movies—in fact, it’s why we are still one of the few companies that are condom only.”

“As times change, we strive to continue that ethos and want to further ensure that everyone on-set feels respected and comfortable performing within their own personal boundaries,” Orenstein added. “While reinforcing the on-set right of bodily autonomy, our goal is clear communication and respect.”

Reign made a very public accusation in early 2018 of having allegedly been “inappropriately groped and sexually harassed” by a male crew member on a November 2017 Wicked set helmed by then contract director/performer Stormy Daniels.

– Wicked Pictures press release, AVN

All my advocacy work had finally paid off, a big power player in our business had recognized that on set life in the adult industry was not always professional, and they were going to try to prevent another traumatic experience from happening to additional performers. Wicked Pictures is the gold standard in adult entertainment. My hope was that this new protocol and press release would set the tone for what other companies would enforce on set going forward. This was a big deal to me on every level. I was officially an activist. I was an alchemist for change in an industry that so desperately needed it.

Excerpted from From Princess To Porn Star: A Real-Life Cinderella Story by Tasha Reign. US copyright © 2023. Published by Cleis Press, an imprint of Start Midnight, LLC, New Jersey. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.