S4E21: The Benvi Interview

[00:00:04] Welcome to another episode of Demystifying Gay Porn. My name is Ike Grande, and if you watch gay porn, I've definitely helped you get off. And the gentleman I am interviewing today probably has helped you get off already, but if he hasn't and you don't know who he is yet, you will. This is a porn star, content creator, go-go boy, model, right? Benvi, how are you?

[00:00:42] I'm doing well, babe. How are you? Yeah.

[00:01:42] I feel very blessed. I total beach boy, like grew up doing like surfing trips in the summer with my family, you know, the like total California experience for sure. Yeah, it was great. I did move around. It wasn't like just specifically in LA, but like Southern California, LA, Orange County, Riverside.

[00:02:01] When we spoke off air, we talked a little bit. Well, both times actually once in California, once here. Were you out? Were you gay growing up?

[00:02:13] I mean, I came out at the age of 14. Well, yeah, came out to most of my family at the age of 14. My mom, I waited till 15, but... Large family?

[00:02:23] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And my parents are separated. So it was kind of easy to conceal it from her. And my family was very respectful and like didn't tell her without, you know, they let me be the ones to tell her.

[00:02:35] You had mentioned you were on your own since you were 16.

[00:02:39] Yeah, yeah. At the age of 16, I became homeless. There's some issues going on at home. And honestly, looking back, it was probably for the best. I mean, I wouldn't be where I am today without it. You know, I wouldn't be who I am today without it. But yeah, I was homeless at the age of 16 couch surfing, sometimes living in a tent on the streets.

[00:03:03] And like the first couple of years, it wasn't too bad. I mean, I sold coke and weed and my body to get by, you know? I did what I had to. It was a struggle bus.

[00:03:17] And around the age of 18, I picked up some bad habits. And that's when I started living in a tent in an abusive relationship. And yeah, I've come a long way from that, though. I've lived many lives, that's for sure. So it made you a stronger person.

[00:03:39] Oh, definitely. Yeah. You kind of supported yourself. You had to do what you had to do. Yeah. And you had some issues with addiction. You had some issues with stuff. Oh, yeah.

[00:03:51] Without having to delve too deep into that psyche. What was that experience like? What was that like?

[00:04:04] Addiction. That part was rough, you know? It's come into play many times throughout my life. I've had my relapses. I'm not a perfect person, but I'm doing my best. And it's been a while now, thankfully.

[00:04:24] I don't count days. I don't know how long exactly if I start counting days is when I start thinking about it more. And that's when the cravings come in. So I try to avoid all that. It's been a while.

[00:04:36] Addiction was... the beginning was rough. I got into it and then I almost immediately got into this really abusive relationship. I was staying with a friend at the time, but because of this guy, I ended up on the streets living in a tent. No one wanted to be friends with me anymore. My own family didn't even want me around.

[00:04:59] I totally understand. I was a terrible person to be around at that time. I was barely coming out of puberty. No, still pretty much going through puberty. And I was just a very hormonal teenager on top of a heavy meth addiction. Okay, so meth.

[00:05:19] I was trying to avoid getting into that. But yeah, heavy meth addiction on top of an already mentally unstable teenager is rough. My mood swings were terrible. I oftentimes got violent with people.

[00:05:40] Yeah, it's something I've learned from though. Especially I've gone through rehab twice. The first time was only about a month or so. The second time I did the full six months. How long after your initial cleaning, cleansing of yourself from drugs and stuff did you relapse? I'm curious.

[00:06:16] Oh, it was almost immediately after because I was still seeing the guy that I was living in the tent with. I was still seeing him and trying to make things work out with him. Obviously, I wasn't going to get clean if I had him around.

[00:06:33] So it had to be a complete makeover of your life, if anything. Yeah. How long after that do you get into nightlife and go-go dancing? Oh, I mean, there was a good amount of time.

[00:06:53] I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. But did that come first or did the porn come first? Unwrap all that. Okay. So I actually didn't even start go-go dancing until about a year ago. Pride Month last year was my go-go debut.

[00:07:10] And you were like, I can do this.

[00:07:11] Yeah. And then I only started porn a few months before that. So I started porn in February of 2022, literally two days before my 25th birthday. And then, yeah, a couple months later, I started doing the go-go gigs. And I always wanted to do that. Like ever since I was in high school, I always wanted to be a go-go dancer.

[00:07:34] Really? Yeah. Yeah. Because I was pretty in shape in school. I was in swim and I did track. You knew.

[00:07:43] Yeah. And I love to dance. I have a background in dance. I have a background in jazz and hip hop. And eventually, years later, I started taking a couple voguing classes as well. But I'm a dancer and I love to dance. And so I always wanted to be a go-go dancer.

[00:08:04] What's your background? I remember we spoke about it, but I can't remember. Like my ethnic background? Oh, I'm Mexican-Italian. I remember you saying that. I was like, oh, that's a great mix. Definition of spicy white. You speak Spanish? No, not a lick. I am a second generation.

[00:08:25] You got to learn enough to defend yourself. I mean, I know I can understand a lot of it, but like speaking it is difficult for me. And like even oftentimes I'll be like, okay, wait, slow down.

[00:08:39] Yeah. I speak it fluently and I'm always like, slow down. Depending on who you're speaking to. If you're speaking Mexican-Spanish is very different. Cuban-Spanish, very different. There's always different kinds of Spanish. Your father or your mother? My father is Italian. My mom's Mexican.

[00:08:55] Cool. That's a great mix. I love that. Thank you. How did you come across porn? So I have been doing sex work since I became homeless initially, as I mentioned earlier at the age of 16.

[00:09:12] And it was like at first just a method of survival for me. Later on in life, I did go through therapy and everything. And like I found a lot of power and strength in it.

[00:09:26] And then I want to say when I was like 23 years old, I started an OnlyFans page because like the pandemic happened, you know? And like sex work became like in-person sex work became very difficult.

[00:09:41] And then about a year later, I got hit up by Micah Martinez. Shout out Micah. That's my porn daddy. On Twitter asking me if I'd be interested in filming like a studio scene. And he helped book that for me. And my debut was with Blacks on Boys. My scene partner was amazing. He's this beautiful man. His name is JJ Lakes.

[00:10:06] JJ Lakes. Based in Vegas? No, I think he's based in somewhere in Texas. I could be wrong. But the shoot, did you have to? Oh yeah, the shoot was in Vegas. The shoot was in Vegas. Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

[00:10:24] I'm assuming because of your background in sex work, you are a great performer.

[00:10:32] Yeah, no, definitely. And like, I mean, as a kid, I took like acting and like I was with this like acting and modeling agency that like they like had us do like these weekly courses and everything. It was it was a lot of fun. So like acting is like something that I'm comfortable with. Although like at the time of my debut, I hadn't done any acting in like years.

[00:10:55] So, and they just threw me right into it. They're like, okay, we need you to give a two minute dialogue of what's going to happen. It hasn't happened yet. But we need a two minute dialogue talking about the scene at just describing the scene essentially. And two minutes is a lot of time.

[00:11:15] Oh yeah. Especially when you talk like as fast as I do. We had to do like 30 takes of that because they wanted it to be one smooth take. It was difficult, but now I feel like I could do that very comfortably. I love the acting part of porn.

[00:11:33] So you've worked at a lot of studios. Yeah, definitely. You're doing a lot of scene driven stuff. Yeah. What has been one of your most favorite experiences so far?

[00:11:45] Okay, so actually just today I had this Gossip Girl parody video come out with Noir Mail. It didn't come out yet, but the trailer came out. Yeah, and it's called Rumor Guy. That was a lot of fun because my character is like the Blair of the show.

[00:12:07] Yeah, of this. And it was a lot of fun to really play up to that because I'm a huge Gossip Girl fan. So like I like stepped into that real easily. It's a very nice trailer. What you were showing. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

[00:12:23] But what I think people will find when they're watching your stuff, you come off really well on camera. Not just acting, which is cool. That's really good. But your presence is really well on camera. Well, thank you. Thank you so much.

[00:12:38] No problem. It's out there. But the thing is, it's few and far between. That's why when you said you were coming here, I was like, oh shit, I'm going to put some seats together. Let's make this happen. Oh, thank you. You have a good heart.

[00:12:57] Thank you so much. So what else? What can we expect from you? What are you doing? Oh, God, I've got a lot coming up. I've got a lot of studio work coming up. Studios of like Bucket List Studios.

[00:13:11] Okay, who are you at the top two? Can I ask? Men.com and then oh, I can't remember what. I just met somebody that does production assistant for Men.com. Oh, okay. We can talk. Okay. If I could help, yeah.

[00:13:27] That would be awesome. Men.com and what? God, they're overseas. They're in Spain. I think they're in Spain. Tim Tales. Oh, I was just going to ask. So Tim Kruger.

[00:13:42] Yeah. You know, it's funny because like I always mix up Treasure Island Media because it's Tim. The acronym is Tim. Even Treasure Island was like, what's that all about? Tim Tales, right? All right. So when people want to find BenVie, where do they go? Like online?

[00:14:02] Online. Give me everything. Rentmen? No, I am there. No shame. But you can find me on Twitter at BadBoyBenVie or Instagram. Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. It's the same across all platforms. BadBoyBenVie. That's B-A-D-B-O-I-B-E-N-V-I.

[00:14:24] All right, cool. I look forward to seeing more of your work. I look forward to working with you more. Yes, very much the same. Yeah, but next time you come to New York, you have to come and just experience it.

[00:14:35] Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's really difficult when I travel to like actually like get out of the hotel for anything other than work or like food. Yeah, I know. But like I need to like start extending my trips or making prolonged trips or setting aside time.

[00:14:54] Yes. No, you do. You do just for yourself. You need to be able to do that. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Because like I've really only seen like Hell's Kitchen and like a little part of Brooklyn.

[00:15:03] It's adorable, but there's so much more. You need some of the nature that's actually here. Oh, I did go to Central Park for a little bit. Yeah. So you hung out for a bit.

[00:15:13] Yeah. My first time out here, just a couple weeks ago, I went to Central Park because I made a whole like film for OnlyFans. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about it. That is out now. It's going to be pay-per-view because it's a four scene film.

[00:15:27] We got B-roll and everything. Me walking through the city, walking through Times Square, walking through Central Park. Like, yeah, it'll be dope. I can't wait for people to see it. Sweet. All right. Go get some rest. Go do your thing. Thank you, baby.

[00:15:42] Thank you so much. I appreciate this. Thank you. You've been watching Demystifying Gay Porn. I am your host, Ike Grande. Demystifying Gay Porn is available wherever you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube. Demystifying Gay Porn is on X, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram.

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[00:16:15] And I can continue making content like you've just enjoyed. Once again, this is Demystifying Gay Porn. My name is Ike Grande. And if you watch gay porn, I've definitely helped to get off. Cheers.