Former adult film star/Penthouse Pet [2004] Jenna Jameson talks to The Inside Reel about her ascension, meeting and working with Bob Guccione, finding equal approach on business and pushing boundaries in regards to the new A&E limited documentary series "Secrets Of Penthouse" detailing the rise and fall of publisher/magnate Bob Guccione.
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 - He was the emperor in his own kingdom
00:15 who could do no wrong.
00:16 That was his downfall.
00:18 - Secrets of Penthouse, two night event,
00:20 premieres Labor Day at nine, only on A&E.
00:23 - Watching this documentary is so fascinating
00:26 because you were on cusp,
00:27 especially in the early 2000s
00:29 with Club John with everything.
00:31 So you saw all this happen.
00:33 But the one thing I first wanted to ask you
00:35 was about your first impression of Penthouse.
00:38 We hear a little bit about it in the documentary,
00:41 but even from your earliest modeling,
00:43 it was about getting to the pages of Penthouse.
00:45 Can you talk about that
00:46 and that sort of drive, that ambition?
00:49 - Yes, I remember being very young
00:53 and sneaking into my dad's closet
00:56 and finding his penthouses.
00:58 And he also had other magazines.
01:00 And I just remember being very focused on Penthouse,
01:04 not just because the pictures were beautiful,
01:08 but because Bob Guglione was able to kind of focus
01:13 on a woman's intelligence also,
01:16 which I really loved that.
01:18 And I would read Penthouse Forum.
01:21 I loved all the stories.
01:24 It kind of formed the mind of Jenna Jameson.
01:29 - Penthouse, the most successful magazine
01:31 in the history of publishing.
01:32 The dirtiest magazine in America.
01:34 And one of the richest men in the world.
01:36 - There was so much money.
01:38 - But Bob Guglione died penniless.
01:41 What the hell happened?
01:42 - My father was manipulative.
01:46 - He was a serial predator.
01:48 - The dark, satanic prince of sex.
01:51 - I can't photograph a girl that doesn't excite me.
01:53 Same shot again, right?
01:54 - He was 50, we were teenagers in '18, '19.
01:58 - 'Cause you interacted with Guglione.
02:00 You saw, you say in the documentary,
02:02 like you saw the power in these women come forth.
02:05 Could you sort of talk about that?
02:07 'Cause it was, yeah, and you got to interact with Bob.
02:09 Could you talk about your first impression
02:12 reading the forums and doing all that
02:13 versus meeting him when you first started
02:16 doing the shoots with him?
02:18 - Right.
02:19 Well, I remember I was submitted to be a Penthouse pet
02:23 and I was initially turned down
02:25 because Bob thought that I looked too young
02:28 and I refocused myself and became an adult star.
02:33 And he came back to me and was like,
02:36 "Jenna, listen, we want you as a centerfold
02:38 "and we want you on the cover."
02:40 And I remember talking to him and wanting,
02:43 and saying, "Listen, I don't just want beautiful pictures.
02:47 "I want you to show what I am as a person."
02:52 So he was very open to me putting my thought process
02:57 into the layout and really talked about
03:01 who I am as a person.
03:02 And on that level, I respected him
03:06 because it wasn't just about surface things.
03:09 It was also about what was in here.
03:11 So Bob had a very artistic mind and he was quirky.
03:19 And I really liked him as a person.
03:23 He was very respectful of me and understood
03:27 that this was a business to me.
03:30 So he was just very kind to me.
03:33 So I have fond memories of him.
03:36 - Hi, I'm Jenna Jamison.
03:39 I'm just the girl next door that has a really filthy mind
03:43 and I'm famous for it.
03:44 Even at a young age, I would sneak into my dad's room
03:48 and steal his dirty magazines, namely "Penthouse."
03:53 And I just remember thinking to myself, "Wow."
03:57 - But you also had coming into that,
03:59 you already had the experience.
04:00 You had been in the adult film industry for a while.
04:02 So you came in almost on equal footing
04:05 because you know everything.
04:06 And he didn't know so much about the way
04:09 it was transforming, the way the business
04:11 of the adult industry was transforming.
04:13 Could you talk about that?
04:14 Because you had sort of a leg up looking at that
04:16 and that sort of integrated into making the bid initially,
04:20 I would take it for "Penthouse."
04:22 - Right, when I got into the adult industry,
04:26 I looked at it as a business.
04:28 And it wasn't just about becoming a superstar.
04:31 It was about changing things in the adult industry,
04:34 not only for myself, but for company owners
04:37 and for the women coming in.
04:39 I wanted them to see themselves as assets
04:42 and how important that is.
04:44 And I think that Bob was a little bit late to that.
04:48 So when he saw me like really putting my roots down
04:52 and taking care of things and changing things,
04:55 he was like, "Ooh, I got to jump on board."
04:57 So when Bob and I really came in contact,
05:02 we saw eye to eye, we were on level playing fields.
05:05 Now, if I would have done this when I, you know,
05:09 talked to him face to face when I was 18 years old,
05:12 I doubt it would have gone that way.
05:14 So the universe worked in my favor
05:18 because I think a lot of girls that jumped into "Penthouse"
05:22 really didn't know what they were getting into
05:24 in the beginning.
05:26 - To me, it looked like power.
05:29 It didn't look like someone being sexually exploited.
05:34 I thought, wow, these women are extremely beautiful
05:38 and they own their body.
05:41 And I just, I wanted to be them or be with them.
05:46 So it was a little confusing.
05:48 - Thing that I remember you saying is that,
05:50 'cause he was always about pushing the limits,
05:52 about pushing it harder, harder, harder,
05:53 'cause that's what the public wanted.
05:57 Could you talk about it?
05:57 'Cause you guys kept pushing that.
05:59 Was it just sort of, he's like,
06:00 "I think we should do this."
06:01 And you're like, "Okay, this makes sense."
06:03 'Cause it seemed like you were really impressed
06:05 by that tendency of him
06:07 to sort of push the boundaries of it.
06:09 - Well, I loved his vision.
06:11 Bob had a very artistic push to everything he did.
06:16 It never felt dirty or contrived to me.
06:21 He really thought these things were beautiful.
06:26 And in turn, I felt they were beautiful.
06:28 He was able to like capture things
06:33 that in a sense are really dirty
06:38 and make them so sexy and so artsy.
06:42 And I really had a lot of respect for that.
06:44 So I wanted to be a part of that.
06:47 I wanted to be one of the girls
06:49 that people look back on the centerfold,
06:52 whoa, this is when it all started changing for the industry.
06:57 I remember doing some of these poses
07:00 and there was penetration,
07:02 which is like unheard of for so long.
07:04 And I remember thinking like,
07:06 I'm gonna be one of the first girls
07:08 that seem like this.
07:11 And I loved that idea.
07:12 So, and he loved it, I loved that idea.
07:15 So I had a lot of respect for that man.
07:18 (upbeat music)
07:19 - He had this power and control.
07:22 - You put the girls on birth control pills.
07:25 - He wanted us in an orgy.
07:26 - How he abused me is against the law.
07:29 - All that money disappeared.
07:31 - He wrecked it.
07:32 - Even family members will try to usurp you.
07:36 (upbeat music)
07:38 (upbeat music)
07:42 (upbeat music)
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