The Complete Disappearance of Cheri Champagne, Part 1: Podcast 167

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All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. And if they’re any good, the ending is really a beginning.

And this story ends with a phone call. So that’s where we’ll begin.

The phone call was to an actress who once went by the name of Cheri Champagne. Actually, there was a letter before the phone call, but when I received no reply, I picked up the phone. And, well, when Cheri Champagne picked up, she was not happy to hear from me.

That’s not entirely unexpected: most Rialto Report stories begin with a phone call – and that call can be the most stressful part of what we do. After all, what’s the best opener to someone you’ve never met when you call them to ask them about why they had sex onscreen 50 years ago in an era when that was an even more taboo activity than it is today?

The fact is that many former adult performers that I’ve spoken to over the years have told me that no one close to them today knows anything about their porn past. Sure, in this era of social media, a few of the early figures of the sex film industry have opened up about their experiences, and shared memories and exploits with curious fans – but they are a minority. The rest feel very differently – and it’s not difficult to see why. As more than one person has told me: “It’s not that I regret what I did back then: it’s that I regret how people would judge me today if they found out.”

And I get it. It’s not a difficult situation to understand. Many of this lost generation of early porn performers decided long ago to leave those years behind and repress the memories of youthful life choices that could still come back to haunt, hurt, or humiliate them today. And so, it’s not surprising that fans often talk about this or that actor who they say ‘completely disappeared’ after their days as a sex film star.

But in my experience, hardly anyone ‘completely disappears’: rather, they did what you’d expect them to do. They merely stopped appearing in pornographic films, went back to using their real name, started a day job, probably got married, had children and then maybe grandchildren, and have lived a quiet life in the suburbs ever since. As a result, over the last 30 years, I’ve ended up speaking to ex-porn stars who’d become federal judges, chairmen of golf clubs, religious leaders, high school teachers, social workers, and the rest. They’ve had one thing in common: they’re pleased to have ‘completely disappeared’, and they want it to stay that way.

So, when I call them, there’s sometimes a painful shock in their voices. Some don’t answer, others insist that it’s a case of mistaken identity. One person muttered that this was the call she’d been expecting all her life but hoped would never receive – and then she hung up.

Which brings me back to this phone call. To Cheri Champagne. When she answered, I immediately recognized her voice from her accent. I introduced myself and started to explain why I was excited to speak with her. But she interrupted me straight away. “I know who you are,” she said, her tone bristling with fiery anger. “You can stop right there. I know all about The Rialto Report too. After everything that happened to me in my life, why the hell should I talk to you?”

This is Cheri Champagne’s story.

This podcast is 27 minutes long.

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Cheri Champagne

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