Bold & Beautiful Alum Maitland Ward: ‘Soaps Are So Much Like the [Porn] Industry’ — But Not For the Reasons You Think

Plus, how her co-stars made her “the envy of the high school girls.” 

Believe it or not, Maitland Ward — whom daytimers will remember for her stint as Eric Forrester’s Bold & Beautiful niece, Jessica — says that soaps aren’t really all that different from the adult film industry in which she currently works.

On Bold & Beautiful, Ward’s good girl Jessica fell for stripper Dylan… who also got involved with her mom!

Credit: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

“The adult industry is not like what you’ve traditionally seen in shows or the movies,” she said during a recent chat with Soaps.com. “It’s better! I always say that being a performer in porn is a lot like when I did soaps. It’s a close-knit group of people who are often looked down upon by mainstream, even though both have legions of fans.”

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And Ward says that those fans have stayed loyal, following Ward’s career from soaps to Boy Meets World (where she played Rachel) to… well, her more current projects. Modern adult films, she says, have “wonderfully rich and bold personalities and gorgeous people,” just like soaps. “At the end of the day, porn is a business, much like any entertainment type of business, except the sex is really happening on screen.”

“I’m still the goofball I was,” says Ward, “but maybe now I’m a little sexier about it.”

Credit: Courtesy Deeper

The actress is the first to admit that her career trajectory wasn’t exactly typical. “I don’t think anything about my experience is typical,” she laughs. “In fact, no one has ever really had an experience like this.”

Which is why it makes sense that she’s been approached to both appear in and produce The Big Time, a new sitcom set in the adult entertainment biz. “I was hesitant at first,” she says, “thinking it might be that stereotypical thing. But when I read it, I was overjoyed with how positive and funny it is.”

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The project, in which she plays a porn star trying to help save a film studio, has in some ways been like a homecoming. “Doing comedy again is so much fun,” she says, “like stepping into old shoes but with a twist. I can marry the worlds of not only mainstream but also adult and comedy.”

As for her Bold & Beautiful past, Ward says she still keeps in touch with many of her former co-stars. “One of my best friends in the world is Brent Jasmer (ex-Sly), and I still keep up with Ronn [Moss, ex-Ridge] and Jeff Trachta (ex-Thorne). Now and again, I see John McCook (Eric).”

One thing Ward loved about her soap experience? “I was able to do it all while attending high school,” she reflects. “I remember being the envy of the high school girls when Brent and Dylan Neal (ex-Dylan) showed up at my school play. Really, those were all irreplaceable memories.”

And yes, if asked, she would gladly slip back into the world of soaps. “I love the environment and playing an ongoing character,” she says. If she could change one thing? “I think I’d play a wilder character this time around! Maybe a sultry villainess… that would be a lot of fun!”

As we contemplate the idea of Ward returning to crank up the heat in daytime, why not peruse this photo gallery in which we look at some of the rather unconventional places that characters from The Young and the Restless have had sex in recent years. It must be getting hot in here, ’cause they’re taking off all their clothes!