Maitland Ward Says Porn Career Has People Giving Her 'More Respect'

Maitland Ward says her adult film career has made people treat her with respect more than when she was a Disney star.

In an interview with Fox, Ward reflected on how she transitioned into the adult film industry years after she starred as Rachel McQuire in the '90s TV show Boy Meets World. According to Ward, people in the entertainment industry are more respectful toward her, and she's in talks about turning her memoir into a TV show.

"I really think people treat me with more respect now, honestly, especially even in Hollywood right now," said Ward. "I'm pitching my memoir into a TV format and talking with people. ... And I really feel like I have a lot of positivity around it. I'm able to create my own brand, my own content, the way I want to create it."

She added, "I didn't get anybody coming out hating me for [adult film work] or anything. I really got a lot of positivity overall, which shocked everyone I knew. Everybody thought people were just going to rip me apart, and I was going to be judged and raked across the coals, but I got so much positivity. I think it's because I was so positive about it, and I was so happy about it."

Ward got her start in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful from 1994 to 1996 and later Boy Meets World from 1998 to 2000. She jumped into the adult entertainment industry in 2019 and released her memoir Rated X in 2022, in which she said her porn career changed her life.

"I had new confidence and a full-time job, and it wasn't because I smiled for any higher-ups," she wrote in her memoir. "The validation that I was given, especially after being told that no one would ever pay a dime to see me sexy, was soul-changing."