Crystal Bassette is a wife, mother and pastor. But like many, her life hasn’t always been a reflection of the biblical principles that are her foundation today.
It all started when she first learned she was pregnant at 16. In order to pay bills and support her son, the single mom moved to Hollywood and started stripping in clubs.
An adult film agent connected with her, and said she could be making $30,000 a month. I mean, that’s what some people make in an entire year, working 9-5 at a desk. Crystal was hooked. She thought, “Oh wow. I could do this for one month and be done with it.”
The porn industry is a money machine, bringing in more than $97 billion annually, and funneling more traffic than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined on a monthly basis.
What started as a one month plan turned into a decade in the adult film industry, where she starred in over 100 films. Though she racked up some serious money doing it, Crystal always felt like something was wrong.
“I remember after the first scene, I sat in the shower for about two hours crying,” Crystal said. “Then I stopped after that shoot and didn’t go back for about one month.”
When she returned, Crystal said she relied heavily on pain medication and alcohol to get through her scenes. She bought a big house that she’d never dreamed of being able to own, and pursued her career as an adult actress.
“I just lived for myself and my son and didn’t really think about the consequences of making films and dancing and everything. I started to become an object. I wouldn’t walk outside my house without showing cleavage, having a belly shirt on and high heels. It was like I had to constantly look like the sex symbol.”
She owned a house in Malibu, a nightclub and seven (expensive) cars. She remembers blowing insane amounts of money at the mall on a weekly basis, and looks back now, embarrassed of what she had become.
While she was living the high life in her Malibu home, partying at her nightclub and deciding between which of her seven expensive cars to take for a spin that day, Crystal’s parents were unaware of what she did for a living.
“My dad was a truck driver. He had a break room and there was a magazine there. And it was opened up to his daughter, naked. And that was his introduction of me to the adult industry. So, that was a bad day.”
After a car accident in 2014 that resulted in a DWI, Crystal knew that something needed to change.
She attended her sister’s church where she quickly felt convicted by the Holy Spirit, and made the decision to place her faith and life in Jesus Christ.
“The day I was saved, I felt like the preacher was just speaking to me directly,” she recalls.”It was like he was preaching to only me and you know that day, I felt God was talking to me through his preaching and everything he said felt right.”
It’s a day and moment that Crystal will never forget.
“I got down on my knees and was just praying to God to just release me from everything and my mom was there and my sister came over and were just all crying. And that was the day I got saved.”
Crystal knows that it’s the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ that has transformed every aspect of her life and heart.
“After you get saved, you know what you were doing is wrong, and something you don’t want to do. I haven’t gone back since, and I never will.”
It was in the church where she was saved that Crystal met her husband, David, the pastor. “It was love at first sight.” she says. The two married, and have a son named Carter.
“David is the kind of guy that thinks your past is your past. You can’t keep looking back at it. It’s done with.”
The couple now co-pastor a church that they planted in Fulton, New York. Crystal hopes that their story will inspire others to follow Jesus.
“God can forgive you no matter what past you come from. I hope it encourages everybody else to do the same, to realize that money and fame isn’t what it’s about,” David said.
Though it’s caused a lot of hurt and pain, Crystal wouldn’t trade the life she’s lived for anything, saying, “My past made me who I am today and God has changed my life completely.”
