Do Sunglasses Turn You On?

Tera Patrick and Tony Ward talk sexual exploits and redefining sensuality while modeling Eckhaus Latta’s orgasmic new sunnies.

In an era when sultry selfies have become and even your aunt has an OnlyFans, sex is no longer subversive. Sheer tanks and micromini skirts are the norm in cities like New York, and the days of horny, outrage-inducing editorials are long behind us—but for Eckhaus Latta, sexuality is about subtlety. To celebrate the launch of its latest eyewear collection, the brand enlisted two beloved erotic models to explore the idea of evoking pleasure with one’s face. “We wanted to cast people who were open to sex performance,” Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta told SSENSE, “and Tony Ward and Tera Patrick stood out because they’re veterans in a fashion context that values youth.”

Ward, an actor and an erotic model for queer publications like in the early ’80s, and later, for legendary photographers like Herb Ritts, was a perfect fit. As was Patrick, an award-winning hardcore porn star who now spends her time dabbling in OnlyFans from her home in Italy. Both understand the nuances of sexual performance, and find nostalgia and artistry in the erotica of yesteryear.

How did you start modeling?I watched Bruce LaBruce’s , and you take advantage of your body in ways that a lot of men aren’t comfortable with. How did your early days modeling for erotic magazines affect the other parts of your career?

I was discovered by a very odd history teacher in the parking lot of my college campus, his name was Joe House. I was walking into class one day, and he was eyeballing me and I thought, “OK, weirdo.” He was scouting for a photographer that had a magazine called . It was all beefcake men, like burly bear guys with beards. It was quite in your face, quite erotic, very beautiful imagery. I was very naïve, and this guy said I could be a star. I was like, “What the hell is happening?” That was probably ’82, my first and last year of college. I wasn’t a college type.Well, the Joe House experience was interesting because it started out very vanilla. I’d go there and hang out for an hour or so, and he’d have me stand on this little platform in his living room with no background—just the bookcase and shit—and photograph me. At first, I’d have clothes on and they’d be like, “Take your shirt off and then take your pants off. Can I take pictures with your underwear on?” I didn’t know what was happening. It was a slow introduction, and then it became sexual. I would go there and the guy would blow me or give me a hand job and then throw me 70 bucks. So basically, I was a hustler, and I had no idea. But the early experiences, the weird grooming and sexualization of myself, I don’t look back, and I don’t regret any of it.

I think it’s interesting that queer erotica is no longer subversive in the same way it once was. Everyone’s making their own porn at home. Everyone’s posting sexy photos on Instagram. But we don’t get crazy cinema like . The wildest thing in Hollywood right now is Barry Keoghan licking synthetic cum out of a bathtub.What was it like working with Herb Ritts?Had these photographers seen your earlier erotica?You spoke about shooting with Bruce, and you also shot with Terry Richardson. Both have been accused of misconduct.

I think where it’s all evolved is kind of ugly. I look back at the images from when I was a kid, like when Jim French photographed me for . There’s some romance and some beauty around it. I had boners, but it was almost humorous. I would be wearing a hard hat, dressed like a working guy. I was Native American in one, I was a cowboy in one. Those were iconic homoerotic images. You mentioned —the other day me and my boyfriend watched , one of the early Bruce LaBruce films. It’s very erotic. Now, we get to see pretty graphic stuff in movies and on TV, not full penetration, but stuff that’s kind of slapping you in the face. There’s very little beauty in it. That old feeling of romanticism is missing.Herb was a very sweet person, and we became very close friends. He had an amazing team around him. At that time, everybody was on fucking drugs, and partying, and having a good time. He wasn’t at the highest level at the time, but he was becoming somebody. Him, Bruce Weber, Greg Gorman—there were a whole host of photographers starting to utilize men’s sexuality to sell products, and I was at the forefront of that.Yeah. sold packages of four-by-six photos of me with the magazine, so they were all over. A friend of mine said, “You know, you were famous before you even hit LA. You’re on every gay boy’s refrigerator.”Well, there had to be some fall people. There were a lot of shenanigans that went down in the old days. It was accepted. I was like, “This is just what happens, people grab my ass, grab my dick, put their hands in my pants.” It was all the time back then. That would not fly today at all.

I want to get into your whirlwind romance with Madonna. How did you meet?Oh, my God.You were in Madonna’s “Justify My Love” video. That was a big moment for queer liberation.How does it feel to be modeling now? Are you still passionate about it, or is it just a check?

I had met her a handful of times at Herb Ritts’s studio because they were very close friends. And then she cast me for the “Cherish” video. A couple years later, I was completely fucked up on drugs and Jack Daniels, and I ended up at Herb and Madonna’s birthday party out in Santa Monica with a close friend of mine (who I ended up marrying for dubious reasons). I was stumbling around and I hear: “Tony Ward come here!” It was Madonna. At the time, she thought I was gay and was trying to introduce me to the director of , but I was staring at her tits the whole time. At a certain point, she’s like, “Oh, you’re not gay.” And I’m like, “No shit, dude.” We just clicked. At one point, my future wife Mills came up behind me and grabbed me and started kissing me. Madonna was smoking a cigarette, and she put her cigarette out on my back to get my attention.I still have the scar [].I sat in with her and Lenny Kravitz a couple of times while they were recording “Justify My Love.” She was doing a lot of research into diverse sexualities, and we had loads of conversations around that. All the controversy around “Justify My Love” fueled the fire for her book. We were pretty close for the next three years, but by the time the book came out, our relationship was essentially over. When she went on tour, she was like, “You’re gonna have to move back into your apartment.”You know, it took me 30 years to realize: “Oh, fuck. I have a career.” I love being in front of the camera. Of course, there were times during my career where I was like, “I hate it.” I never liked the politics, or the glam aspect of it. Very early on, I stopped going to parties, and people were like, “You gotta go to these things so you can rub elbows with everyone.” And I’m like, “Fuck that shit.” Maybe that’s a part of my longevity as well. The bullshit just wasn’t interesting to me.

How did you get your start in hardcore?Do you think there’s less artistry in the industry today?You lived through two big technology shifts. When you first started, people were beginning to access porn for free online in a major way. And that was kind of the beginning of the end for studios, in terms of how adult media was monetized and the amount of content that was expected. And now, we’re in the creator era where studios are being replaced by platforms like OnlyFans.

I really wanted to pose for . The first issue I ever saw had Paulina Porizkova on the cover. I thought, “OK, if the supermodels are willing to pose, I am too.” I was 23 years old, and I’d spent a few years in Japan doing some fashion modeling. So I was like, “Wow, this is that but without clothes—I can do this.” I ended up shooting covers for two of the biggest men’s magazines, and , and that was the gateway for me. My very first movie was with Andrew Blake, and that was a really incredible experience. It was artistic and beautiful. I feel like I entered the industry at its peak.When I started shooting hardcore, I can remember champagne and huge rolling racks of beautiful clothes and lingerie, and just hours on set in makeup at these exquisite locations. I chose who I was working with. And we took our time. I shot maybe once or twice a month, if that. Looking back, what was really important to me was knowing what my audience wanted. I use Pornhub [today] to see what’s trending, and it’s interesting to see what people are into. They don’t really care about the creativity that goes into production anymore. And that’s partly why I stopped.Well, what the studios provided was publicity, and the only reason some creators continue to shoot with the studios is because, at the end of the day, when you’re making and creating your own content, you’re funding it yourself. I wanted my own studio to take control early on, because it was a similar business model, in my mind, to being a musician. I said, “Wait a minute, when I’m done with this, who’s going to own all of this work that I created? And how are they going to exploit that?”

How did being an Asian American woman in the industry inform your experience?And now all these “preferences” are mediated through tech platforms, whether it’s OnlyFans or Pornhub.And that’s also a result of the way that content is shot, right? Even if you’re not directly messaging with someone, they feel that they’re in the room with you because of the camera’s POV. And with camming, it’s like having people on demand for your pleasure. It’s nice that it feels like maybe there’s more of a human connection, but some people take that the other way, and it can be dehumanizing as well. How do you create boundaries and manage people’s expectations?

When I first started—and I don’t think much has changed today—there weren’t many other Asian girls around. And so I think that contributed to me rising a bit faster, because I was unique looking. But everything I did was fetishized, and that used to make me uncomfortable. If it’s done in a consensual way then I’m absolutely fine with it, because there’s a clear boundary when it comes to roleplay. But I would get these ridiculous roles where they would want me to wear pigtails or pretend I didn’t speak English, and I was like, “No, no, no, this is not gonna work for me.” I wish women of color received the same amount of attention and praise, and that it was an even playing field. I feel like they always pick one or two of us to be the token girls, and the other girls don’t really get the accolades that they deserve as performers. They have to work harder.Even now with the MILF stuff, I’m just like, “Wow, okay, at 24 you have to be a MILF.” But going back to the studios and the switch to the creator economy, I think fans have more of a connection with stars today. They have so much more access to us. They can DM us, video call us—it's almost overwhelming. These parasocial relationships didn’t exist in porn before. I mean, I would do an appearance at AVN or a big show once a year, and everyone would stand in line, but they would get their photo and move on. Now, the connection that they feel to us is so much stronger.Well, the fantasies were always there, although the means were different. When you’re on a webcam, it’s like you and me right now. They’re sitting there talking to you, and you’re like, “Wow, I can actually really see what he would have been doing while watching a DVD before.” The burnout is so much more intense. During the period of shooting one or two movies a month, I could not have imagined having to do a live webcam and being on set all day and then shooting for OnlyFans.

There’s a star for every person, celebrity isn’t so centered, and that goes for every industry.Surprisingly it’s still rare for brands to collaborate with adult entertainers.Well at the end of the day, you’re an actor—

You can kind of equate it to the supermodels. Everybody knows Linda, Claudia, Christy, and Naomi. I hate to sound like that porn star, but back in the early 2000s there were only a handful of us. Now porn encompasses a much bigger umbrella. We’ve got creators on OnlyFans, even my banker does porn.I will say, I did not expect more than half my life to be in the entertainment industry. It was not the original path I intended to take. Before I did I wanted to be a nurse []. But the industry has brought me pure joy. I’ve traveled to 120 countries. I’ve gotten the opportunity to shoot with incredible people. I’ve been able to do fashion, TV, and voiceover work. And this project I got to do with Eckhaus Latta—when I got the email to do the campaign, I was doing a few appearances in the US and I was about to go back to Italy. I was like, “Nope, I’m gonna go back to LA and do this campaign.” I was so freaking excited. Modeling is my first love, and so I thought it was so cool to me that they asked me to do this, and that they were willing to collaborate. We don’t get that too often, you know?I might be dating myself a little here, but when I first started looking at fashion magazines around ’92 to ’94, was my favorite because it was so avant garde, it was so dark. There was so much emotion in their faces. And when I ask my fans, “What is it about pornography that draws you to it?” A lot of them tell me, “I love the look on a woman’s face.” And that’s why I love the industry so much. I had high hopes of being like a mainstream fashion model, but they had such a specific aesthetic that they were looking for. In the adult industry, we’re all so different, our faces and our expressions are so diverse.People don’t see it that way all the time, though.

That’s because a good actor makes it feel real.