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nterviewing stars can be nerve-wracking, but it’s hard to stay anxious with someone as warm and genuine as Hailey Rose. She showed up to our video call in neutral, flattering makeup and her signature nose studs accentuating her features. All my nerves were quickly put at ease by her friendly openness that shines through despite her self-described introverted nature. We’d never met before, but the conversation quickly felt more like chatting with a friend from a few years back than interviewing a celebrity. We covered all sorts of topics: the girl-next-door’s rise to fame during the pandemic (hint: it involves GameStop), the importance she places on authenticity, tips for newer performers, how her feminist values intersect with her experience in the adult industry, and more.
Where It Started
Hailey was always sexually explorative in college, but she never expected a career in adult entertainment. She studied biology and loved it, but always found herself looking for other kinds of fun on her nights off from studying and schoolwork. Unfortunately, COVID19 reared its head at just the wrong moment.
“The pandemic hit right on my twenty-first birthday,” she laughs, “so that really sucked for me.” Hailey enjoyed lockdown at first: long, cozy days with her best friend hiking and playing video games in their shared apartment. Eventually, though, the itch for human connection and sexual intimacy became too much. “I love sex. I love sexuality. I love engaging in sex with other people [...] so it was getting really hard.” Against her roommate’s wishes, Hailey took the risk of sneaking out of their quarantined apartment to meet a dating-app hookup that quickly changed her life: her now-fiance Max Fills.
Max brought all the passion and excitement Hailey’d been craving during lockdown: their sexual relationship kicked off immediately and romance was close behind. “When we met we were both like: ‘Look, I just want this to be casual, it’s just going to be chill, we’re not going to date seriously.’” Despite all their assurances, they fell in love hard and fast. Just because Hailey and Max were in love didn’t mean they wanted to limit their sex lives, though. One of their big points of compatibility was a shared interest in non-monogamy, something that felt even more urgent as the couple emerged from the lockdown.
Thankfully, Max was fully capable of matching Hailey’s freak and it wasn’t long at all before they were on a Discord server for young swingers and having group sex at parties regularly. Swinging turned into making casual sex tapes. When they both found themselves unemployed, it only seemed logical to sell them for some extra cash on the side while they looked for work. What neither expected was how popular they’d become. Far from a little money on the side, content creation quickly became a major source of income. Now, it’s their whole careers.
Breaking Into the Adult World
How’d the couple get so popular so fast? Well, part of it was thoughtful digital marketing. Hailey and Max got their start on Reddit, where they had a finger on the pulse of the culture. During the GameStop short squeeze of 2021, “GameStop” was trending as a topic of memes and discourse, and Max took notice.
“We lived nearby a GameStop and we had a GameStop shirt so [Max] said ‘let’s do a GameStop flash and post it on Reddit.’” Hailey loved the idea and, despite the difficulty of getting enough privacy in public to pull it off, it was a huge success that gained them lots of attention. “People started calling me GameStop Girl” she laughs, remembering how many of her earliest fans found her through this and other Reddit stunts.
Stunt marketing was useful for gaining traction, but Hailey’s grateful for how her image has evolved in the years since. She’s not just “GameStop Girl,” she’s Hailey. In her own words “bubbly, sweet, sensual” and, of course, a “busty girl.” Hailey likes to think of her brand as an extension or maybe slight exaggeration of who she really is. That authenticity is something she values highly, because it means she gets to have the kind of sex she likes on camera and not have to put on a facade.
“I like to be myself and connect with [my fans] and talk about random science things or anime or my other interests,” she says. And because she’s put so much of herself into her brand: “I don’t have to be like ‘what would Hailey say?’ I’m really building a connection.” Not only does Hailey’s authenticity help her enjoy time with fans and be present in her work, it’s also just easier. It’s worked so well in her career that it’s the main piece of advice she gives to newbies in the industry, to build a brand that feels like yourself.
She explains, “It doesn’t have to be the same thing as yourself, but I think it’s a lot easier to maintain something that comes from a piece of who you are, and I think the image will come off a lot more genuine that way as well.”
Even as Hailey’s expanded her work into studio scenes, working with brands like Brazzers and Elegant Angel has required flexibility and building new skills. But Hailey was up for the challenge and is grateful for what it’s taught her– in fact, she discovered that she loves working with other people. And it doesn’t need to mean sacrificing that authenticity, either. Because companies find her through her self-produced content, any brand that doesn’t mesh with her image is rooted out early. Instead of having to fit the perfect mold for a particular brand, Hailey gets to work with a big team to make a product she’s proud of.
“I have so much fun being able to do that: showcase myself how I like, while also bringing in whatever elements they need,” she adds.
Entering studio work has also meant getting mentorship from more established industry figures, something Hailey’s extremely grateful for. Obviously, it’s easy to guess the first name Hailey drops when talking about her inspiration.
It’s not just Angela, though. Hailey gets inspiration from other performers like Natasha Nice and Kianna Dior, learning from them how to best showcase her assets and following in their footsteps. Through Max’s work as a “stepson” Hailey’s also connected with the group of women she’s most passionate about praising: celebrated MILFs like Cherie DeVille and Reagan Foxx. Plus, performers like these have inspired Hailey to speak up, ask questions, and push herself to learn new skills. From dirty talking to creative group sex positions and even dabblings in femdom, Hailey’s felt the impact of MILF mentorship and she couldn’t be more grateful.
“I think it’s a lot easier to maintain something that comes from a piece of who you are, and I think your image will come off a lot more genuine that way as well.”
The Challenges of Being an Independent Creator
Hailey’s grateful to have a career at this moment, where she’s able to have so much control over her brand and not depend entirely on studio work. Still, being an “adult content creator” rather than a traditional adult star has some unique challenges.
“Being your own boss sounds really cool and awesome in theory until you realize you’re the only one accountable for everything all the time,” she laughs. “I’ve never had an agent. I’ve been doing all my own bookings, I produce all my own content, I run all my own pages.”
That wouldn’t be so bad, but with no clear guidelines or a team to help, a healthy work/life balance can feel like slacking off. “Especially when my career really started blowing up, it felt like a disservice to myself to take time off, you know? So much of being successful on OnlyFans is being practically an influencer: being very well kept up on social media. That can be very draining and take a lot of time.”
Hailey’s best advice to up-and-comers is: “The internet will still be there after you take your week off. There’ll be a new trend to film. There’ll be new things coming up. It’s okay to miss out on a few days when you need to take some time to get back to your own, grounded place.”
Feminism & Adult
Hailey sees adult work as financially freeing and deeply connected to her personal feminist values. “It can be very empowering for women to have a choice in their own financial independence, especially now that OnlyFans is so big,” she says.
Although Hailey acknowledges that sex work can be exploitative at times (and that many people have had negative experiences in the industry), she believes that, at its best, adult work is a “beautiful artistic expression” and that the financial freedom it offers is something “women and anyone in any type of marginalized community really deserve.”
And Hailey has more than cisgender women on her mind. She’s met many trans people through work, including trans men who are often overlooked in these conversations. Before entering porn, Hailey didn’t know many trans people or consider trans issues often. Now, she’s inspired by their work and frustrated to see the discrepancy that can exist in how they’re treated.
“Talking to a lot of my peers and learning how hard many trans women have to fight for their place—I really feel for them.”
The emotion is evident in Hailey’s voice as she continues:
“I really hope we can come together as a community and make progress on a lot of these things. I hope that being able to express ourselves artistically and sexually will lead to more open-mindedness in the world.”
Online Censorship
One frustrating impediment to that expression is censorship. Now, with platforms like Tumblr banning porn outright and credit card companies strong-arming even adult websites into tight restrictions, it’s not so easy– even for creators as relatively vanilla as Hailey.
“The type of sex I want to have [is the] passionate, vanilla, connecting type of sex rather than something orchestrated and complex,” she shares, but, “I’ve always been into golden showers and pee play [and] sometimes it can be really hard to just find somewhere to post it, which is crazy.” It’s not just golden showers, either. All sorts of sexy fun Hailey enjoys is getting slowly pushed out of adult spaces. “I had a company recently tell me that we’re no longer allowed to do any choking.” She holds her own neck lightly to demonstrate. “They can’t even put their hand on my throat. I think choking is really hot [...] so to hear that it’s no longer accepted was very alarming.”
It’s especially frustrating for Hailey because of how safe she feels on set to explore these things. As a younger person she didn’t have the maturity and resources to know how to be kinky safely, but in adult there’s plentiful safeguards and explicit communication about what performers do and don’t enjoy. Being denied something she likes when everyone’s enthusiastically consenting feels wrong. Hailey can’t blame the websites and production companies for the censorship, though. She knows it's because of the political climate these days and restrictions imposed by payment processors. Still, she hopes platforms can find a way to accept payments without stifling creator’s free expression. Even as a relatively vanilla person, Hailey sees the value in kinky sexual diversity.
“I have much love and respect for all my kinky performers,” she says. “I think it’s natural to be interested in kink and taboo, and I think there’s nothing wrong with showcasing that.” Thankfully, Hailey’s heartened by how many likeminded people she knows and the work they’re doing to fight for free expression. “There’s a lot of pushback for that in the community. People do want places to showcase things. The community wants it.
“I think it’s natural to be interested in kink and taboo, and I think there’s nothing wrong with showcasing that.”
Where Adult Work Becomes Rewarding
As difficult and frustrating as some elements of the job can be, Hailey finds it extremely rewarding. One of the most fulfilling aspects of adult work is her relationships with fans.
“I put a lot of my heart and passion into what I create,” she says, and as “pervy” as some people might find it, hearing the impact that work has on fans fills Hailey with pride. “It’s something I can really connect with people over—something special that comes from my heart, which makes it incredibly rewarding.
Some of Hailey’s biggest fans are couples who’ve been inspired by her relationship with Max to explore more together, which feels especially meaningful given how central their partnership is to her work. Working with Max is another contender for the most rewarding aspect of Hailey’s work. He’s “my biggest supporter and my #1 fan and also works hard alongside me. What more could you really ask for?” she says warmly. “I feel like most girls in the industry do not have the opportunity to have someone they can so consistently rely on for support and guidance and love. I’m so honored and grateful that I have somebody who encourages me.” The happy couple have been in the industry together since the very beginning, and they’re both looking forward to their wedding later this year.
Hailey’s approach towards adult work is thoughtful and unique. In a market quickly oversaturated with aspiring creators, Hailey made her place not through empty gimmicks or a fine-tuned niche, but authentic connection. It’s evident in the intimate chemistry she displays onscreen and the warmth she brings to interviews. It’s a pleasure to speak with someone who can seamlessly integrate the personal with performance, and balance a desire for social progress with earnest gratitude for the industry.
