Riley Reid has revealed that she got a response after sending a DM to a celebrity crush she "wanted to hook up with so bad".
Riley Reid, known off-screen as Ashley Mathews, is one of the most well-known names in adult entertainment.
The star started making adult content in 2010 at the age of 19, and ended up garnering success in the industry, winning over 45 awards, becoming the most-searched performer on P*rnHub in 2017, and remaining in the top 10 to this day.
Today, Reid - who shares a daughter with her husband, Latvian free runner Pasha Petkuns - has stopped making explicit videos with fellow creators and is now one of the highest earners on the subscription platform OnlyFans.
Before settling into family life, Reid had a unique method for flirting with celebrities. Speaking on the Stiff Socks podcast, she revealed that she used Photoshop to get the attention of men she fancied.
“Dillon Francis, I wanted to hook up with him so bad years ago,” she said with a laugh. “So I would photoshop his face on different guys that I was like, in my porn scenes. I would just send it to him and be like ‘thinking about you.’”
While Francis was polite, she added: “We never hung out or anything.”
Reid’s husband has spoken publicly about what it was like coming to terms with her career.
Appearing on the No Jumper podcast, Petkuns admitted he initially questioned whether it was “normal” to date someone with such a high-profile adult past. A friend’s advice changed his perspective: “No matter what you’re gonna do, people [are] gonna tell you you’re stupid.”
“It’s not like my wife has killed anyone,” Petkuns said. He added that Reid had already left mainstream adult work by the time they met.
Aside from two friends who unfollowed him, he said his social circle and family, especially his mother, have been accepting and supportive.
But while Reid has stepped away from the industry, she knows her past will continue to shape how the public views her, especially now that she’s a mom.
She’s already seen her child targeted by cruel comments online. “The amount of people who leave mean comments about my baby is crazy to me,” she said in a TikTok video calling out the trolling. “Grow up. Stop being mean to a baby.”
The former adult star has shared that she's realistic about the long-term impact her career will have on her daughter.
“It’s definitely a real fact that my career will affect my kid at some point in some degree,” she acknowledged. “And it is up to me as a parent to try and coach it in the most appropriate manner possible.”