Story by Terry Shropshire and Curtis Waller
Photos by Michael Melendy for Steed Media Service
The response to Heather Hunter’s name is as reflexive as breathing and blinking. Merely mention her to any red-blooded heterosexual brother, and he immediately begins to dissolve into a state of arrested reasoning. His eyes widen with that familiar bulge, and blood will rush from his brain in torrents. A flood of illicit and carnal thoughts — along with the image of Hunter’s caramel-coated, tight-bodied, bite-size form — will fill his head. His mental projector rewinds back to those days when her porno videos were passed around the college dormitory like a blunt. A stupid, crooked smile is pasted on his face that couldn’t be wiped away with a scratch pad. Yeah, this salacious sexual siren has made a lot of brothers smile over the years, but it’s not because of her witty jokes. Her sexual workout videos, er, movies became the equivalent of ‘sex-for-dummies’ instructional movies. She has ushered millions of pubescent and young adult males blissfully through the awkwardness of puberty into sexual maturity.
We’ll pause here to enable your heartbeat to return to normal … At one time, Hunter was arguably one of the most famous black “actresses” of the modern era — even though no one will admit publicly to having seen any of her movies. Heather Hunter had long since graduated — magna cum laude, we might add — from mere celebrity to transcendent household name. For better or worse, her name has become an adjective for unadulterated, unabashed immersion into sexual expression. But the pornography potentate promulgates she has forever retired from the game that gave her so much fame. “I think people are now coming to terms that there’s more to me than just porn,” she says, “I’m glad people are able to embrace the transition. There’s so much stuff I want to create and show the other talents that I have. Society is definitely coming around, as people say [she laughs].”
Now Hunter is coming out with the most anticipated book from the sexual underworld since Karrine “Superhead” Steffans’ Video Vixen caused seismographic aftershocks within the hiphop nation. You might need to wear protection just to read this book, which Hunter says is filled with intrigue and mystery and promises a plot line thicker than Mo’Nique’s waistline. “It’s really about a woman who can’t get enough [sex],” says Hunter. “She’s searching for a love she can’t find, and throughout that transformation she becomes a porn star, who’s everybody’s desire, but [she’s] still searching for [true] love.” The semiautobiographical novel, centered on a sexually acrobatic woman, Simone Young, is so salacious it practically has condoms hanging off the book. Hunter admits that the debut novel contains aspects of her life.
“I didn’t want to do a kiss-and-tell book, but yet I wanted to tell my story,” says Hunter, who added the book evolved over a decade of life experiences. “It took me 10 years to have the guts to write it, and two years to actually finish it. It was good therapy for me, [writing the book was akin to] a cleansing.” Edited by Michelle Valentine, and being published through St. Martin’s Press, the book is set for a July 2007 release. Hunter says she wants to do a series of books featuring Simone. “I’m still living and I can’t wait to write the next book. A lot of celebrities are in this book,” she goes on to say, “But what I did was I changed around the characters, so, it’s really a guess who book … it takes you through the Hollywood scene. It takes you through the scandal of the adult industry. It’s like an urban Boogie Nights.” “It’s very stimulating, it’s educational, and you can definitely masturbate to it [she laughs]. It’s a very steamy book. It’s intelligent reading I can truly say,” says Hunter. Hunter’s also released her debut rap CD, Heather Hunter: The Unexpected. It is an ode to her favorite old-school hip-hop heads, and features guest appearances from some of the biggest names in the industry, including Wyclef Jean, Scott Storch and DJ Premier.
The first single, “So Serious,” has received rotation on BET and was scheduled for inclusion on MTV. As to what enabled Hunter to finally put pen to paper after wanting to do a book for years, she says, “It was a bad breakup,” that actually got her to start it. “I’d never had heart break in my life, so it was the first time I had ever fallen in love and got my heart broken,” she says. “It was a point and time in my life where I wanted to really cleanse my soul — it was amazing I was even able to finish it … I just decided to put all my energy into it.” Hunter says when her ex-husband found out she was doing a book, he said, “Oh no, she’s doing a book.” But Hunter has no ill feelings about her ex, saying, “He’s a good man, he just wasn’t for me.”
Hunter says she’s going to hit the national circuit to promote Insatiable, making planned stops in the usual suspect cities: New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, as well as stores overseas. “I’m going to do erotic book stores too,” Hunter laughs.
Hunter has had a sex toy out for years and is about to release an entire line of products. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” says Hunter, who’s creating her own line of lingerie, perfume and stiletto shoes, all anticipated to hit the market in 2008. A woman known for revealing her body, Hunter was not shy about showing her tatoos. One on each arm, she talked about the significance of both. “I have a sun on my left arm. My mother calls me Sunny, so I got a sun put on me. I have a heart on my sleeve [her right arm] because I wear my heart on my sleeve … I give a lot of unconditional love,” Hunter professes. When asked if she’ll get more, “I want another one,” she says, “but I don’t know where I’m going to put it, I’m so tiny [she laughs].” As to her favorite food, “I love Mexican, Jamaican and Soul Food,” but she loves to cook Italian. “I like a lot of pasta.”
A Renaissance woman, Hunter is also a talented artist. She says she is pleased with life after being in the limelight of the adult entertainment business. “The art gallery is doing really well,” says Hunter, where she displays and sells her work, in addition to that of artists Voodoo Fe, Guy Stanley Philoche and JO. “It’s in DUMBO, its called Art-Core NYC,” she shares. “ ‘DUMBO’ is an acronym for ‘Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass,’ a section of Brooklyn, where Jacques Torres also has a chocolate factory. I do Pop exotic art, acrylic on canvas.” Hunter has even sold some of her works. “I actually sold my painting of the Brooklyn Bridge for eight grand, so prices for pieces range from a thousand to eight [thousand]. I did a picture of the Statue of Liberty,” she says. Other works by Hunter include: South Beach Souls; Flames of a Star; Twist of Life; Swingers of the Night; and Temptation. One piece entitled, Eve, looks like a self-portrait. Fans and art enthusiasts can go to her Web site at artcore-nyc.com to see the complete collection of art available. “I think people are just now coming to terms that there’s more to me than just porn.” Hunter feels obligated to encourage safe sex, and says, “We live in a day and age where we’re always expressing our sexuality so much more. Even though we’re having our fun in the sun, just protect yourself; I always have to express that.”
