Former Porn Star Finds God: Jesus Didn’t Give Up ‘On Such a Wretched Sinner’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Bree Solstad is without a doubt a child of God, but before she came to know the Lord, she worked as a pornography performer.
In a new interview with CBN News, Solstad explained what her life was like before her relationship with God took off: “I cared for my loved ones, and every now and then I would speak to God — mainly if I needed something. It was that one-way kind of relationship.”
Before entering the porn industry, Solstad was “working at dead-end jobs, and nothing really meant that much to me. And I was at a place that was pretty much perfect for a woman who reached out and suggested that I would be really good at what she was doing, which was pornography.”
She told the National Catholic Register that the woman “essentially recruited” her.
“She showed me how to get set up and introduced me to some important people in the industry who could help me make as much money as possible. I had no moral compass and was all about myself anyway,” Solstad said.
“There also wasn’t anyone within my life…who told me, ‘Don’t do this,'” she explained. “There were friends who left because of it, but that just made me even more, like, righteous of ‘How dare you judge me.’”
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After 10 years in the industry, Solstad took a look at her life and felt she was ready for more. But what was the “more” she was looking for?
“What am I going to write on my résumé that I’ve been doing for the last 10 years?” she said. “Psychologically, also, it weighs on you, because maybe you even start to think that you can’t do anything other than this because you’ve been doing this for so long — and maybe even you’re not worth any more than this.”
“I remember actually falling down on my knees, praying to God so hard that my knuckles turned white,” she explained. “‘Please, please don’t let this happen. Please, please make this OK. Make it all better. Reverse time. Please, please don’t let this happen.'”
“But…He let it happen, and I was really, really mad at God for a long time,” she continued.
Solstad had a hard time getting past her anger and bitterness toward God until she took a trip to Italy last year.
“Something started to change in me within these old churches and basilicas,” she said.
It was the specific artwork of Jesus on the cross that caught her eye.
“I started appreciating the artwork. It wasn’t just for its beauty, but…I started to think about the theology behind it and the roles that different people play,” she explained. “I’m still producing pornography at this point, and, so, I remember hearing one homily where they were talking about the evils of pornography. And I just kind of…wanted to sink into the pew. Like, it was awkward…But I started really also examining my own life.”
In that pew, she got a revelation from God.
“God doesn’t want me producing pornography,” she remembered. “That was a little scary, but I knew that I wanted change,” Solstad said. “I knew that I wanted more God and less yuck.”
In January of this year, she announced her conversion to Catholicism on X.
“I am leaving behind my life of rampant sin, vice, pride, debauchery, vanity and lies to — with God’s grace — live a life of truth, beauty, obedience to God’s divine will, virtue and humility,” Solstad posted. “Thank you, Jesus, for not giving up on such a wretched sinner.”
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