Johnny Tyson: Polyamorous in the Industry

Johnny Tyson: Polyamorous in the Industry

Our interviews here at Fleshbot have shed light on performers with every kind of background imaginable. Just when we think we've heard it all, we meet another fascinating personality with a uniquely fascinating story. Enter newcomer Johnny Tyson. In less than a year Johnny has gone from an unknown muscle boy from the countryside of West Ireland to a rapidly rising star in the European film industry. All this happened after Johnny overcame enormous hardships and went through several personal and professional reinventions. Now preparing for his first studio scenes, this hot new talent shares his amazing story, personality, (and yes body) with the world.

Let's start with a few basics: Stage name? Age? Hometown? Occupation?

I'm Johnny Tyson. I am 31. I grew up in a small village with probably 600 people on the west coast of Ireland. I am currently a full-time Porn Performer, Freelance Designer, and Client Pleaser,  and I work sometimes in events! I do A LOT!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JohnnyTyson (@johnnytyson_official)

How did you create your stage name?

I used to fancy this guy in my gym who I thought his name was Johnny. He looked like a Johnny, big, beefy, and big legs. But after some time I found out his actual name was Will. I just like the name Johnny, cause it sounds hot! I needed to come up with a second name and thought of the name Tyson. It reminds me of a boxer. Tyson Fury or Mike Tyson? I just thought the name Johnny Tyson sounds sexy, right?

What has brought you to the world of Gay Porn?

Sex work is quite normalized in my life thankfully. I have friends who are sex workers and porn performers. Johnny Tyson holds no limits. I am Polyamorous by nature and I work with Gay, Trans, and Queer performers. I am sexually inclusive. For me, it is important to remain open to who I work with, and I don’t want to be defined by the label of a Gay Porn performer. I want to make some changes in a monster of an industry, but I am a risk taker by nature. I have many influences in the industry who challenge ideas around sexualities and genders, and this is what I want to achieve.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JohnnyTyson (@johnnytyson_official)

Could you share with us some of your background and life and career before your new porn career?

I come from a fashion background, but never actually fully worked in the industry. The doors never opened for me in fashion. I never felt understood and I always felt it was a lot of effort to get a job in fashion. It's low pay, being expected to work for free, to work extra hours. That's not an industry I want to be a part of. I have gone in many directions in life, and it's been a blessing that the fashion industry never opened up its doors for me. I went to some great schools, St Martins and The Royal College of Art where I learned the importance of finding your creative voice, creative expression and having a point of view, which is very important in the sex industry. I always believe that whatever you do must give you creative satisfaction. I graduated during the pandemic and worked random jobs, like being a vaccinator, and working in customer service for a media company where I did a Mini Marketing diploma which again I can apply to what I do today! I then went off to work for an Artificial Intelligence start-up up and that was a very steep learning curve. In week two of the job, I was managing global clients, not knowing what our product was. That was FUN! All of these rich experiences have been a huge benefit to me starting in this industry. I learned how to deal with difficult personalities, manage expectations, and turn up on time, and be professional. Again these are all transferable skills I apply to my work today. That job at the start-up lasted four months, which felt like four years! I learned so much, and I am truly grateful for the experience and the failures. I ended up getting pushed out by senior management. At the time it was very painful to lose my job, but I learned to let go, and START DOING PORN! It was the perfect opportunity to take a risk and do something I wanted to do. I do believe that when one door closes another door opens. All the failures in my life have worked out to be blessings.

What was gay culture life in Ireland? How was it growing up there?

Gay Culture? On the west coast of IRELAND? What?! Growing up gay in 90s Ireland was difficult, there was no gay representation in my small village so I had this feeling inside that something must be wrong with me. I grew up in the country side and I was surrounded by fields of cows. This sounds very lovely to you I’m sure, but it was not lovely growing up thinking there is something inherently wrong with you. I was desperate to get to London and go to St Martin. I felt I would find my people there, so I literally ran away from home at the age of 18 and went to London. Little did I know the shame of growing up gay followed me. I found clubs and drugs at the age of 19, and I remember going to this trans club called Stunners. It was fabulous. I took my first line of coke there. I remember I wanted to escape the shame and guilt I carried and get fucked up. Drugs were fun in the beginning, they allowed me to feel comfortable in social situations. I used to go back and forth to Berlin and found the Berghain nightclub. I never forget the first time at age 19 walking up those stairs of Berghain thinking SHE'S ARRIVED! I used to dress up in zebra jackets, fishnets, and heels and dance next to the muscle Marys. I felt like I was being this annoying cock block queen and I loved it. Drugs gave me everything until they took hold of me. I remember moving to Berlin for six months during my placement year at St Martin's and going to Berghain every weekend. I thought when I came back to London I would not take as much drugs. I started to blame Berlin for my drug use, but when I came back to London it got worse. It followed me just like the shame and guilt that followed me from the west coast of Ireland. They call it a "geographical" in recovery. I started using more and more alone, and I didn’t know how I got there. I couldn’t understand how this boy who came from the west coast of Ireland became a junkie. I got sober at the age of 24 and in July I celebrated 7 years sober. I’m blessed I found recovery so young because if I continued on using I wouldn't be here today. The recovery journey has been full of fuck ups, mistakes, joy, pain, job losses, relationship breakups, but also accomplishments, friendships, connections, and JOY. For the first two years, I couldn’t go to a club, and for the first five years, I deleted all social media. I needed time to heal, feel pain, and grow and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Being a porn performer is all about promotion. I can do that now, it took me a long time to return back to social media, I had to learn to separate my self-worth from the amount of followers I have and I’m still learning that. We all have to start somewhere and the only way to start is to just START. That’s the mindset I apply to what I do today. Yes, I haven’t blown up overnight like a balloon and that’s ok. It takes years and years to build a brand and Johnny Tyson is a brand. He has many layers. I can go to a club now and stay there for 12 hours, I am just as intense as I was when I was using drugs. Probably more intense! You will find me in Berghain slut dropping and dancing like a crazy person, and people ask me what are you on? And I’m like RED BULL babes, I also get high off their energy, I’m a vampire!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JohnnyTyson (@johnnytyson_official)

What have been some of the best surprises and hardest challenges you've experienced in the industry so far?

The best surprise has been the support I have received from people in the industry. When I started my Twitter last September I did the annoying thing of reaching out to big performers asking them to retweet my posts! Some retweeted, others got back to me and said they don’t retweet unless they collab, and others sent me kind messages and gave me good pointers. It can feel like a shark tank or mean girls sometimes. But years of fuck ups, failures and pain have given me what you could call a thick skin and an ability to know who I am outside of the industry. Having a close circle of friends who know the real you, I do therapy weekly and still continue to do recovery meetings and I wouldn’t be able to do what I do now if it was not for my support system outside the sex industry. The hardest challenges have been dealing with my own insecurities which I learned to do in my last job in the start-up. I don’t take my anger out on others. I learned to process it and learn that people have different communication styles. I am by nature impatient and some may find me direct. These are elements of my personality that need work.

Tell us a little bit about yourself outside of porn. Interests? Hobbies? Beliefs?

I'm quite private and I can count the number of close friends I have on one hand. I love to party, dance, LOVE TECHNO, I go to galleries and the gym. I love art! It transports me and moves me. I recently went to the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art while visiting in July. I saw some immersive art and it was atmospheric. I could have cried. This is the power of art. I would like to get back to creating art, but for now, porn performance is my creative outlet. The work I did on my Masters in Fashion was autobiographical, it was about Masc and Fem being an emotion rather than used for aesthetic purposes in design. I drew from my own period of dressing up in fem clothes, sequined body suits, zebra jackets, fishnets, and stripper heels. It was all bravado looking back but it was my armour, and it was my protection from the world. I love self-analysis, therapy, recovery meetings, and my sober community, this is what keeps me on the ground. I wouldn't be able to do what I do now if it wasn't for my continued involvement in recovery. My beliefs? That's a good question and somehow I find it difficult and tricky to fully cement my beliefs in this current moment because my beliefs are always changing. I realize that I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else. We all have our own personal lives outside of the sex industry thankfully. I also believe that I will constantly be having to do self-work. I used to think when I started the recovery journey that when I get to 1 year I will be sorted, when I get to 5 years I will be earning lots of money. I now realize at over 7 years sober that there's more work to be done to be able to live a more authentic life.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JohnnyTyson (@johnnytyson_official)

Who is the real Johnny Tyson?

I don't fully know who the real Johnny Tyson is. Johnny Tyson is an extension of my personality. He is a part of who I am and he is always changing and evolving. He is multifaceted and has many layers, but underneath it all he is human.  What I can say is, that the real me, is private, introvertedly extrovert, kind, compassionate, and has so much love to give to the world. I have fear, self-doubt, trauma, and a drive to be a better version of myself. I sometimes make 2 steps forward and 10 steps back, sometimes I have moments when I think “I'm the shit” and other moments I feel like I am a nobody which is the human condition.

Follow everything Johnny Tyson