Nikki Tyler

Q: How long have you been dancing?

Nikki: Five years in December and...I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. But I love it and it's fun. It gets tiring, because we're in hotel rooms all the time--and lonely. I have a little...wiener dog, named Elmo that travels with me. ...I sneak him in the hotels with me. And he goes and he raids the girls' lockers and bags and steals their panties and I always tell them, "Watch your panties, cause they will be gone." And they [(the panties)] come back and the whole crotch is gone...!

Q: What would you say is your favorite thing about dancing?

Nikki: Oh, gosh...I've always loved being on stage, since I was a little, little girl. And I think that's what drew me to this industry.... I had started out just doing magazines when I was in college...Had never been in a strip club. My father's a dentist. [I] came from a really well-off family and this was not what we would normally consider a career opportunity.

Q: So how did it happen?

Nikki: I had a little dog who got sick.... I didn't want to ask my parents for any more money because they had paid for my car and I had credit cards, and they had paid for me to go to school and I was totally taken care of. And I was like, they're gonna die when I tell them that I need 1500 bucks, like now. Cause she was on I.V.s and I was just not gonna let this little dog go, and I answered this ad that said, "Bikini, nude and lingerie modeling. ...It was in the UC Santa Barbara paper. And I was like, I will NEVER take my top off! ...This is my theory on that : I think a lot of it is, I just didn't think I was pretty enough. And I think a lot of the jealousy that goes on in this industry and women not liking women in this industry, is that they're jealous that they're not desired that way, even though they could be. ...Our society is so screwed up with the whole body-image thing, women don't know what looks good...
One thing lead to another and I went down to LA and the...[photographer] said, "You're beautiful!" and that was what I wanted to hear, and off came the top! I just did single girl and girl/girl layouts....
I was in Marin County, that was where I went to high school, then I went to [UC] Santa Barbara, decided no, I don't want to spend four years here, and so then I came down to LA [was looking at the clinical psych program at Northridge and], did the whole modeling stuff and then met this guy, buying my first magazines ever and married him. A guy from the newsstand.

Q: You did not! Tell me.

Nikki: We're divorced now. It didn't last very long. ...I couldn't get the balls up to go to the...[newsstand].... I was like, really uncomfortable with this. And I sat in my car, going, "If you can pose in 'em, you can buy 'em..." and I saw this old man working, and I thought, Okay, I'll go over there now, and around the corner comes this cute, young guy and he goes, "What's a cute girl like you doing in a men's magazine? ...He had worked there.... We ended up getting married. I was young. I had just turned 21....

Q: How long after you met him did you get married?

Nikki: Exactly a year. ...We were young, but it was interesting. That was how the whole relationship with Jenna and I came in, cause she lived with me and my ex-husband--IF you know what I mean!

Q: Tell us!

Nikki: ...The three of us had a lot of fun for a couple years. She started doing movies and I was doing makeup for Vivid. ...I was their makeup girl for a year.... I just never even thought of myself as a Vivid girl.... I was like, "Can I do a movie, but just with a girl?" And Steven Hirsch came back and said, "If you do guys, we'll give you a contract. Name your price...."

Q: Were you still married at the time?

Nikki: I was with my husband, but things were starting to go downhill. I was kinda like, Oh man, I married this newsstand worker, he doesn't have anything going for him....

Q: Except you and Jenna.

Nikki: Yeah, I think he's the only man in the world who's ever had both of us at the same time....

Q: And you would say that your relationship with Jenna fared better through this [ménage a trois] than your relationship with him?

Nikki: Oh, definitely....

Q: Why do you think it was easier on the girl/girl relationship than the marriage?

Nikki: Because it was just different. I think I had an issue with him not having an issue with me being with another guy. ...I think he did [have an issue with it,] but he hid it. So it brought a lot of tension in the marriage. ...[And then there was the,] "Why can't--in the movies you do all these crazy positions." I was like, "That's for the camera, I don't really wanna do all these positions."

Q: Maybe there was more mutual respect between you and Jenna?

Nikki: Yeah and we were always more of a cuddly bunch...even when we go on the road...we in the same bed.

Q: Does that mean you're lovers?

Nikki: Basically. She'll always be my number one girl.

Q: That's nice! Do you prefer acting with men or with women?

Nikki: ...I like being with a man and a woman at the same time...because it's the best of both worlds. I would definitely say that I'm bisexual, but I definitely need a man.... Gotta have a dick....

Q: Do you have any problem watching yourself on film?

Nikki: I used to watch all my movies.... I really wanted it to be good for the viewer. There's a lot of girls that just wanna go in there and get off. ...It's not about you getting off, it's about him [(the viewer)] getting off. So let's do something to make HIM get off. It's kind of hard to put yourself in that realm. Otherwise there's no connection with the fan and you, which I think is really important.

Q: That's a pretty un-self-absorbed perspective. Who are your favorite performers to work with?

Nikki: Rocco Siffredi, Bobby Vitale. ...Chicks? Oh, Janine. And I really would really love to Tera Patrick, but she's supposedly got this thing that she's not into women, but I don't believe her.... I think she's just terrified.

Q: She just told me again [she wasn't into chicks]. Did you retire and come back?

Nikki: No, I never left the business.... I finished with Vivid with "Bobby Sox"...in 96. "Bobby Sox" won Film of the Year ...I knew there was really nowhere else I could go with Vivid, cause they have so many girls. ...So I went onto Metro and that was great because the one film that I did ["Carnal Knowledge"]...was nominated for a lot of awards....

Q: Tell me...about your plans for virtual sex, girl/girl with Digital [Playground].

Nikki: ...There aren't any [girl/girl virtual sex tapes] really out. I love women. I really love doing women on camera.... I love Alisha Klass...she actually kind of terrifies me. ...She's the anal queen-like, she can fist herself. ...I'm afraid she's gonna try to fist me or something. So I'm thinking I'd rather do Tera Patrick cause she's scared and I can be the dominant one....

Q: When is that gonna happen?

Nikki: We're probably gonna shoot it this month-next month. I don't know when it'll be released.

Q: Tell me about your website and the last film that you've done.

Nikki: "Hell on Heels" with Jenna Jameson for Wicked Pictures. ...It was an all-girl film and it was very, very fetishy...and pretty out there and pretty phenomenal. ...I think it was one of Jenna's last two [with Wicked]. So I'm working on my website. ...It's up. ...I have a lot of intentions and a lot of help now.... I have a lot of footage of me dancing...and a lot of behind the scenes stuff.