Jenna Marie Massoli was born in April 1974 to parents Lawrence Massoli, and NBC affiliate and police officer, and Judith Brooke Hunt Massoli, a Las Vegas showgirl. Following two rapes at 16 that she writes of in her autobiography, she moved in with then boyfriend Jack. She tried to follow her mother's career as a showgirl, but most shows rejected her because she did not have the required height of 5"9'. (she's 5"7') It was Jack who encouraged her to apply for jobs as a stripper, and in 1991 she began dancing while using a fake I.D. Her first stage name was "Jennasis"; she selected the name "Jenna Jameson" to use as a model, choosing Jameson for Jameson Whiskey, which she drinks.
While still in high school, Jameson began taking drugs (cocaine, LSD, meth), and after her boyfriend left her in 1994 a friend sent her to her father to detox in Redding, California weighing a scant 76 pounds. Her father didn't even recognize her. Jameson says she started acting in pornographic films as revenge against Jack for cheating on her, and appeared in her first erotic film in 1993. By 2001, Jameson earned $60,000 for a day and a half of filming a single DVD, and $8,000 per night dancing at strip clubs.
In November of 2004, Jameson was diagnosed with skin cancer. Though surgery successfully removed the cancer, she miscarried shortly after the diagnosis, ultimately tearing apart her marriage to Jay Grdina. Jameson has also appeared in the mainstream media: since November 2005 she has been the host of Playboy TV's Jenna's American Sex Star, in which prospective porn stars compete for a contract with Jameson's company, Club Jenna. In 2002 she appeared in two video games, most notable voicing Candy Suxxx in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Her autobiography, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, was published in 2004 and immediately spent six weeks on the The New York Times Best Seller List.
In 2007, Jameson had her breast implants removed and announced that she would no longer be acting in adult films. As of January 2007, Jameson was reported in talks with producers on turning her autobiography into a movie, with Scarlett Johansson to play Jenna.
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