I ditched my job as a priest to become a porn star at 83

An 83-year-old pastor traded in his role preaching to a congregation to take up a new role as a pornographic film star, and now he says sex can actually help bring people closer to god.

The career swap took place five years ago, and the former priest from North Carolina believes sex should be treated as a joyous part of spiritual life.

Retired pastor Norm Self spent most of his life serving his Christian faith in the church, but in his 80s he decided it was time to call it quits.

Earlier in life, he had been married to a woman for nearly 30 years, but eventually realized he was gay. 

It took him another 20 years to come out publicly and express his sexuality through adult films.

He made his movie debut in 2017, according to a 2019 documentary on Channel 5.

“It’s almost like having a party, that’s one of the things I admire about this way of doing porn,” Self told the station.

From his perspective, sex should be freeing.

“We are going to have sex anyway so why not make it a liberating and bonding experience instead of hiding it away in the shadows?” he said.

So far, he’s done his on-camera work free of charge. 

In a previous interview, he told the Huffington Post the experience has been “delightful.”

“I find these days that my body is indeed a temple where intimacy and ecstasy intermingle,” he told the outlet.

Self has said he plans to keep starring in erotic films until society removes “sex-negative norms” from its vocabulary. 

He would like the negative views to be replaced with a message that says people have the right to enjoy “erotic joy.”

“We who have experienced that owe it to our sisters and brothers to share that good news with all who will hear it!” he said in the Huffington Post interview.

He does have one bone to pick with his new career path, Self says he’s not a big fan of the word porn. 

But as he embraces being able to finally live outside of a suppressive environment where “everything outside conventional norms…is labeled ‘porn’”, he says he is happy to embrace the porn star title.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission.