Porn Kingpin Michael Lucas Doesn't Seem Very Excited About Porn Anymore
Porn Kingpin Michael Lucas Doesn't Seem Very Excited About Porn Anymore
The controversial entrepreneur talks about advising young gays against the adult biz, why he loves the U.S.,and learning to relax after working hard to get himself and his family out Soviet Russia.
It’s midsummer, Caftan readers! I hope yours is going well. As I write this, I am recuperating from sunstroke from a day trip to Rockaway Beach on Friday, one of the hottest days of the year. And I am also shamelessly flacking my new novel, Speech Team, which came out from Viking on July 25.
It’s the tale of four nerdy/queer friends from high school in 1980s Massachusetts who (awkwardly) reunite 25 years later to track down and confront the (now retired) teacher/speech-team coach who at once mentored them and said awful things to them. Would you please consider buying it? (Because if this one bombs, I don’t know if I’ll get a second chance from the publishing world.) And if you read and like it, would you be so kind as to tell people about it via social media or good old-fashioned word of mouth, and/or write a few kind words about it on Goodreads? Thank you!
So here is the August Caftan interview: with the gay porn entrepreneur Michael Lucas, who was born Andrei Treivas into a Jewish family in Soviet Moscow in 1972.
(That’s right, he’s another Caftan interviewee who’s a bit younger than the norm.) I’ll be honest: I wanted to interview Michael because, of the roughly two dozen interviews I’ve done since I started The Caftan Chronicles in August 2021, last summer’s interview with ‘90s-’00s porn legend Tom Chase has gotten ten times the reads of literally every single other interview I’ve done. I took that to mean that there’s an interest out there in hearing about porn lives and, hey, I love porn, so why not?
Michael was a very low-key and affable interview. I wondered if things would get out of control should the conversation turn political, because Michael is rather notoriously outspoken about politics, especially regarding Islam and Israel…
…and he and I do not share the same views on many thing. I feared the interview might go off the rails, but that really didn’t happen. Also, I didn’t want the entire interview to be about Israel and Palestine because, though I oppose Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, I don’t exactly know every current detail about it, which—let’s be honest—puts one at a disadvantage when debating someone who has an obsessive knowledge of the situation.
And anyway, I wanted to talk to Michael primarily about his relationship to his porn career and also his own inner journey, which is really what I’m trying to get to with every Caftan interview. I suppose some folks out there might ask, “How could you even give someone like Michael Lucas a platform?”, but I never made some promise that I was going to interview only people who share my politics. Also, Michael has a take on America that I’ve heard from many other immigrant friends, which is that it’s a land of remarkable freedom and open-mindedness compared to many other places. I think that’s valuable for those of us who’ve only ever known life in the U.S. to keep in mind. Why? Because so many things are just plain wrong about this country, perhaps now more than ever, that it’s important to get a perspective check—if only not to completely lose one’s mind living here.
So here is the interview! I hope you enjoy it, and whether you’re a paid subscriber (thank you!) or not (please consider becoming one?), I’m grateful for your support! xTim
Tim: Michael, thank you so much for agreeing to chat. So, you are at your house on Fire Island right now, yes?
Michael: Yes, in the Pines. I bought it last June and renovated it over the winter, making it a four-season house and adding bedrooms so now I have five—three I rent out, one I keep for friends, and one for me.
I also have a place in the city, on the Upper West Side. But out here, I usually get up around 6am and go in the pool. I don't like the sun and have always been careful to protect myself from it. "You probably do Botox and all of that," people say to me, and I say, "No, I've just stayed away from the sun since I was 25 and I've never touched drugs or drunk alcohol in my life." So that's the only reason I probably look as good as I do.
Tim: You've never done Botox? I'll admit I've done it twice but can't say I was really thrilled with the results so I may not do it again.
Michael: I tried it many years ago and didn't like the result, when your forehead is shiny and not moving.
Tim: Okay, so tell me more about your house.
Michael: It's very beach, very summer, lots of floor-to-ceiling glass, very spacious. I have a very beautiful garden of plants and herbs. I like to look outside and see all green. I think the house is about 50 years old. It was in good condition when I bought it but I put in even more glass panels. It's in the middle of the Pines, but closer to the bay than the ocean.
Tim: What's a typical day like?
Michael: I wake up around 6am and read the news—The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, which are very opposite to each other, which I like. I have a very good coffee machine that grinds the beans, so sometimes I'll make a cappuccino instead of regular coffee, but always with real milk—I'm not a person who would have soy or almond milk. I also have a house in Puerto Vallarta…
…so I bring coffee beans from there. That house, which is called Casa Lucas, was in very bad condition. I renovated it for more than a year and then built a penthouse on top where I live, and I rent the six apartments below. For many years now, I've been much more interested in hospitality than porn.
Tim: We will have to talk about that. But go on with your typical day...
Michael: Then I usually work in my garden, then I work out around one p.m. I have a trainer from Serbia whom I trained with in Puerto Vallarta and I do a virtual workout with him every day. He's the best trainer I've ever had, very tough, and he's here to train you, not shrink your head. I do weights. I even built a gym in my Fire Island house with all the professional machines. I work out for one hour six days a week, every session with my trainer.
Tim: Do you play music when you work out?
Michael: No. I hate background music in general. All my boyfriends have complained about that, but thankfully my current boyfriend also doesn't like background music. I always choose restaurants with no background music. There are less and less of those. They're trying to make you not relax so they can boom-boom-boom turn over the tables.
Tim: Okay, so what do you do after your workout?
Michael: I spend about two hours answering emails and doing work for my porn company, Lucas Entertainment, as well as putting content on OnlyFans and Just For Fans and now also on michaellucas.com.
Tim: Is that a pay site?
Michael: Yes, but the Lucas Entertainment site brings in the most money. There are still people who pay for porn, probably because they want to support the company. And the quality is better and it's easier to find. And I also pay a company that fights piracy, which we're trying to make more difficult.
Tim: Can you tell me how many subscribers you have?
Michael: No.
Tim: Okay. So the rest of your day?
Michael: I work until about 5pm. I'm trying to work less than I used to, because all my life I worked, worked, worked without set hours because I was my own boss. So I try to finish by five and then spend time with friends here on Fire Island. I started coming here in 1997 when I arrived in American, and then when I was with a certain boyfriend from 2000 to 2015, we had a beautiful house on the bay. But please don't name him. I never any longer post pictures of me with my partners. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I believe your private life should not be exposed.
Tim: So you're not going to tell me who your current boyfriend is?
Michael: No, but he's a wonderful guy. I knew him for a long time when we were both in relationships, then we both became free. We've been together four years.
Tim: Can I ask if you have a monogamous or open relationship?
Michael: I don't want to talk about anything that has to do with my partner.
Tim: Well, you've been together four years, and you were in a previous relationship for 13 years, so you obviously know how to sustain a long-term relationship. Any advice?
Michael: Support your partner in all his beginnings and don't stop him from doing something he likes. Telling your partner what to do is a big mistake, even if you disagree. Also, I do not raise my voice to him. I haven't raised my voice to anyone in fact for many years. Also, in a relationship, honesty is important. As soon as you start lying, the relationship is basically over. In general, it's much easier to live your life without lying. I have a very good memory, so I very often catch people in a lie. Maybe because my mother made me memorize whole poems growing up.
Tim: What kind of things do they lie about?
Michael: Banal little things. Maybe they shave five or ten years off their age, and then the usual reaction is, "Jesus Christ, how do you manage to look so old?"
Tim: [laughs] Indeed. So your evenings? Are you a good cook?
Michael: I hate talking about cooking. It's boring. Let's say that I can cook but I don't like it. I can cook easy stuff like chicken, steaks, soups. Of course I know how. It's way too expensive to eat out a lot in New York City or Fire Island. In Mexico, I rarely cook because the restaurants are cheap. But I can pretty much make anything if I follow the recipe. I also have a Thermomix machine, which is a very expensive robot that cooks for me. In the city, I use it every other day.
Tim: What do you eat?
Michael: I don't eat until 1pm. Then I'll eat anything except fast food. My waist is 31 inches.
Tim: After dinner do you ever go to the bar on the island or in the city?
Michael: Never. Sometimes out here I go to [late afternoon/early evening] tea, but I don't drink.
Tim: Never in your life?
Michael: I've tasted alcohol but never been drunk. I grew up in Russia where I saw that drinking a lot does to people, and I was always afraid of that. Second, I wanted to be in control. It's also vanity, wanting to look good, and I would see what drugs would do to people's looks.
Tim: There is a stereotype about there being a lot of drugs in porn. Is that true?