MANILA, Philippines – Maria Ozawa admitted that it wasn’t an easy journey for her to get out of the adult video industry.
She has been part of the industry for ten years, and started in the age of eighteen.
“My mother was embarrassed of me,” she revealed in an interview with ANC public affairs program “Headstart” on Friday. “My father was like still there since I’m close with him.”
It also took a while before his younger brother opened up to his friends that her sister is a popular adult video star.
Yet behind her popularity is a struggle unknown to many.
“[In Japan] there’s a wall between film and adult industry,” she explained. “They still want you on TV, radio, magazine, but behind the stage they treat you [like] crap. They don’t respect you.”
This somehow confused her as a teenager since she has the thinking that once you’re famous, people will treat you with respect, which she actually didn’t get.
This motivated her to step out of the adult video industry after ten years. Luckily she had a offer to operate a club, and it turned out well for her.
As her life slowly changed, she felt it was the right time to reach out to her family.
“I called my dad, coz my mom changed her number so I can’t call her,” she recalled. “I told him about the club, that I’m going to different countries to do films and he talked to my mom.”
“My mom wasn’t that forgiving about the past, but she said ‘if you’re going to move on and serious with that career, just try your best there,’” she added.
Now, she’s further pursuing her acting career particularly here in the Philippines. This is marked by the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival entry “Nilalang,” where he stars with Cesar Montano.
After she has experienced working in the Philippines, Maria said that “it’s like the best. I’m never going back to Japan, that’s what I’m feeling like!”
She recently signed a one-year contract renting a condominium here in the country, and was hoping that “by 2017 I have my own place here.”