Kelly Belsey, 35, spent three years working at TK Maxx after finishing school but never felt it was the right fit. She now works in the adult industry, juggling her career with parenting her six-year-old daughter, Bea.
“It didn’t suit me at all,” says Kelly. “I didn’t like being told when I was going to work, how long my hours would be or what I was doing. It felt like a lot of pressure. So I started as an extra on a porn set and never looked back.”
School gate reactions
Kelly says other mums at her daughter’s primary school don’t bat an eyelid when she appears at the gates with a full face of makeup and curlers in her hair. “They might ask where I am going and I will tell them I am off to Babestation. They will be intrigued, so I will answer their questions and off I go.”
“For me, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m very open and free about my sex life and my work. I think it’s healthy to talk about. It’s natural, human - everyone does it.”
Working around school runs
Most of Kelly’s work is from home, which means she can drop Bea at school, work online until 2.30pm, then pick Bea up and visit family and friends or take her to after-school clubs. Then she will make dinner and put Bea to bed, before logging on again and working until 1am. Or she will leave the school runs to her partner Stephen, an operations manager, and work at the Babestation studio for up to 16 hours at a time.
“I’ve never had any judgement at the school gates. I’m just very open about what I do. They can take me for who I am or not at all, but they have all been fine about it. My biggest worry when Bea started school was that I would see one of the dads over webcam or that they would see me on TV. But that hasn’t happened yet,” she adds.
Local reactions and stigma
Kelly was surprised to hear that Waltham Cross, where she has lived her whole life, is actually the sexiest town in the UK, topping the list in Lovehoney’s 2026 Sex Map. “I feel like most people around here are quite quiet about their sex lives or watching porn. But I suspect they are more into it than they reveal. People put on a front of respectability, but behind the scenes, they are probably up to everything.”
There used to be a swingers club nearby, which shut down, sending people into the woods for dogging in Waltham Forest. Now they are more likely to meet in private homes, Kelly says. “A friend of my mum lives next door to some swingers. She can hear them through the wall. But she doesn’t care - she’s open-minded.”
When Kelly first got into the industry at 23, she faced criticism. “On a night out, so many people had seen my videos that I had loads of people coming up to me and asking - how could you do something like that? In the end I said to everyone - yep, that’s me. What’s your point? After that no one said anything. It’s like water off a duck’s back.”
Living her best life
Kelly, who has since worked in adult movies and glamour modelling, says she loves her job and will do it for as long as she can, tapping into the MILF character as she gets older. “I am hardworking. But I’ve always been driven. Even when I was younger, I was never given things. I always had my chores. I would have to clean the bathroom or empty the dishwasher to get my 50p pocket money. I had a paper round at the age of 12.”
“Everything I do now I do for my daughter, so she can go on nice holidays or do the after-school activities she wants. I love my job and I’ll carry on doing it as long as I can.”
