Turnarounds happen in life, for the better or for the worse and it usually as a result of some life changing, often catastrophic events. In the case Pastor Crystal Bassette, her turnaround came without any as she made the switch from previous life to become a pastor.
The former porn star ditched her lucrative career in the porn industry and her lavish Los Angeles lifestyle to become a church pastor in the small town of Fulton, New York.
“It is definitely the ultimate change. It’s going from one extreme to the next. I had to get away from this whole life,” Bassette told Barcoft Media, referring to her 10-year stint doing porn.
33 year old Bassette, who has been featured in more than 100 adult films, making over $300,000 a year, turned to the life of porn as a means to support her son Justin after she became pregnant with him at 16.
The job became more appealing to her when an adult film agent told her she could make $30,000 a month and soon after she did her first sex scene at a Malibu house.
“I remember after the scene, I sat in the shower for about two hours crying. Then I stopped after that shoot and didn’t go back for about one month,” she told Barcroft.
“I ended up going back to it again and that’s when I was numbing myself through taking pain medicine and drinking alcohol to get through the scene.”
Bassette, who says she was sucked into the materialistic lifestyle that came with the success of her porn career, was eventually able to afford a home in Malibu and seven cars, including a Ferrari.
“It just became like this daily routine for me where I would drop my son off to school in the morning, go do a shoot and come home. It was like a regular 9 to 5 job,” she said.
“I just lived for myself and my son and didn’t really think about the consequences of making films and dancing and everything,” said Bassette, adding that she became “recognized everywhere.”
A turning point came for Bassette, a sexual abuse victim, in May 2014 after she got into a serious car crash and was charged with DUI.
She attended her sister’s church, where she met her future husband, David, the pastor.
“He’d known about my past for years because my sister was going to his church,” said Bassette, who married David, 26, in December 2014 and had a son together.
She said, “The day I was saved, I felt like the preacher was just speaking to me directly. It was like he was preaching to only me and you know that day I felt God was talking to me through his preaching and everything he said felt right.”
When Bassette left the porn industry she went to college to become a paralegal and trained as a pastor.
Soon after marrying David, the two founded their own church together called New Beginnings Christian Life where they hope to inspire others.
“I’m not worried about my outward appearance. I’m not worried about money. Now I’m worried about helping people,” she said.
As for regrets, Bassette said she has none.
“My past made me who I am today and God has changed my life completely,” she said.
