How Ron Jeremy, 69, nicknamed The Hedgehog, went from being a teacher with special education training to a porn king with more than 2,500 adult movie credits before his demise when he was accused of more than 30 sex assaults and rapes
- Unlikely porn star from New York was the biggest name in the adult industry
- But he was disgraced by dozens of allegations of sexual assault and rape
- A judge has now ruled he is unable to stand trial because of his dementia
He memorably described himself as the Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz.
And with more than 2,500 credits to his name in adult films, Ron Jeremy was certainly no stranger to baring all for the camera.
The unlikely star from New York, known as ‘The Hedgehog’, transcended the porn industry to become a bona fide celebrity, appearing in films, TV and music videos and even being the subject of a hit documentary.
But his fame would later come crashing down on him when woman after woman came forward to claim the X-rated star had raped and abused them in the most vile and dehumanizing way over a 23-year period.
Ron Jeremy and Tabitha Stevens pose at the 2004 VH1 awards. The actor was the biggest name in porn
The 21 woman were finally hoping to see justice served when Jeremy was arrested in 2020 for 34 alleged assaults including 12 rape counts.
But now the women have been denied their day in court after a judge ruled the porn star was not medically fit to stand trial.
Medics had testified that Jeremy, who has never been married nor had children, was suffering from severe dementia and was now incoherent, unable to even recognize his own lawyer or spell his own name.
A hearing next month will determine if the veteran actor will be placed in a state hospital.
It is a far cry from the boy named Ronald Jeremy Hyatt who was born to a middle class Jewish family in Queens, New York, in 1953.
His father Arnold was a physicist and professor at Queens College of the City University of New York, while his mother was a book editor.
The teenage Jeremy graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School where he performed in theatrical productions including the musical Oklahoma.
Porn star Ron Jeremy was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in Los Angeles on rape and other sex charges (last seen in December 2021)
Ron Jeremy pictured in 1988
Ron Jeremy, pictured in 2012, surrounded himself with younger women and was considered a titan of the adult industry
He then earned a masters degree from his father’s Queens College and became a special education teacher in the New York City area, but eventually left teaching to pursue acting on Broadway.
In 1978, he had first brush with pornography when a girlfriend sent his photo to Playgirl magazine for appearance in its ‘Boy Next Door’ pages.
Enticed by the money after struggling on Off-Broadway productions, Jeremy posed more for Playgirl and then decided to make the full-time leap into pornography.
His nickname of The Hedgehog was given by fellow adult actor William Marigold in 1979, when he turned up on set in blizzard conditions during the filming of Olympic Fever in the California mountains.,
Suffering from near hypothermia, Jeremy arrived and quickly took a hot shower, making his hair stand on end and his skin pink.
Marigold then said: ‘You are a hedgehog, my friend. A walking, talking hedgehog.’
The actor is pictured alongside Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee at the playboy mansion in 1998
Jeremy has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘Most Appearances in Adult Films’ and won several adult film acting awards
The actor is pictured carrying Traci Bingham at Peta’s 25th anniversary gala in 2005
Jeremy soon started making a name for himself in the industry and would go on to star in 2,542 films, and directing a further 296
The New York star is pictured kissing Mia Crowe during a DVD signing in 2005
Jeremy then soon started making a name for himself in the industry and would go on to star in 2,542 films, and directing a further 296.
Jeremy has since been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘Most Appearances in Adult Films’ and won several adult film acting awards.
He was even named by Adult Video News as their Number One porn star of all time.
But one joke within the industry about the unusual 5ft6ins star was: ‘The kinkier acts some actresses would not perform were bestiality, sadomasochism and and sex with Jeremy.’
The star was active in porn from 1979 until 2018, but also acted in a number of mainstream films and television series, including appearances in Ghostbusters and The Boondock Saints.
He has also competed on Wheel of Fortune and appeared in a segment of The Chappelle Show, and numerous music videos for artists including Kid Rock, Moby, Guns & Roses and Sublime.
A documentary about his life, Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, also propelled him to further fame.
Prosecutors allege Jeremy – born Ronald Jeremy Hyatt – restrained some of the women and raped or sodomized them – and had sex with others who were sleeping or unconscious
Jeremy, 67, was charged by prosecutors in Los Angeles after he was accused by women of historic sexual assault offenses in West Hollywood
Jeremy has also had several business endeavors including opening a swingers nightclub in Portland, Oregon which closed in 2015.
But now, the legacy of the porn star has been tarnished after dozens of women alleged he raped and abused them.
Lianne Young, who has waived her right to anonymity, claimed Jeremy allegedly sneaked up behind her on the Sunset Strip in 2000.
The adult performer, who went by the name ‘Billie Britt’, was dressed in a bikini at the former House of Blues during a porn industry Halloween party when she says Jeremy shoved her onto a table and forced himself inside her.
According to Young, the ordeal last only a matter of seconds, as she fought Jeremy off of her.
Young said at least three other industry execs watched the assault unfold, however none of them reacted.
‘People were just like, ‘That’s Ron’,’ Young said.
Fellow adult entertainer Elle Hell said she was too fearful of Jeremy’s pull in the porn industry to speak out when he reportedly attacked her in Chicago, in 2014.
Elle said she got into a limousine with about 10 other people, including Jeremy, and drove to a bar.
Not long after they arrived, Elle said Jeremy pulled her onto his lap. She tried to get away from him by fleeing to the bathroom but she claims he followed her in.
He then reportedly led her back outside where he forcibly performed oral sex on her. Elle claims that, despite the fact she was crying and repeatedly told Jeremy ‘no’, he persisted before attempting to rape her.
‘He takes his [penis] out, and I remember this vividly, I’m crying,’ she said, adding that Jeremy pressed his penis so hard against her that it left an abrasion on her genitals.
Jeremy is said to have eventually given up and grown angry. He led her back inside the club before handing her a note that read, ‘You would cry, I hope … if I ever leave.’
Elle Hell (pictured) said she was too fearful of Jeremy’s pull in the porn industry to speak out when he reportedly attacked her in Chicago, in 2014.
‘He does things without asking,’ Evans said. ‘There’s a lot of people who assume because we’re adult actresses that it’s OK to just touch us inappropriately.’
Rumors of Jeremy’s alleged sexual misconduct circulated in the adult entertainment industry for decades, however they were only thrust into the public eye in the last few years.
The turning point came in 2017, when adult entertainer Ginger Banks compiled a series of allegations against Jeremy during a 10-minute YouTube video.
Months afterward, Rolling Stone published allegations made by a dozen women who said Jeremy either groped them or, as two alleged victims detailed, violently raped them.
Jeremy was expelled from the adult film industry in the bombshell article’s wake, and was even banned from the Exxxotica Expo and the Adult Video News awards.
Property Management worker Charity Carson-Hawke told Rolling Stone that she had been friends with Jeremy for years before he allegedly attempted to grope her when she visited him at his hotel on May 4, 2020.
According to Carson-Hawke, they were in his hotel room with a few other people, when Jeremy said he wanted to show her something. She followed him into what she thought was another room, which turned out to be a bathroom.
She says Jeremy then slammed the door behind him, pinned her against a wall and tried to grope her.
‘He was trying to put my hand on his penis,’ she alleges. ‘I’m just like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I’m screaming at him and fighting.’
Carson-Hawke says she became entangled in a struggle with Jeremy, until she managed to squeeze out of his grasp and walk out the door.
The turning point came in 2017, when adult entertainer Ginger Banks compiled a series of allegations against Jeremy during a 10-minute YouTube video
Property Management worker Charity Carson-Hawke (right) told Rolling Stone that she had been friends with Jeremy for years before he allegedly attempted to grope her when she visited him at his hotel on May 4, 2020.
Despite the allegations, Jeremy was invited to join dozens of women at a 2018 birthday celebration for brothel owner and reality TV star Dennis Hof at the Bunny Ranch near Carson City.
During that gathering, Jeremy allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at the party. The woman, who asked to be identified, said she horrified that Jeremy was invited to the party in the first place, considering the nature of the allegation made against him.
The woman said Jeremy led her away from the partygoers and toward the back of the building. She said she tried to mouth ‘help me’ to others at the party but failed to get their attention.
Jeremy allegedly took her outside, pressed her up against a railing and forced himself inside her, she said.
‘He bends me over the railing at the restaurant, lifts up my dress and does his thing,’ she told the Times. ‘I’m in shock. I don’t really know how to process what’s going on because it’s such a public area. What do you do?’
The woman says the attack lasted nearly 15 minutes. ‘I feel guilty that I didn’t scream or anything. I guess I didn’t know how to react,’ she said.
Jeremy, 69, pleaded not guilty in August 2021 to more than 30 counts of sexual assault, including 12 of rape.
In August 2020, Jeremy wrote on Twitter: ‘I can’t wait to prove my innocence in court! Thank you to everyone for all the support.’
But yesterday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Harris said the actor suffered from ‘incurable neurocognitive decline’, after medical reports said he has dementia, is ‘incoherent’, and suffers from hearing loss.
His severe dementia has been determined by a review of medical documents and interviews with Jeremy.
LA District Attorney George Gascón said Jeremy’s alleged sexual assaults happened over the course of more than 23 years and involved 21 victims ranging in age from 15 to 51.
Jeremy is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl referred to as ‘Jane Doe 5’ on June 12, 2004, penetrating her with a foreign object, according to the August 19 indictment obtained by DailyMail.com.
Another girl, 17, was allegedly raped in 2008 at a home in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. She was referred to as ‘Jane Doe 22’ in the court documents.
Among the first allegations against Jeremy, prosecutors claim he raped a 19-year-old woman during a photo shoot in the San Fernando Valley in October 1996.
Reacting to the news he will not stand trial and face a sentence of up to 300 years, some of his alleged victims have expressed their outrage.
Lianne Young told the LA Times: ‘They were aware of his condition before getting us all involved.
‘They were well aware he had dementia, so I’m very disappointed that they didn’t solve that bit before letting us go on that emotional journey for two and a half years.’
In additional comments to The Mirror, she said: ‘I really can’t put it into words how angry I am. I will never get closure.
‘He could have been brought to justice much sooner, but Ron was built up to be this king who was untouchable and his lawyers kept delaying the case.
‘I felt abused again and like a pawn in a game. It felt like getting hit in the stomach by a 200mph tennis ball.’
Speaking earlier this month when it was indicated he would be declared unfit for trial, fellow accuser Charity Carson-Hawke said the star was ‘getting away with it.’
Lianne Young, a former British porn star who went by the name of Billie Britt, accused Jeremy of assaulting her at a Halloween party on the Sunset Strip in 2000
Charity Carson-Hawke, who once considered former porn star Ron Jeremy a close friend, believes he is now ‘getting away’ with his alleged sexual assault crimes after he was declared mentally unfit to stand trial. The two are pictured together right in an old photo
The 47-year-old property manager from Tampa, Florida, accused Jeremy of sexually assaulting her at a hotel in May 2020. They are pictured together at the hotel on the day of the alleged attack
‘He followed me around and knew who I was and knew what he did. So I feel like he’s getting away with it,’ she told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
‘I wanted to face him in court. Now that’s never going to happen, and I’m never going to get closure.’
Carson-Hawke was set to be a key witness in the criminal trial, as she told DailyMail.com last year that Jeremy had confessed to his alleged attempted rape on the phone to her while detectives recorded the conversation.
‘After I finished my case, I just basically walked away. I changed my number. I got married on Friday. I’m trying to rebuild my life. And then I hear about this and it’s devastating,’ she said.
‘I’ve been waiting to have closure and I don’t feel like I have any closure now. No one’s going to get closure. He’s getting away with what he did.
‘He’s a good actor. That’s what he does, he gets away with everything.’
She said she feels he should be convicted and go to prison, despite his medical condition.
‘I think if they did the crime, they’ve gotta pay for the time,’ she said. ‘He’s better off dead.
‘It’s not just me as one victim – there are many, many others,’ she added. ‘How are they going to live their lives? It’s just not fair.
‘I know Ron very well, I think he’s one of the smartest men on earth. And I think he played his game pretty well.’
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