Look away, Mr. Feeny. This week, Boy Meets World star Maitland Ward will officially be making her transition from Hollywood to porn in a new adult film, Drive. Ward played Rachel McGuire in the final two seasons of the ABC sitcom, but now, she’s ready to shed her family-friendly background. The actress told In Touch that she was drawn to the porn project because of its “really, really well-written” script, and she jumped at the chance to play a character who is “so different than anything [she] has portrayed before.” Explained Ward, “I really feel that quality stuff and the hot sex stuff can be together, and I really want that.”
Ward is best known for playing Rachel McGuire, Eric (Will Friedle) and Jack’s (Matthew Lawrence) college roommate, in Boy Meets World Seasons 6 and 7. She appeared in every episode of the final two seasons, and at the end of the series, she and Jack — they began dating shortly after the boys moved in — join the Peace Corps and move to Guatemala. After Boy Meets World, Ward appeared in various films and TV shows, including White Chicks and Boston Public, before taking a break from acting.
Now, Ward is ready to ditch her family-oriented cable roots. She told In Touch that director Kayden Kross approached her about starring in Drive, and when she read the script, she was shocked. “They asked me to be a part of this, and I thought, ‘I never knew there was anything in adults or porn or whatever that was this well done. I read the script, and I was like, ‘This is really, really well-written.'” the 42-year-old actress said. “This has so many themes in this and just my character is so different than anything I have portrayed before.”
In Drive, the Boy Meets World star plays an “innocent” woman who learns to expand her horizons. “I really got to set myself free with this and really express myself in a way that I haven’t done before,” she told In Touch. “I don’t think my fans have seen me like this before — really, they haven’t. It’s just very deep sensuality, and I think that is a really fun way to play an explorer, and I got to do things that I wouldn’t have thought in the past. Just these sexual situations that are sort of taboo.”
Ward went on to explain that her transition to porn “started slowly.” She first started doing cosplay, and as “an exhibitionist,” she enjoyed the attention. A few months ago, she began doing “professional” adult films. “I felt ready. It wasn’t like I was saying, ‘Oh, I want to do this all along,’ but it was like, ‘I need to do this,'” said Ward. “I really feel that quality stuff and the hot sex stuff can be together, and I really want that. I hope my past and stuff can add any legitimacy to a great project, to get attention or to get people to actually watch and say, ‘Oh yeah, it is really good.'”
“It’s been an evolution,” she continued. “It’s all been my authentic journey because everything that I have done along the way is something I wanted to explore and do, and I just did it publicly for my fans, that is the exhibitionist style of me. I wanted to take them along for the journey, and it’s been a really fun, crazy adventure and there is still stuff to explore.”