Belladonna (actress)

Belladonna
Belladonna in 2010
Born	Michelle Sinclair[1][2][3] 1980 or 1981 (age 42–43)[4]
Other names	Belladonna Bella
Occupations	Pornographic actress actress director film producer model
Spouse	Aiden Kelly[1]
Children	1

Michelle Sinclair (born 1980 or 1981^[4]), known professionally as Belladonna,^[1][2][3] is an American former pornographic and erotic actress, director, producer, and model. Since announcing her retirement from pornography in 2012,^{[5][6][page needed]} she has acted in several mainstream films, including Inherent Vice and The Ladies of the House.

Early life

Sinclair grew up as the second of seven children in a

Sinclair started performing in pornography in Los Angeles at age 18.^[2] One of her early films featured a rough

In 2011, she was named by CNBC as one of the 12 most popular stars in porn.^[8] CNBC noted that while she had stepped back from acting to pursue directing and producing, she has maintained a loyal fan base, and has been nominated for 42 AVN awards and won 10 in the course of her career.

Primetime special

Her career in the pornography business was followed for two years by a crew from ABC Television, culminating in a January 2003 interview for ABC's Primetime with Diane Sawyer.^[2][7] In the interview, she broke down in tears while talking about experiencing abuse and depression. The segment led to backlash from other pornography performers but also boosted her career.^[2][7]

Retirement and later career

In August 2007, Sinclair decided to semi-retire from performing with other people over concerns about sexually transmitted infections, specifically herpes. She thought she had contracted herpes in 2002 and was worried the disease had spread; however, it was later discovered that it was a skin rash rather than herpes.^{[9][not specific enough to verify][10]}

In 2008, she came out of retirement, and filmed a number of hardcore scenes.^[11] She appeared in Digital Playground's Pirates II, the sequel to their top-selling DVD, Pirates.^[12] She has also appeared recurringly in James Gunn's PG Porn.^{[citation needed]}

Sinclair was featured on the cover of the second album of British metalcore band Asking Alexandria, titled Reckless & Relentless, released in 2011.^{[13][self-published source]} She also later featured in their short film Through Sin + Self Destruction.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2012, she announced via Twitter that she was "no longer interested in having sex on camera" and would be pursuing her other interests.^[5] In 2014, she made her non-pornographic feature film debut in John Wildman's The Ladies of the House (working title Stripped), a horror film about a group of female cannibals.^[14] She appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's film Inherent Vice as Clancy Charlock in 2014 and in a short film titled Dream Murder Machine in 2018. She also considered becoming a sex positive speaker and instructor.^[3]

Personal life

Sinclair's husband Aiden Kelly worked as a website developer for the pornographic film distributor Evil Angel.^[1] She gave birth to a daughter in 2005.^[15][16]

Awards

See also