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By John Patrick
"I've always wanted to be a movie star," Ryan Idol told a reporter once, "but I think it's so hard to get into that business. It's hard to get into the theatre, too, but I'm hooked on performing, live, in front of an audience. You can grab your audience and you can lose your audience—but you can always get them back. That's the challenge."
One fan said he had been so grabbed by Ryan that he had to meet him. At the time Ryan was working for the agent and booker David Forest: "The appointment process was a bit wearying (endless security checks, like the Pentagon!) The end result seemed like a prom date. You were advised up front that Ryan didn't do much. He was, at that point in his career, making statements about being straight and his 'dates' were supposed to be all about 'romance.' The fee was, if I remember, $700 per hour and up. He really was an 'idol' of mine and the experience was totally cool—if a little disappointing. I've never bought the line that he was a straight boy just doing it for the bucks. I know a couple of guys he slept with 'cause he wanted to, not because he was paid to. I get totally pissed when straight guys make money off of us and then turn around and vilify gays. But Ryan has never, never done that, even privately. Lots of people seem to have neglected Mr. Idol, including himself. Incidentally, I also saw Ryan in Making Porn in New York City, and he was totally charming in the play, did not forget his lines, and had a great bod." Well, last year Ryan wasn't quite up to the challenge of all this adulation on the part of his fans. A couple of days before the opening of his new play, Born for Porn, he fell out of a window of the apartment he was staying in in Manhattan.
Yes, Idol does have a fractured pelvis. He has to take stairs rather slowly, and sitting for long periods can be painful. Yes, Idol was in touch-and-go condition the first 24 hours after the incident. But doctors were legitimately stunned at his rapid improvement. What does Ryan have to say about all this? Nothing. He claims he cannot remember anything after leaving work the night of the incident. Meanwhile, Idol continues to make passionate pleas for money. A sampling of Internet opinion, however, isn't running in his favor. Also, Mickey Skee reports in Twink magazine that Idol is avoiding his jailed agent (that'd be David Forest) and his former tennis partner (not sure who that is…)." Performer Jackson Phillips said, "Idol is a self-destructive menace to himself and those around him. His homophobic comments reveal the ugly nature of his character (or lack thereof). I see no point in holding him up as a gay icon." In OUT magazine, journalist Dave Groff says Ryan found God after his accident, but Groff feels that Idol Will (reshape) himself to meet another person's perceptions—if that is what will get him what he wants. The man is all spin, giving people what they want, not necessarily what is true…Idol got kicked out of the Navy for hitting an officer and that he hated it when he escorted." Idol himself swears he did not try to commit suicide, claiming it was a "mishap."
Billy Masters in Filfth said, "I was surprised to bump into Ryan in West Hollywood. After crashing through a window in Manhattan, plummeting four floors to his certain death, and then escaping without a scratch on his face, I was sure he would still be in recovery. But there he was at a local restaurant having lunch. I'm told he was very sweet and appreciative of his fans and now, when he signs autographs, he also notes how many days he's been sober…" An awning broke his fall or he might be dead today! He has to be one of the luckiest guys alive. As a pal of mine said, "It just wasn't his time."
Mickey Skee reported the same story, "…There's nary a scratch on his face (the cut above his right eye is all but gone), and he's a changed man." Idol told Skee a poignant story about asking the nurses if he was dead and in purgatory, and how he saw that they kept changing race, sex, and size and convinced himself that he was dead and had to make his case about earning his wings and getting to Heaven…" Skee says that this is indeed a changed man: "He's signing his name now with a symbol showing his sobriety chip, checking off the days he's gone sober…He's enthusiastic, boyish, refreshingly upbeat and spiritually solid, ready to make up for past mistakes (hey, he even apologized for threatening me with a baseball bat once.)…" Another point of view was expressed by the fan known as "Lovemuscle." He said, "Does Idol think we're so bowled over by his beauty that we will believe anything he says? I believe he is a hustler, plain and simple. His appeal to send money is so blatant, that all I could think of was he is a complete slime. After reading the article, I threw away my one Ryan Idol flick. Yes, he is undeniably beautiful; however, a beautiful man has no excuse to be a jerk. "A friend of mine managed a hotel where Ryan and his so-called 'girlfriend' stayed while he was performing here. He was so obnoxious to the hotel guests and staff that they had to boot him out. He had very loud sex in his room and walked the hallways naked. However, before he left, he trashed his room. He's totally irresponsible. "Since he's taken his six-figure income and blown it (up his nose?) why should we help him out? He says he has no health insurance, so he wishes us to bail him out. I have better uses of my money. Since he is self-centered, irresponsible and immature, not to mention violent, I do not wish to assist him in his recovery. "It may sopund harsh, but I believe any man blessed with so much beauty who squanders his gift and then asks for his fans to bail him out deserves what he has coming to him. I would never wish the pain and suffering he has obviously gone through on anyone, but he does need to learn a lesson. Perhaps he may learn a lesson and then realize his potential, but I doubt it. A hustler is born, not made.! "I also found the article in OUT illuminating when it revealed that Ryan was surprised by the thought of having a male friend, a buddy. He probably is a somewhat disoriented man who should get some professional help."
When a fan named Marc heard that Ryan's salary was $7K/week ("God Bless America"), he said that the performer did not have the right to ask for health benefits "from us or Uncle Sam." T-Boy said, "This guy is pulling our chain. He's telling us how much he needs a man while he continues his relations with his girlfriend. He's saying feel sorry for me, send me money even though I've blown what I had. He's saying take care of me. He's a hustler. That's what a hustler does: shows you his wares and tells you he needs you, then takes your money and runs home to bed down with his girlfriend."
A fan named Bryan says he knows Idol personally. And he says the performer uses the gay community for what he can get—always has and always will—because he knows he can get by with it: "He believes himself to be a very clever lad and using people—especially gay men, is how he survives in this world. You are fooling yourself if you believe him to be reaching out for the comfort of a man. Financial comfort is all he's reaching for." Another fan, Rick, says, "If Ryan Ideol wants any of my money, he's going to have to work for it…like I have to..(a) let him give up his beautiful butt to some handsome stud—and I'll be the first one on line to buy the video…(b)let him exhibit that he is truly a part of our community, and get off the damn fence…(c) get rid of the attitude…(d) show a lot more responsibility in his personal, financial, sexual and social life." "Okay," another fan, Johnny, says, "I have seen him in Making Porn in Manhattan and I have read his interviews. It sounds to me like the last ten years for Mr. Idol has been an episode of The Twilight Zone. I was mildly impressed with his acting and his beauty. He was out of shape, unshaven, but looked good. I was much more impressed with his co-star Blue Blake, who gave the better performance by far. Blake was hilarious, and apparently more honest." "In New York," a fan named P.J. said, "you can claim indigence and walk away from the hospital bill. The only way to help an addict is to let him help himself." Everson agreed: "Idol has plenty of sources of money: Medicaid, charity care, etc. Or gee, get a job and make some money and pay it off like everyone else in this world does…" Rehabman says, "The thing we teach our injured patients is that this is not the survival of the fittest. Only those that help themselves will survive their injuries. I have no sympathy for Ryan Idol. He uses people for his own selfish means. Needs to be gay when it is necessary for him to be gay. Or when it is convenient for him to do so…or how much his next 'fix' is going to cost him. This guy is in the truest sense of the word a 'whore.' He uses us to finance his lifestyle and then ignores us when we acknowledge him on the street." A fan named Buzz said, "I always wondered about the stupid poor folks who would send money to Jimmy Swaggart and his ilk. Ryan Idol's latest hustle and the guys who send him money have allowed me to understand the televangelists' racket a little better. I have a suggestion to help Ryan Idol raise cash for his medical bills: Ryan should offer his services to the highest bidding video company. He would play the part of an incapacitated straight stud who gets gang-banged in his hospital bed. I would pay good money to watch him bandaged and in traction while four or five of the biggest dicks in porn tear off his hospital gown and tag-team fuck him." Oh. Just the thought of that! Gino Colbert or Jerry Douglas, are you listening? Scott Masters of Studio 2000 told Manshots that what Ryan's saying now is that he probably won't do well in another movie unless he has something to back him up—and why not go for two insurance policies: 1) "I'm gonna get fucked" and 2) "I'm going to get fucked by Jeff Stryker." Master says, "What a bunch of bullsit!" Jeff Stryker says, "I've been approached quite a few times by Idol wantin' to do a movie. It's like, I didn't feel Jeff Stryker needed that. And I could clearly see where he may have." Meanwhile, the recovering Idol was taking Making Porn on tour with Blue Blake. In Miami, Ryan told the Miami Herald, "The drugs and alcohol took over. I went out a window. I was drinking gin. I never used to drink gin. It totally took me over. I don't remember jumping out the window, but all evidence points to that. II never contemplated suicide before. It was a little out of character." Then there were rumors that he was having trouble remembering his lines. One fan who saw the show said Blake was great but Idol left a lot to be desired: "He was completely out of shape and unable to recall many of his lines." Another fan was shocked to hear this: "Ryan Idol is playing a lead role in a play and can't apparently remember his lines? Whether the cause is poor acting skills or a 4-story drop from an apartment window is somewhat immaterial. A theatre production that people are being charged money to see isn't the place to do rehab work, if that's what Idol needs…Performers are expected to work hard in viable performances when they appear in a professional production (of whatever kind)." One fan in Miami said, "I had dinner with some friends who saw Making Porn this weekend. The consensus: Ryan Idol definitely should not plan to make non-sexual performances his career. Reportedly, he was awkward, tripped up lines, and hammed it up to a questionable effect. By contrast, his co-star Blake was rather cute and genuinely humorous. Well, I was not surprised by their assessment! I saw Idol at Liquid (a nightclub) over the weekend. He looks good and I even had a drink with him. The truth is that Idol had already had a drink when I arrived, and the subsequent two drinks he had with me he ordered while I was greeting friends at another table and when I was in the loo. Hence, I don't know whether they were alcohol or non-alcohol." Another fan says, "Ryan Idol had problems remembering his lines when he did the play in Chicago, and that was before his fall." One fan asked what we wanted most to know ourselves: "What I want to know, is Idol peddling his wares in Miami? If so, how much and how to get in touch with him. If the price is right, I'd pay to sample his luscious bod! I don't give a fuck if he's gay or straight, as long as he's good." A man in Miami responded, "Yes, he does 'pay-for-hire.' He'll gladly take your $250 per hour, allow you to just stroke his body—no genitalia or ass touching, and he can barely hide his distaste as you jack yourself off. If this kind of marginal treatment turns you on, go ahead and approach him discreetly after the show!" 
Excerpted from John Patrick's The Best of the Superstars, 1999 STARBooks Press John Patrick STARbooks Press P.O. Box 2737 Sarasota, Florida 34230-2737 Telephone: (941) 957-1281 Fax: (941) 955-3829 |
© 1997-98 BEI