The pastor’s wife and ordained pastor herself, has been featured in more than 100 adult films, making over $300,000 a year. She turned to porn as a means to support her son Justin after she became pregnant with him at 16.
But after over a decade making skin flicks, Bassette, 33, from Fulton, New York ditched her lucrative career in the porn industry and her lavish Los Angeles lifestyle to become a church pastor in the small town, America.
Crystal who also owned a bar in Fulton says: “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 decade-long stint making skin flicks
Crystal and David Bassette
Born Crystal DiGregorio in Oswego, she left home when she became pregnant at age 16. She did modeling, dancing and pole competitions to provide for her son.
Crystal told BarcroftTV her entry into the world of erotic movies began when an adult film agent told her she could make $30,000 a month, and soon after, she shot her first sex scene at a Malibu house, at the age of 21.
“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 said.
“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.”
According to Bassette, the freedom afforded by the money and the lure of the materialistic lifestyle that came with the success of her porn career was hard to resist. At her peak she had a home in Malibu and seven cars, including a Ferrari. She also had a cook, a maid and a gardener.
“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.”
The turning point for mother-of-two Bassette, a sexual abuse victim, came in May 2014 after she got into a serious auto crash and was charged with DWI.
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. They have 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.
Bassette said she realized through therapy that she ended up doing adult films because she was sexually abused as a child by two different people.
“It’s wordless. I’m alright now but it took me a long time… I realized why I was choosing the life that I did.”
To prepare for her new life, when pretty blonde left the porn industry, she went to college to become a paralegal and trained as a pastor.


Party Girl: Crystal Bassette [left and drinking, right]went from the wild side to the pulpit
Crystal Bassette and her husband David. The couple founded the New Beginnings Christian Life ministry in Fulton, NY
Crystal and her husband David settled in Fulton, outside new York after tying the knot. They since founded their own church called New Beginnings Christian Life, where they hope to inspire others.
“I’m not worried about my outlook 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.
In an interview with syracuse.com last year, Bassette said she believes she is meant to help people, to use her experiences to bring others who are suffering closer to God. Her public past has allowed people to seek her out to talk about troubles with abuse, prostitution and pornography, she said.
“I regretted it,” Bassette said. “But then I think to myself, if I didn’t do those things, where would I be today?”
“This is what my heart is for. And it’s something I feel can help a lot and change people’s lives.”
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