I met Nikki Benz when she became 2011 Penthouse Pet of the Year, but we really bonded when we went out with friends a few months later and Nikki taught me how to dougie, amongst other things. She is by far my favorite blonde, and interviewing her is always a blast. On the day I conducted this one, I was interviewing her for both my old column in Penthouse, “Pet Projects,” and this profile for Girls of Penthouse, so we got to talk for hours. And it was considered work. Sometimes, my job is pretty damn awesome.

You can read my interview with Nikki Benz, “Hot Shot,” from the July/August 2011 issue of Girls of Penthouse, below.

 

GOP: We know that you like to stay in touch with your fans, so instead of doing a regular interview, we put the word out on our Twitter account that people could ask you questions themselves. Do you want to hear some of the questions your fans sent to us?

NIKKI: That sounds like fun! Let’s do it!

GOP: First up, the question everyone’s most excited to know the answer to: Do you ever have flings? If so, where do you meet your men?

NIKKI: You know what? I do have flings. I meet men at the most random places. It could be anywhere from a Starbucks to the airport to a club. It just depends. My friend Lisa Anna, another porn star, taught me this term, “randoms.” So they’re my randoms. I’m single and willing to mingle, so I fuck random guys in random places. Well, not where I meet them. If we meet and we hit it off, then we go somewhere and hook up. Oh god, that could’ve sounded so bad! (laughs) Like, “Oh, yeah, I go to Starbucks and I bang the first guy I meet. There’s my random for the day.” It’s not like that!

GOP: What type of guys are you attracted to? Do “normal” guys have a shot with Nikki Benz?

NIKKI: Yes, yes and yes! I only date civilians. I don’t date male porn stars. That’s a big no-no for me. I’m all about the personality, actually. YOu have to be cute. I don’t have a real “type” of guy, but you have to have personality. I’ve been out with some of the most beautiful men, and they were as dumb as my wall. I was like, “This is it, it’s over for me.” It’s sad but true. If a guy is dorky looking or a geek or he’s just your average Joe but he has an amazing personality and a great sense of humor, I’m all about it.

GOP: If you had to choose, which would you rather have, sex or Starbucks coffee?

NIKKI: That’s a very unfair question! I’m going to have to say that I want to have sex while I’m holding a grande chai latte. I’ve never done that before, so I’d like to try it.

GOP: Wouldn’t it spill?

NIKKI: I can put it in one of those childproof cups and I can drink it with a straw. I gotta be creative, you know!

GOP: Along with sex and Starbucks, another thing you’ve tweeted about frequently is your Pomeranian, Tobby. So fans want to know, has Tobby ever made a cameo in one of your videos?

NIKKI: He did a cameo in one of my episodes of Cubed for Fox Sports. But I don’t think he’s made an appearance in any of my adult shoots. Maybe we should change that. He could be my Penthouse Pet mascot.

He’s such an attention whore. He really is. He’s sitting here next to me right now and wondering when you’re going to start asking him questions. He’s totally ready to jump in and be interviewed.

GOP: Another one of your fans wanted to know if you’ve ever been caught masturbating to a Penthouse magazine.

NIKKI: Yes! Dude, that’s my motto! “Safe sex: Masturbate with a Penthouse magazine!” (laughs) So yes, I have been caught with it. My home is filled with Penthouse magazines. Not just the ones I’m in, either. I get the magazine every month. They’re everywhere!

Seriously, one time I had a friend from Toronto, Canada, come visit me, and she walked in on me just kind of sleeping with a Penthouse magazine open next to me. I’m pretty sure she figured out what I was doing!

GOP: Okay, I have to ask. You’ve brought up Starbucks several times already. Is it Starbucks that you love, or is it coffee in general?

NIKKI: I do talk about Starbucks a lot, don’t I? My god! You need to find me an AA meeting for Starbucks fans. (laughs) I do like coffee in general, but I started working at Starbucks when I was a teenager and I’ve been hooked on the brand ever since. Now I feel like I absolutely have to have it. But I really do like the taste as well. I’ve had coffee from other places, and it’s not as good.

GOP: So what’s your favorite drink?

NIKKI: A dirty chai for a dirty girl! It’s a chai latte with a shot of espresso. If I want a little love kick, I’ll get just a regular chai latte, but if I need a kick in my ass in the morning, I’ll add the shot.

GOP: How many cups of coffee do you drink in a day?

NIKKI: Oh gosh. Before it was three or four a day. I’ve gone down to one, maybe two now. I tried to quit, but I kept getting really bad headaches, so I thought it was better to have my coffee than get a headache.

GOP: Do you have any other addictions?

NIKKI: I don’t think so. I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. No other addictions besides coffee. But I have hobbies, and those are addicting.

GOP: What are your hobbies, then?

NIKKI: I’m really into music. I don’t know if that’s a hobby, but it should be. I have music on all the time. And I love to dance. I’ll have the music on at home and be dancing by myself and I won’t even realize I’m doing it. I mean, I know it’s not really a hobby, but to me it is. I don’t have time to have a “real” hobby. I don’t have time to go hiking or collect stamps or anything. So I guess listening to music is my hobby.

GOP: What kind of music?

NIKKI: I really like hip-hop a lot, but I also like pop and I like metal. That’s about it. But at least I’ve ventured out into pop and metal. Before, I was all about hip-hop. I’m opening my mind.

GOP: You just don’t strike me as a hip-hop fan.

NIKKI: I know. It’s the funniest thing. I’ll be blasting gangster rap music in my car and I’ll pull up to a valet. When they open the door they’re like, “Whoa!” They get blown away by it. They’re like, “Hold up!” This little white girl comes out with blonde hair, listening to rap. I do it to trip them out. It’s fun!

I really just love music. I download a lot. Mostly because I feature dance, and I’d get bored dancing to the same old music all the time.

GOP: What are some of your favorite songs to feature dance to? Do you have a go-to song?

NIKKI: I have a lot of favorites. It depends on my mood, my outfit. I don’t have a single favorite song, though.

Right now the really hot hip-hop song is “Look at Me Now” by Chris Brown. That’s a really hot song to dance to at a club.

GOP: Is hip-hop your go-to genre?

NIKKI: I wouldn’t say I have a go-to genre. It’s more about the artist. I love Ice Cube, who’s more gangster rap, whereas Li’l Wayne can be more poppy sometimes. though he can also be deep and dark. It depends on my mood. But if I had to pick my top three hip-hop artists, I’d say Li’l Wayne, Eminem and … The third one’s a toughie. It rotates all the time. I think I’d probably have to say Notorious BIG. New York represent! (laughs)

GOP: When you’re not working, listening to music or drinking Starbucks—

NIKKI: By the way, this counts as working. I’m drinking a Starbucks latte right now, and I was listening to music before you called.

GOP: (laughs) We’d expect nothing less.

NIKKI: My mom always calls and says, “I don’t know what to get you,” whenever she’s looking for a gift. And I’m like, “Really? You don’t know what to get me? Starbucks gift card. Simple. It will always make me happy.”

GOP: When you’re not fueling your coffee habit, what else do you do?

NIKKI: I try to go to the gym, but I don’t make it very often. I think last year I went maybe nine times. It’s hard, so I don’t really do it. (laughs) I actually do a lot of computer work, believe it or not. Just office stuff. People are always blown away by that. I do my blog, my website, Twitter, Facebook, all of it.

When I have a little downtime, I love hanging out with my friends in LA, because I hardly see them. I’m such a gypsy, always traveling.

I like watching movies, too, especially gangster movies. My favorite movie is Casino. No, wait. Scarface. Casino would be my second favorite. But I’m goofy, too, and I love comedy. It depends on my mood.

GOP: Did your love of gangster movies lead to your interest in learning to shoot guns?

NIKKI: Oh, shoot. (laughs) I guess that is a hobby, isn’t it? Unfortunately, I don’t go often enough. Is there a time requirement for a hobby?

GOP: I don’t think so.

NIKKI: Maybe that is my hobby then. (laughs) I’ve always been into guns. I just think hot chicks with guns are really hot! I’ve never owned a gun and I probably won’t own a gun, but I’d like to know how to shoot one. It’s a good stress reliever. You come out of there and you feel so good!

I go with friends whenever I go. I think I’d be too intimidated to go by myself. So I go with someone who’s actually a professional shooter, or I’ll go with my guy friends. They’re teaching me how to shoot.

GOP: You look pretty fierce when you’re holding a gun. It’s sexy.

NIKKI: I do like guns. (laughs) It’s not a weird obsession or anything. At least not yet. But it’s fun to go shooting. Plus, like you said, I look sexy with a gun in my hands!

GOP: That brings us back to a fan question. What is your favorite gun to shoot these days?

NIKKI: My favorite pieces are the ones I can’t shoot because my arm will blow off. Like the Desert Eagle, that’s beautiful! But the one that I’m most comfortable with right now is probably the 9mm.

I’ve always like what boys like. I love fast cars. I’ve gone to a few car races. If I wasn’t doing porn, maybe I would drive race cars. That would be a good profession, racecar driver. That’d be hot! Or maybe I would be an entertainment attorney like I always wanted to. Obviously that one didn’t work out.

GOP: How did you go from wanting to be a racecar driver or an entertainment attorney to being a porn star?

NIKKI: I took a year off before going to college to make money. My mom raised me on her own, and I didn’t want her to feel the pressure to pay for school. I wanted to make my own money, and I did. I made a lot of it. I was an 18-year-old stripper, so I made a lot of money. And then I decided to take another year off. Money is the devil. So then I took another year off. I was making all this money, and I thought, “Okay, let’s try to doublt it.” After that, I didn’t want to go back to school at all, and I kept working.

My boyfriend at the time was really into Jenna Jameson, but I didn’t know who she was, so I did some research on her and on the whole adult industry in general. I really did. I Googled stuff and found stuff out. And then I said to myself, “I wanna try that! I don’t want to just be a stripper, I want to be famous!” (laughs) So I did. And it’s been fun!