While attending Oregon State University last October, Kendra Sunderland made a name for herself. But it wasn’t for being a stellar student or a knockout sports star. Instead, the pretty, perky and amiable blonde became a star on campus — and ultimately the web — for taping herself masturbating in the university’s library.
Sunderland, 19, who had been a camgirl for MyFreeCams.com, subsequently left school and was later arrested and charged with public indecency, after a recording of her original video was posted on Pornhub.com in January, where it received more than 300,000 views in the span of a few days. If found guilty at her April 28 court date, Sunderland could spend a year in jail and pay a $6,250 fine.
While all that legal stuff could certainly be a turn off, Sunderland isn’t letting them get her down. In fact, the woman now known as the Library Girl, has been doing just fine. Banned from MyFreeCams for the incident, Sunderland partnered with FriendFinder Networks to create her own cam-show site, PlayWithKendra.com, did a video for Playboy and has a spread in this month’s Penthouse.
TheBlot Magazine caught up with Sunderland on her press visit to New York last month, and while she didn’t get to visit all the spots from her favorite movie “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” on her first trip to the Big Apple, she did open up about her parents’ feeling on the library incident, why she really wants to tell off online haters and that infamous day among all those books.
Nikki M. Mascali: Let’s talk about that day in the library. Did you wake up knowing you were going to do that or was it an impulse decision?
Kendra Sunderland: It was so last minute! I was in the middle of camming at my house, and someone suggested it, so I packed up all my stuff and went to the library. That’s why my hair wasn’t done. I was wearing jeans and a hoodie, I had no time to prep, but I had no idea it would be out there in the news and everything!
So no one noticed you at all?
[shakes head] Near the end, some guy walked by probably five times, and then he eventually sat down right behind me, and I was like, “OK, time to go.”
Why the library?
I just thought I’d be able to find a floor with no one really there, where they’re all paying attention to their studying, and it was completely secluded. I felt I’d be able to get away with it. I thought it would be a fantasy for a guy to see a college girl in a library.
Your parents weren’t happy about the video. How do they feel now?
They weren’t happy before all this when I told them I’d started camming and that I’d dropped out of school. It was kinda rough, but since this all came out, my mom is really, really sweet. She doesn’t like what I do, but she knows it’s what makes me happy and the best for me, so they’re really supportive of that. There’s worse things in the world I could be doing …
What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about camgirls?
There’s so many! People think we’re just doing it for the money; that’s kind of degrading and sad. They think we have daddy issues or we don’t respect ourselves and have no morals. It’s not like that — our morals are different from yours.
Camming is becoming so popular, and I think a lot of people don’t know about it, and they don’t know how it works. I love doing it; I’m comfortable being naked and with my sexuality, so I do it for fun really. Those people have their own issues. It’s sad.
Do you want to make the jump to traditional porn eventually?
No, I’ve been turning down all the offers. If I do, PlayWithMe.com now allows guys on cam, which is super-awesome, so I feel if I ever do find a guy that I’m comfortable with and would want to bring on-cam, I feel I would do that, but I’m not getting into the hardcore stuff.
What do you want people know about PlayWithKendra.com?
I love my fans! I’ll talk to them, if they want to pay to get me naked, I’ll get naked. If they want to just sit and talk, I’ll sit and talk. I love it when people want to talk … I’ll sit there topless sometimes.
How important is engaging with your fans on social media?
I think it’s really important — they’re investing their time and money, and I feel like I should do the same. They’re so sweet and nice to me, I feel the only thing I can give back to them is my time and me being real to them. I wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for them.
And how do you handle the inevitable haters?
I’m not on there all the time looking — it would drive me crazy. I do read the nice things people say and the rude things, and I just laugh sometimes. I’m told not to respond because it’s bad for your image, but I’d love nothing more than to go off on some of these people. I enjoy defending myself because I think it makes people think because they shouldn’t be judging people — I’m really trying to push that.
If I have all these followers and a voice that’s being heard, I want my voice to be for something good. I don’t want to just post nudes and be all, “Look at me!” I want to make people think about why they judge people or be so worried about what they do. I definitely think it’s their insecurities. It’s only spreading hate.
As your court date looms, do you have any regrets?
I wish I would’ve done my hair [laughs], but no, I don’t regret it.
Nikki M. Mascali is editor of TheBlot Magazine.
