The Bold and the Beautiful actress Maitland Ward says she has been liberated from Hollywood by becoming a porn star

Ward originated the role of Jessica Forrester

Soap fans often wonder what happens to cast members who leave a daytime drama. One former daytime actress has been quite busy since leaving the show that started her career in entertainment. As a teenager, actress Maitland Ward debuted as Jessica Forrester on the CBS series The Bold and the Beautiful (1994–1996). The six-foot-tall soap vet retired from acting in 2007 and began a career as a pornographic film star in 2019. Let's take a look at how she got there.

On B&B, Jessica is the daughter of John Forester ( Fred Willard) the brother of Eric Forrester (John McCook). Her mother is Maggie Forrester (Barbara Crampton). Ivy Forrester (Ashliegh Brewer) is Jessica's half-sister because her father is John and her mom is Claire Forrester (who was never seen on screen).

Jessica Forrester's brief B&B history

At 17, Jessica fell in love with Forrester Creations intern Dylan Shaw (Dylan Neal). The age difference made Eric livid, and the duo eventually broke up. When Maggie arrived in LA, she and Dylan began dating. He was unaware that Jessica was Maggie's daughter. When she found out Jessica was still in love with Dylan, Maggie broke up with him.

Lauren Fenmore (Tracy Bregman) from The Young and the Restless offered to pay Dylan to have sex with her to test his loyalty to Jessica, who by this time had become involved with Sly Donovan, who was only interested in the Forrester money. Jessica ended things with him and returned to Dylan. When Sly found out, he raped Jessica, who didn't tell anyone except her mother. She left Los Angeles to attend school in London and has not been seen or mentioned on B&B since 1996.

Boy Meets World controversy

Maitland Ward is best known for portraying Rachel McGuire in the last two seasons of the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World (1998-2000). She was roommates with Jack Hunter (Matthew Lawrence) and Eric Matthews (Will Friedle) and could not decide which guy to date. She went out with Jack a few times but it didn't last.

Ward was recently on the IHeart POD Meets World podcast where she argued with former co-star (Danielle Fishelle) Topanga Lawrence. There has also been friction between Fishel and Trina McGee, who portrayed Angela Moore.

Problems with the female cast

The sentiment from the women seems to be that Topanga's portrayer did not like new girls joining the show and taking the focus away from her. They imply she wanted the show to remain about her character, Corey Matthews (Ben Savage) and Shawn Hunter (Ryder Strong). This has not been confirmed.

McGee even suggested racism in her case and said that Strong was the only one who made her feel welcome. Friedel and Fishelle later apologized, saying they did not realize they were being mean to McGee, but Savage has never addressed the issue. He also has not appeared on the Podcast. Ward revealed that McGee is the only cast member to support her in her new career.

From sitcom to adult film roles

Ward shared that she feels liberated away from the constraints of Hollywood had always wanted to get into adult films. She added that she has not received backlash for her choice. She thinks it's because she has been positive about her experience.

“Just to be naked by myself and be confident in my body and myself, I would never have been able to do that [before],” Ward admitted. “Porn has really given that to me, that empowerment, to be able to stand in my own skin, to be able to create projects that I want to create and be proud of, to go against the mold and do something that other people haven’t done or have been too scared to do and to have the courage and confidence to do that. When you succeed at it, it’s like you feel so much more confident, because you’ve done something like nobody else has done.”

So for The Bold and the Beautiful viewers who remember Jessica Forrester, this is where her career has taken her. It would be interesting if she returned to B&B and her new career was written into the storyline as what she had been doing while in London. This probably will not happen since the actress says she is done with Hollywood.