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Marina Shiraishi: Husband does not know she’s AV starlet

TOKYO (TR) – In Japan’s adult video (AV) industry, one of the standard themes is that of a man having sex with a married woman who is not his wife.

For actress Marina Shiraishi, 34, she brings fantasy to reality: She is married in real life.

What’s more, she divulges to Flash (July 21), her husband is unaware of her line of work.

“My husband is on an overseas assignment,” she says, “and I don’t think he knows yet. But I’m wondering what I’ll say if he returns to Japan.”

Flash July 21

The concerns of Shiraishi seem well-founded. In 2013, she made her AV debut for Soft On Demand, perhaps the label with the highest profile in the industry.

She continues, “I realize you are expecting me to say, ‘I’m working as an AV actress. It’s fun. I still don’t want to quit.’ But I’ve begun to think, ‘What if, in the worst case, I get divorced?'”

“I’ll do it for just a year”

Shiraishi’s path in the entertainment industry started with appearances in fashion magazines for teenagers. In high school, she appeared in a popular commercial.

Shiraishi’s career was put on hold while she got married and gave birth to a boy. Things were going well — one of her dreams, as she says, was “to be a young mother” — yet she lacked satisfaction.

She became acquainted with an AV talent agency through a friend. Before she started, she told herself that she’d “only do it for a year” and “stop before [my identity] is leaked.” (To help, she uses a pseudonym.) She also vowed to not tell her husband, parents or siblings.

“What caused you to enter this line of work?”

All went to plan until the release of Shiraishi’s first photo collection as an AV actress. After her mother found a copy that she had concealed under her bed, a family meeting was held.

Marina Shiraishi made her AV debut for Soft On Demand in 2013

A number of questions ensued: “What are you going to do now? Do your husband and child know? What caused you to enter this line of work?”

Her mother, a housewife, was especially upset. Meanwhile, her father, an office worker, said, “You only live once. Since you are an adult, it is your decision. I’ll try to support you as much as I can, but this is just temporary, right?”

Shiraishi remembers of her father, “He was somewhat understanding.”

“I still have the desire to take on challenges”

Shiraishi is one of the top stars in the industry. At the DMM Adult Awards 2015, she took the Excellent Actress prize. The year before, she claimed the Best New Actress title at the same event. Between 2015 and 2019, she was a member Ebisu Muscats, a pop group composed of AV actresses

Given her elite status, Flash speculates that Shiraishi’s husband actually is aware of her work, a possibility that she does not dispute.

Shiraishi’s son is in his fifth year of elementary school. “I haven’t talked to my son properly yet [about my line of work], but I think he’s probably aware,” she says. “Since he and his dad are guys, they are probably talking. If the three of us talk, it’ll probably come out.”

Shiraishi knows that she could lose all the meaningful relationships she has built up until now by continuing. But she also sees her work as a “vocation,” a way to open new paths. She says, “I still have the desire to take on challenges.”