Well, most people who knew him and have publicly talked about it seem to agree he was a totally different person in the 70s, before he got really famous and in to cocaine.

But yeah, he was probably a complete mess the whole time.

Yeah, drugs and fame really did a number on him, no doubt. There are certain people, often creatives, who have a warped self-image to begin with, and fame provides them with a new, even more warped self image. I can remember seeing a John Holmes porn magazine in the seventies, and the print was all about how"Big" John Holmes was "The King of the Studs". If he came to believe his own myth, we that was a pretty dumb myth.

There's a much better documentary of Holmes called "John Holmes: A life Measured in Inches". One thing I noticed watching is that the women who were closest to him, his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, are the ones who regard him as a bastard. It doesn't speak well for him. Incidentally, years later, the two women are still close friends.

If you pimp out your underage girlfriend and abuse her physically, you have to own that shit. The same for making fuck films without telling your co-stars you've got HIV.

I really don't mean to condemn the poor guy. Whatever his trespasses, he paid for them. But if we're going to watch the video, we should acknowledge just what happened to him.

(Incidentally, Holmes made one gay porno movie, "The Private Pleasures of John Holmes". All four principle actors dies of AIDS.)