Bonnie Rotten is an American former pornographic actress, feature dancer, fetish model, director, and producer.^[3] In 2014, she became the first alt-porn star to win the AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year.^[4]

Rotten is from Hamilton, Ohio.^[2] She is of Italian, German, Polish, and Jewish descent.^[5] She was raised by her grandparents.^[1] She says her first sexual experience was at the age of 12 with a boy who was 13.^[6] She claims to have had her first sexual experience with multiple male partners at age 16.^[7] She was, she says, very sexually active throughout adolescence. She told one interviewer: "I was very promiscuous up until the time I left Ohio. I was banging everybody and having sex with all of my girlfriends, all that fun kind of stuff."^[8]

Rotten started her career as a fetish model for the magazine Girls and Corpses,^[9][10] which took note of her after she won the Ms. Dead Indiana Beauty Pageant at the Indianapolis Days of the Dead convention.^[10][11] She entered the adult industry in early 2012.^[9][10] Previously, Rotten also worked as a model in car and motorcycle shows.^[5][9] She also began stripping on her eighteenth birthday using the stage name "Dixie".^[1] Her routine as a stripper was to always wear American flag bikinis and dance only to Southern rock.^[1]

In September 2012, she obtained breast implants.^[12]

The company Digital Sin produced two films focused entirely on her, Meet Bonnie that was a sales chart topping success^[13] and The Gangbang of Bonnie Rotten.^[13] She has done at least fourteen videos featured on Kink.com, including some subjecting her to bondage and pain.^[14] Much of her work has focused on her ability to ejaculate.^[15] She has said that this was a technique taught to her by fellow performer Veronica Avluv.^[16] Rotten credits adult video legend Nina Hartley with helping her make the transition from modeling to porn.^[17]

In 2014, Rotten reprised the role of "Max Candy" in the porn remake of Cape Fear and cited Robert De Niro's performance in the 1991 version as her inspiration for the role.^[18] She stated about De Niro: "I really love Robert De Niro, and I thought this is a really great movie that he did, and he's such a creep and so crazy in it."^[18]

In September 2014, she began a publicity tour which included visits to Spain, South Africa, Germany, and Switzerland. Rotten said the tour was to be "the most ambitious thing I've ever done in my life."^[19]

In October 2014, the German-based company Digital Sports Innovation announced the availability of Bonnie Rotten figurines, ranging from five to fourteen inches tall. About the figurines Rotten said: "I always dreamed I would have one, and now I have four."^[20]

In February 2015, the sex toy manufacturer Pipedream announced that it was shipping the "Bonnie Rotten Signature Collection", including the "Bonnie Rotten Fantasy Fuck Doll. With real hair, a beautiful face molded directly from Rotten, and almost every one of her tattoos."^[21]

In April 2015, Rotten generated publicity in Manhattan by going topless in Times Square, Washington Square Park and on the subway.^[22][23][24]

In June 2015, the daily fantasy sports company Draftster announced that it had signed Rotten to an "exclusive sponsorship and promotional deal." She said the deal was "a dream come true."^[25]

Starting in 2013, Rotten appeared as a featured performer at strip clubs in numerous cities.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]} In October 2015, The Lee Network announced an exclusive agreement with Rotten to "bring her amazing feature dance talents to upscale gentlemen's clubs across the country."^[33]

Rotten appears with pornographic actresses Asphyxia Noir and London Keyes in the music video for the 2013 song "Kiss Land" by The Weeknd.^[34]

In January 2014, Rotten was featured in a music video for the Los Angeles band Piece by Piece along with Terror drummer Nick Jett.^[35] The video debuted on Vimeo.^[36]

In 2013, LA Weekly ranked her fifth on their list of "10 Porn Stars Who Could Be the Next Jenna Jameson".^[37] She was also placed on CNBC's list of "The Dirty Dozen: Porn's Most Popular Stars" in 2014.^[38]

In 2014, The Daily Beast referred to Rotten as "Porn's current 'It' girl" in an article about the annual AVN Awards at which she won "Female Performer of the Year". Though declaring that the porn industry had "died," performer Joey Silvera is quoted as saying: "there is still enough magic left that the awards can make a difference for Bonnie if she wins."^[39]

In January 2014, Rotten launched her own production company (Mental Beauty, Inc.) and signed a distribution deal with Girlfriends Films.^[40] She made her directorial debut with the film To the Core.^[41] She also directed Sisters of Anarchy for Digital Playground.^[42]

Rotten has over thirty tattoos,^[1] and her stage name comes from a so-named pinup zombie that she has tattooed on the back of her right leg.^[43] In one instance, she claimed that her favorite tattoo is the one on her stomach, featuring a zombie from the comic book Night of the Living Dead: The Beginning, Issue 1. It was her first ever tattoo and took 13 hours to complete.^[44] In June 2013, she said that her favorite tattoo was of Frank Sinatra on her leg.^[45] In addition to the above list, Rotten also has a spiderweb on each of her breasts with the areola as the center of each web. She is credited with furthering the acceptance of porn performers with tattoos.^[46]

In 2017 she opened a tattoo shop with Gentle Jay from ink masters called 'Bonnie Rottens Best Kept Secret', where she employed tattooers Mark Mathews from ink Masters, and Jack Mayfair, a tattooer out of Brooklyn. The shop was open for one year. Citing differences between her and Jay the shop was closed in early 2018.^[47]

Rotten speaks fondly of the grandparents who raised her, saying, "They did a great job."^[45] In May 2015, Rotten announced she was pregnant, giving birth to a daughter later in the year.^[48]