Louis Theroux has said that parents should warn their children that “the porn world isn’t the real world”.
In the documentary filmmaker’s new three-part series, Forbidden America, he takes a behind-the-scenes look at on-camera sex work in the US.
In a new interview, Theroux discussed Billie Eilish’s recent remarks about how porn “destroyed my brain” after she started watching it aged 11.
Speaking to Radio Times, Theroux said: “Someone needed to say to her when she was a child – it sounds like I’m blaming the parents, and maybe I am, slightly – children and young adults need to understand that the porn world isn’t the real world.”
The 51-year-old – who is father to sons Albert, 15, Frederick, 13, and Walter, seven, with his wife, the TV producer Nancy, 5 – added: “I’m on the cusp of my kids entering that stage of their lives, so I may have a rude awakening ahead of me. I haven’t even disabled the settings on my internet.
“I’ve talked to them. I have said to them, ‘When you see porn, if this is something you’ve stumbled across, just so you know, that’s not the real world. That’s not how people have sex.
“That’s people who are performing and doing things to satisfy consumers and don’t mistake it for how sex takes place.’”
Theroux said his sons told him to “shut up”.
Forbidden America will focus on porn performers, far-right online influencers and rappers.
The show will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, with the first episode airing on 13 February 2022 at 9pm.
