Nora Louise Kuzma was born on 7th May 1968, in Steubenville, Ohio USA, of Ukrainian-Russian (father) and Irish (mother) descent. She started her career as Traci Elizabeth Lords in the pornographic movie industry, which she quit at the end of the ‘80s, and now she is working as an actress, producer, director, singer and writer.
So just how rich is Traci Lords? Sources estimate Traci’s net worth is over $7 million, the money having been made at first from appearances in adult films, and after 1986 in the television and entertainment industry.
Traci Lords Net Worth $7 Million
Traci’s childhood was marked by violence, from her father, stepfather and allegedly by a male friend when she was 10. She started making money as a nude model when she was 14, working with magazines like Club, Velvet, and Juggs. She was also a model for Penthouse, from which she received $5,000. At the age of 15 she signed her first contracts as a nude model, using a fake identity card which stated that Tracy was 22. By the time she was 18, Traci had made numerous adult films and, in 1986, the authorities found her true story: about 75 of her movies were made while she was under age. However, the scandal made Traci famous, while the media has written that the actress’ case has changed the industry, making pornography more accepted. Her only legal adult film which can be found in the USA is “Traci, I Love You”, as this was made on Traci’s 18th birthday.
Regardless, the media has estimated that Traci had 107 appearances in adult films and, as a porn actress, she was making about $1,000 for each day of filming, being one of the highest paid actresses in the industry back in the ‘80s. Despite this, Traci wrote in her autobiography that she only received $35,000 for all her pornographic appearances, however, it is known though that the film “Traci, I Love You” brought the actress about $100,000.
After the scandal, in 1985, Traci Lords stopped making adult movies and started her career as an actress. She started by taking lessons at the Lee Strasberg acting school and soon after she began performing in television series. In 1988, she received her first important role, in the film “Not of This Earth”, followed by numerous roles in films and television series, including “Blade”, “Married with Children”, “Melrose Place”, “Nash Bridges”, “Serial Mom”, “Profiler”, “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”, and “The Soccer Nanny”. Besides making money from acting, Traci Lords started focusing also on her music career and, in 1995, she even had an appearance in a television commercial for Guess.
As a singer, Traci Lords released her first recorded album in 1995, called “1000 Fires”, which included the hit “Control”, which later became part of the soundtrack of the film “Mortal Combat” and brought Traci a platinum album. In 2012, she released a second album, called “M2F2”. Her voice can also be heard on several video games, including “True Crime: New York City”, “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, and “Hitman: Absolution”.
In her personal life, Traci Lords has married three times: to Brook Yeaton, from 1990 to 1996, to Ryan Granger, between 1999 and 2000, and to Jeff Gruenewald, since 2002, with whom she has a son. Traci Lords published her autobiography called “Traci Lords: Underneath It All” in 2003 and the book soon appeared in The New York Times’ bestseller list. Traci Lords now lives in Southern California.
