Tiffany Shepherd/Leah Lust Can’t Teach in Port St. Lucie

Recession struggles mean porn for former HS biology teacher

Tiffany Shepherd, former high school biology teacher, is being denied work either because she worked as a bikini-clad fishing charter attendant or because she wasn't showing up for work. Oh, and there's the porn… (Photo: fisherwy.blogspot.com)

Not showing up for work and not having a reasonable excuse are difficult things for employers to ignore. If Tiffany Shepherd (aka Leah Lust) was fired due to chronic absenteeism, it would be understandable. However, if she was fired because she moonlighted as a bikini-clad attendant on chartered fishing cruises, Port St. Lucie High School should be ashamed. They should leave well enough alone and strengthen their relationships with their own spouses, rather than fantasizing about Tiffany Shepherd. Their former biology teacher could use installment loans, but the “former” status makes that difficult.

Desperate times, less clothing

According to the New York Daily News, photos of Tiffany Shepherd in her fishing charter garb were actually responsible for the firing, while the school claims it was more because she missed too much work. Whatever the case, she’s been unable to find employment in her chosen field, so she’s resorted to pornography to pay the bills. Not the choice most people would make, but I understand she was desperate. She’d also lost custody of two of her three children and was facing eviction.

It’s not like she hadn’t tried to find work

Tiffany Shepherd, 31, says she sent out 2,500 resumes to find a new teaching job. Some of her applications even went to prisons. But when things failed to work out in a reasonable amount of time and financial difficulties set in, Tiffany Shepherd became Leah Lust.

“I’m not particularly proud of it. To be honest, I hate it,” Shepherd told a Florida news outlet. “I’m an educated woman, but I never thought it would come to this. No one gets brought up thinking they’ll be a floozy.”

Yet “it’s very professional”

The Daily News reports that Leah Lust has appeared in five adult features, including “My First Sex Teacher,” which mirrors her real-life struggle to get her job back. Too close for comfort with starched shirt administrators?

“It’s very professional,” says Shepherd. “Everyone’s tested — for venereal diseases and AIDS — and I’m carrying around my little piece of paper that says I’m fine. They love me because I take care of myself and I don’t run out to party with my money.” Is it as professional as California, where the industry refuses to use condoms on screen?

The captain of the fishing charter hooked Leah Lust

Captain Gil Coombes of the fishing boat “Smokin ‘Em” recommended to Tiffany Shepherd that she try adult entertainment as a means to procure money during her emergency. Installment loans may have been a better alternative (definitely less reputation-altering), but not having employment disqualified her with reputable lenders. Shepherd tried it and has now starred in multiple films.

Of course, Coombes leveled with Shepherd.

“We sat down with her and told her she’d never get a teaching job again,” Coombes told a local Florida newspaper.

Yet pornography is becoming mainstream

However, it may never reach the point where people are comfortable with adult entertainment industry stars teaching their children. I can understand the impulse, although I certainly do not view the pornography industry as a “sin.” I think that many other countries laugh at America for its puritanical viewpoint and damaging mix of religion and politics. But from an evolutionary standpoint, some of that is to be expected. America is through its crawling and walking stages. It’s definitely the biggest kid on the block, make no mistake. And eventually it will learn to run without tripping over its own feet.

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