In brief: On Holly Randall Unfiltered (Aug. 16, with a Sept. 25 clip), Kasey Kei talked about coming out as trans at 22 at a low point, the awards on her bookshelf, making friends in LA, and why she is a Pineapple Support ambassador.
Contains adult themes: the embedded podcast video discusses adult-industry work.
Kasey Kei has seven trophies by her own count. She says winning them felt about like a normal Tuesday.
Kei was Holly Randall’s guest on “Kasey Kei Gets Real About Transitioning, Fame, and Building Community” (Holly Randall Unfiltered, Aug. 16). A follow-up clip, “Why Kasey Kei Became an Ambassador for Pineapple Support,” posted Sept. 25.
‘I always felt othered’
She said she was born in Japan and moved to the US at five, so “being an Asian immigrant coming to the States already, you’re being othered,” as she put it. As a teen in conservative Florida she borrowed a wig, bought Cover Girl at Walgreens and did her makeup: “that was 100% like the light bulb. Like, oh my god, I felt beautiful.” For years she thought she might be “just a drag queen,” and called herself a crossdresser. “It wasn’t until way later and really thinking about identity that I was like, I’m trans.”
The turning point came at 22. She said she had moved to West Virginia for a man she thought would be her happily ever after. “But baby, your happily ever after is not in West Virginia.” She left after about two years in a toxic relationship and moved in with her grandpa, “broke, 22,” and decided she didn’t “owe anybody anything.” She started cam work at 18 on Chaturbate and began posting at 22. On hormones she said there was a lot of anxiety: “oh no, I didn’t take my estrogen exactly at 900 a.m.” Her public-service message: “Get your hormone levels checked.”
The bookshelf
Asked how many awards she has (20:23): “I have two ABN, three TEAS, and two XMA,” as captioned. She said she talked herself out of the old superstition that a big early award is cursed. After her latest win she told her best friend:
Girl, I don’t feel any different.
“Life keeps moving along,” she added.
Friends, and therapy
Making adult friends in LA takes work, she said. She assumes about 25% of RSVPs won’t show up and keeps inviting people anyway. She watches who people choose to spend time with, and treats narcissistic behavior as a red flag. Her circle of trans women in LA was planning a 16-person trip to Tulum.
On Pineapple Support, she said many sex workers quit therapy after being told “that my problems in life is because I do porn,” and that the nonprofit connects them with sex-positive, queer-literate therapists on a “pay what you can” basis. Growing up in poverty without health insurance, she said, she didn’t start therapy until she had coverage. Her one bad review was a couples therapist who, she said, “didn’t like me.” She called the job “very taxing on your psyche and your self-perception,” and said it also gave her financial freedom she wouldn’t otherwise have had.
XBIZ reported that she won three awards at the 2026 TEAs, including Best Hardcore Performer. AIWARDS lists two AVN and two XBIZ wins; the captions’ “XMA” likely means XBIZ. Her personal history is her own account. Pineapple Support describes itself as a nonprofit providing free and low-cost therapy to adult-industry workers.
So she has seven trophies, a 16-person trip to Tulum and therapy on a sliding scale, and she still says winning doesn’t change much. Plenty of people could use that attitude.