Page 51 - AVN April 2023

“It was honestly just like a highlight of my life.”
Charly Summer remembers when the nerves took over.
She tried to remain calm sitting in the fifth row at the 40th annual AVN Awards Show in Las Vegas, but there was no denying what was at stake about 11 p.m. on Saturday, January 7th.
The time had come to crown the 2023 Best New Starlet—one of the night’s most anticipated categories.
“And they started rattling off all the names and I was like, oh my god, it’s really happening— there’s no more running from this moment,” Summer recalls.
She managed to control her emotions during the four days at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo leading up to the ceremony, meeting fans and chatting with peers—many of whom offered words of encouragement.
“I had a lot of people during the time I was at the expo at Jules Jordan’s booth come up to me—and some fellow performers who were in my category—and tell me that they thought I was gonna win,” Summer admits. “And then my nerves went even higher.
“And then the people that I look up to that I think are like the coolest are telling me this and I’m like, ‘No way you guys, no way.’ I’m like, ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen.
“So I felt like the pressure was on. It was crazy the way it all went down, all that building and then to walk away with a win was really exceptional.”
Summer carved out her own piece of AVN Awards history by becoming the first Best New Starlet crowned at an in-person show in Vegas following the global pandemic; she also was the first to take the stage at the all-new theatre venue after more than a decade of the event being held at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
The entire experience turned into a blur of excitement for Summer, who eased into adult work after becoming a viral sensation on Reddit under the username “kittytinyfeets.”
“It definitely took me a while to process. It was a crazy moment. I’ve never really had a moment in my life like that before. My heart was literally pounding out of my body,” Charly says. “I was not expecting to have that reaction either. I was like, oh, play it cool, play it cool, you know, whatever.
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