Shauna Grant - Retirement

Retirement

In 1983, Grant retired from the adult film industry after less than a year and just over 30 films and videos, in which she had sex onscreen with 37 men, and after contracting herpes and having an abortion. She disliked the industry, although she regarded Joey Silvera well.

Through Hollander she found a new boyfriend, cocaine dealer Jack "Jake" Ehrlich, age 44. Ehrlich eased her out of adult films, and the two settled in Palm Springs, California. According to Palm Springs Police, Ehrlich made his living supplying cocaine to tenants of an upscale condominium park close to his house. He had compiled an extensive record of arrests in California, which included such offenses as selling narcotics and possession of stolen property. He also owned a leather goods store, Pelle, in downtown Palm Springs, which Grant began to manage.

According to the Frontline piece, while Grant was still living with Ehrlich, she began a relationship with a Minnesota college student (who appears in the Frontline story) during a trip back to Farmington, telling her high school friends that she planned to marry him.

In February 1984, Ehrlich was arrested and later sentenced to a five-year prison sentence, which he began serving in the State Institution for Men in Chino, California. The charges related to Ehrlich's 1981 arrest for possession of what detectives described as "several" pounds of cocaine. Grant was ambivalent about her circumstances following her boyfriend's conviction, which cut off her drug supply.

The night of the 8th Annual Adult Film Association Awards show, at the Coconut Grove Ambassador Hotel, she was a multiple nominee and presenter (with John Leslie). While her desire for work in mainstream films was not working out, she was so prestigious at the time that famed director Francis Ford Coppola was seated at her table.

That night she agreed to work on her first adult film in ten months. Matinee Idol was due to begin filming in eight days in San Francisco, California. A few days after the awards show, her Minnesota boyfriend flew to Los Angeles to see her, but Grant and Smith had partied for two days, and Grant forgot about his arrival until the last minute. The beau was stranded at the airport, as neither Grant nor Smith had a car. This was the same day that Ehrlich telephoned from prison, saying that their relationship was over and Grant would have to move out.

Grant persuaded her friend and veteran porn actress, Kelly Nichols, to take the role which was intended for her. Grant also had the option of returning to Minnesota. Her parents offered to pay for her college expenses, but she believed she would no longer be comfortable at home in Minnesota.