Zoe Summers graces Playboy cover, nears return to studio shoots as post-op performer

Five years ago, Zoe Summers was mopping floors, cleaning restrooms and stocking shelves at a gas station in central Michigan.
Now she’s on the cover of Playboy.
Well, technically, it’s Playboy Australia.
But Playboy, nonetheless.
Summers—the post-op trans star formerly known as Izzy Wilde—graced the cover of the magazine’s May issue and is still riding an emotional high from the achievement one month later.
Summers tells PornCrush that she was summoned as a last-minute fill-in when the original cover model had to back out for personal reasons. The shoot was coordinated by Summer’s team at Centerfolds PR, with longtime industry lensman Miles Long serving as the photographer.
“The whole experience was so rewarding,” Summers says. “Miles did an amazing job with the photos. The cover shot is great but the pictures inside the actual magazine are gorgeous, too.”
Summers says more magazine shoots have already been scheduled, including one with FHM. She’s also just weeks away from returning to studio porn following her sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) last fall.
“I’m way ahead on my dilation schedule,” Summers says with a chuckle. “I can fit quite a bit of dick in my pussy.”
Summers—who won a multitude of AVN and TEA awards as a pre-op performer—initially planned to resume shoots in the spring, but things got delayed when she decided to have a labiaplasty in April for cosmetic purposes.
Post-op trans performers are rare in porn, with Natassia Dreams and Kimber James being the only big-name talents in the past decade-plus to undergo SRS. Directors are unsure of how to book post-op talent. Should they be cast in trans scenes? Or cis scenes?
“I’m looking for work in the cis woman category,” Summers says. “I hope the industry accepts me because. I’m excited to show what I’ve got.”
Summers believes her situation will help spark change.
“There’s a stigma against post-op girls because people think their stuff won’t sell,” she says. “But that stigma is only because post-op girls are still placed in the trans category. When people click on trans porn, they’re looking for a dick. I have a pussy and it’s very natural looking, very real.
“I’m in a position to help break barriers and make things better so we can break the stigma.”