When Desiree Cousteau first began her film career in the 70s, she started out as a mainstream actress. She landed a small role in Caged Heat in 1974, which was a movie about women in prison. Desiree Cousteaus career in the mainstream genre of movies never did really take off, and it wasnt long before she found herself acting in adult pornographic films. She continued working in adult movies through the 1980s.

In 1978, Desiree Cousteau received the adult Film Association of Americas Best Actress award for her role in Pretty Peaches. This movie was directed by Alex de Renzy, who considered it to be one of his best. Desiree Cousteau played Peaches, who was a carefree, almost ditzy girl who goes through her life without worrying about things. In the movie, after she attends her fathers wedding, she gets into a car accident and passes out. Two men find her and have their erotic, sexual way with her, then they offer to help her when they realize she has suffered from amnesia. Desiree Cousteau, or Peaches, is her same carefree smiling self throughout the movie and all of the schemes that the two men come up with throughout the movie.

Unfortunately for Desiree Cousteau, many of the movies that she had made portrayed her as a ditzy, dim witted chick. This led many people to believe that she herself was pretty flighty.

In 1979, Desiree Cousteau also did a somewhat autobiographical film called Inside Desiree Cousteau. In the film, she is a reporter who is trying to dissuade the men who try to get close to her in the workforce. She picks up a huge news scoop one day from a presidential candidate, and then tries her skills as a door to door salesperson. This is when she has some sexual encounters. Trying to find a job that doesnt entail sexual activity, she finds a job on a yacht, but then has encounters with two porn stars there. She finally realizes that no matter what she does there will be sex involved, decides to become a porn star, and finally is happy.

There are rumors about what happened to Desiree Cousteau after the adult film business. The first claims that she got married and enjoys family life, another says that she was institutionalized after a mental breakdown, and the third claims that she became a psychologist. All are true! Desiree Cousteau was briefly married, got treatment for emotional and substance abuse, and became a successful child psychologist!