Adult star-turned-influencer Mia Khalifa has shocked the internet after a recent revelation.
And it has gained a lot of attention.
She claimed she was pressured into working in the adult industry!
She’s even said she regrets her decision.
“You knew what you are doing .. so take responsibility for your act and don’t blame others…” wrote one commenter.
“Why can’t they ever take responsibility for their own actions but have to blame a man for their own doings?!” another agreed.
“I’m sure her only fans suggest otherwise,” offered a third.
Scroll on to read the interview …
It’s no doubt that Khalifa was a huge star in the world of adult entertainment years ago…
However, no one really knew her story, until now.
Back in her X-rated days, Khalifa was one of the most popular female adult stars out there, being of the most searched stars online.
The Lebanese-born star began her career in the United States in 2014 and, by December that year, she was ranked as the number 1 performer on the most popular adult site.
Her career choices caused controversy in the Middle East — the place in which Khalifa was born.
This was due to one of her performances involving her wearing an Islamic hijab whilst performing s*xual acts.
Her portrayal of religion caused a lot of controversies…
And 1 video, which showed Khalifa and her co-star playing along to a terrorist-style beheading scene, caused so much outrage it resulted in her receiving abuse and death threats over her actions.
Khalifa, who was raised Catholic, had manipulated images of herself shared online by an ISIS executioner threatening that she will be going to Hell.
She replied to the threat light-heartedly, and said: “I’ve been meaning to get a little tan recently.”
The terror group also hacked her Instagram account, filling it with Jihadi propaganda before Instagram stepped in and shut down her account.
This frightening incident was what lead Khalifa to leave the industry for good.
Khalifa transitioned into a career as a social media personality, webcam model, and sports commentator.
She also runs her very own YouTube channel, which has over 896,000 subscribers.
Khalifa is not shy about talking about the adult-entertainment industry.
She revealed how she adjusted to life after being a huge adult star, and how it wasn’t all “sunshine and flowers.”
“The turning point, of course, was when I did the hijab scene,” she admitted. “That is when the ISIS death threats came in, all of the news broke out… globally, not just in America. It was trending on Twitter, it was all over the news.
“I was banned from a handful of countries… Egypt… Afghanistan… Very Muslim countries were deeply offended by it, and I’m Catholic,” she explained.
Khalifa announced that, in total, she only made around $12,000 from her time spent working in the industry.
However, many fans found this hard to believe and they took to Twitter to express their disbelief, but Khalifa was at hand to correct these rumors.
“To clarify, I was never offered millions, nor do I expect it,” she went on to say, “I’m just clarifying common misconceptions about me, and in turn, about the industry.
“I was involved in it so briefly, but my actions spread like wildfire, and I continue to be ranked (truly baffles me) 5 years after leaving the industry. This is why people think I still perform,” she said.
Speaking to the BBCHARDtalk, Khalifa opened up about her path into the industry and how her family disowned her.
Stephen Sackur, who interviewed Khalifa, asked whether or not her family had any idea about what she was doing at first.
To which she replied: “No.”
“And they disowned me when they found out. I felt completely alienated by not just the world, but my family and the people around me,” she continued.
“Especially after I quit, when I was still alone, even though I left. And I just realized some mistakes aren’t forgivable.
“But time heals all wounds, and things are getting better now,” she said.
Khalifa was brought by her parents to the United States from Lebanon.
She was schooled in the US and studied History at the University of Texas.
By the time she reached the age of twenty-two, she became the most searched-for performer on adult websites.
Khalifa explained it wasn’t just an urge to rebel that led her into p**n but also a lack of self-esteem.
“I don’t think low self-esteem discriminates against anyone. It doesn’t matter if you come from a great family or if you come from a not-so-great background,” she said.
“I struggled my entire childhood with weight, and I never felt attractive or worthy of male attention, and suddenly my first year of college I start losing all this weight from making small changes, and by the time I graduated I was ready to make a bigger difference,” Khalifa admitted.
Discussing the hijab scene she became famous for, she warned producers and said, “you guys are going to get me killed.”
She not only explained how the adult entertainment industry not only gave her post-traumatic stress disorder but it also ruined relationships with everyday people.
“Of course, it affects relationships. The things that men see in videos, they expect from the women in their lives, and that’s just not reality,” Khalifa said.
“No one is going to be that perfect, no one is going to do those acts on a Wednesday night with the person they love,” she added.
Khalifa explained the struggles she goes through in everyday life, even though she quit the adult entertainment industry years ago.
“I think post-traumatic stress kicks in mostly when I go on public. Because the stares I get, I feel like people can see through my clothes.
“And it brings me deep shame. It makes me feel like I lost all rights to my privacy, which I did because I am just one Google search away,” she said.
No matter what she does, there are still going to be fans that recognize her from her work in the p**n industry.
And there’s no escaping that.
Recently, Khalifa had to deal with a pretty awkward encounter with a fan, almost ruining his life…
Who bumped into her in Paris.
Viewers were shocked by the whole ordeal…
One TikTok user wrote: “I promise you she would’ve ignored your husband and talked to you lmao.”
While another commented: “To be fair, Mia would probably be really upset to hear u were treated that way.”
“It’s insane that he would be excited over her when he HAS you. You’re literally beautiful. Not bashing her but just saying you are stunning,” a third said.
But some were divided over whether or not Khalifa had to speak out about it.
“You’ve probably just made it 10x worse for him now,” one person commented, after the star spoke out about the ordeal.
But the majority of people did feel that the man maybe had it coming to him…
As if they were in the same situation, they wouldn’t have reacted the same.
“If it’s me I’m staying chill and walking the other way,” one person said.
While others said the protocol should always be to look at your feet and plead ignorance.
It all began when a TikToker’s husband noticed Khalifa was at the same hotel they were staying at.
Lya Mariella and her husband were out for dinner in Paris when he spotted the former adult star.
Explaining the events that followed, Lya said in a TikTok video that her partner got “way too excited.”
And immediately “text all of his guy friends” while they were meant to be enjoying their honeymoon together.
Things got a little more awkward for the husband when Khalifa herself spotted the post on TikTok and replied…
She wrote in the comment section: “Girl my man was on his phone the whole time, I say we throw them all away and go shopping tomorrow.”
Lya replied: “I’m currently at Hermes across the street, feel free to meet me here.”
Khalifa then responded: “Good, he owes you a Birkin.”
And while many viewers took their exchange as just a friendly chat between the pair, it seems she was not joking.
After being publicly shamed for his actions on his honeymoon, Lya’s husband did indeed pay up for a Birkin.
Just hours after the video was uploaded, Lya and Khalifa appeared in a video together…
Which was recorded by the SO.
Awkward!
“I’m here at the christening of the Birkin… we’re not going to dunk it in water because we don’t do that to a Birkin,” Khalifa joked in the video.
“This was the best meeting ever and also her husband that we were talking s**t about is the one filming this right now.
“What a time to be alive,” Lya says while hugging Khalifa.
It seems Khalifa found the exchange pretty amusing, as she later took to Twitter to share what had happened.
Sharing a screenshot of the video, Khalifa captioned the post: “This influencer staying at my hotel in Paris posted a TikTok feeling bad cause her man was excited to see me walk by at dinner last night, and this morning he bought her a Birkin to make up for it. A *BIRKIN*!!”
And she didn’t leave it there, she also posted another TikTok with Lya.
In the short video, the text reads: “When you’re about to cuss him out for recognizing Mia Khalifa but he hits you with the uno reverse: birkin edition.”
Khalifa soon went viral again.
This time for her comments on men liking other girls’ posts on Instagram!
She shared her thoughts in a scandalous TikTok.
“I’m not being over dramatic when I say that I would rather sit naked on a hot grill than ask a man to not like other girls’ posts on IG,” the video said.
“I simply just disappear into thin air never to be heard from again.”
Since posting, the video has gained 186,000 likes and 3.6 million views.
oon afterS, Khalifa offered fans an “update” on a drastic change to her appearance.
And she didn’t shy away from showing her fans what it included.
“Considering nurturing the unibrow and letting her live her life for a bit,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories, while she shared a close-up snap of her then-perfectly tamed brows.
Khalifa then shared another picture of her brows, this time a little bushier than before.
“Unibrow update,” she wrote alongside the picture.
In another snap, she shared a zoomed-in picture of her furrowed brow that showed new hairs growing.
But that’s not all…
Khalifa also posted a close-up of Michelangelo’s famous painting ‘The Creation of Adam’, which showed 2 hands almost touching, and she captioned it: “Those two lil hairs” with a cry laughing emoji.
You can see the photos here.
But this week, speaking on Steven Barlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast, Khalifa made a shocking revelation.
She claimed she got into the adult industry as a result of an abusive relationship.
“I got talked into eloping to Las Vegas four days after my 18th birthday,” she said.
“I didn’t have a sense of self so I attached myself to someone who was more than happy to abuse that and someone who could see that and see someone easily manipulatable.”
“But at the same time [I was] eager to please. It was just the perfect storm.”
“I even feel weird calling it a relationship, because the dynamic was not one of a relationship – it was more one of someone who saw a toy to play with.”
Khalifa has been vocal about discouraging young women from joining the industry since she left.
What do you think of her comments?