Mia Khalifa gave somewhat surprising advice to young women who are looking to join the adult industry.
The now 32-year-old only ended up spending about three months working in porn after she skyrocketed to fame as a 21-year-old. Khalifa was scouted in Miami in 2014 and said she was ‘pressured’ to do a particularly controversial video which she is still known for to this day.
The Lebanese-American woman says her being Arabic and speaking Arabic was ‘exploited’ as she was filmed wearing a hijab while performing sexually explicit acts.
With this quickly leading to an ‘avalanche’ as news outlets around the world picked up on it, Khalifa felt she ‘lost control’ of her image and reputation.
And she soon quit the porn industry, now working as an influencer and running an OnlyFans.
She’s been pretty open about how she has made much more money on the adult subscription platform than she did making porn.
Plus, Khalifa has discussed how she’s had much more control using that while still speaking out about the dangers of sex work and problems with working in pornography.
In 2024, she spoke with the New York Times as the outlet asked: “Is it difficult to thread the needle between talking about what the potential harms of that industry are while also not further stigmatising people who work in it?”
And Khalifa explained that it’s ‘very’ difficult, as she often finds herself in the face of backlash from women within the industry.
“I don’t care if another girl is getting mad at me because I’m stigmatising something,” the former adult star said. “It is contradictory of me to be on something and tell other people, ‘No, don’t join’.”
However, she stressed that she isn’t telling people not to join the industry and instead: “Don’t join so young, don’t join as an answer to all of your problems. Just don’t do something you could regret. The internet is forever.”
That certainly rings true for her, having spoken about the consequences of the controversial hijab video which saw her vilified across the Middle East.
Khalifa has said she even received ‘death threats’ from ISIS and is not welcome in her home country.
While she has not officially been told she cannot enter countries there, the star has said security agencies have recommended she didn’t go.
Khalifa said during an interview with her friend Megan Abbott that the negative reaction to her video was ‘like wildfire’.