Mia Khalifa (Arabic: ميا خليفة;) is a social media personality you might be familiar with, and a lot has happened since her short stint in the adult industry. After gaining notoriety around the world for her countercultural career, Mia is now in her mid-twenties. And she has a lot to say about the drama, the gossip, and the image she ended up with — for good and for bad!
Continental Shift
Everyone has a story, and Mia is no exception. Let’s take a look at where she came from, and what really happened in her young life as an immigrant in the United States.
After internet infamy and ISIS death threats, recent interviews in America and the UK show a very different girl than the public might expect. We’re happy to get to finally get to know the real Mia — a complex, three-dimensional person! Let’s explore, shall we?
A Whole New World
Mia actually hails from the Middle East, born and raised in Lebanon until age 10. Her family was Christian — Catholic, to be precise — and she attended a private French-language school in Beirut.
Many people may not be aware that Lebanon was once a majority Christian country in this region, but intense internal conflict and violence decades ago led to a mass exodus and diaspora of most of these former citizens.
Up to 18 million Christian Lebanese have emigrated! Mia’s family is one such example, and she found herself preparing to leave the home she had always known in the middle of childhood. How did she react to this difficult news?
Movin' On Out
In recent interviews, Mia has stated that she actually didn’t mind the idea! While many children might cry at the thought of even changing school districts at that age, Mia thought of it as an adventure. And in a way, it was!
Her family brought her to Washington DC, going from one capital to another. But Mia didn’t have proper English to start exploring her new country, and was put in ESL classes right away. She describes having a heavy accent for years, but it seems she has completely lost it at this point! Pretty impressive work, Mia.
Militarized Mia
Because her parents valued education, they were unsure about the public school system in DC. After all, they were accustomed to fancy French schools in the Paris of the Middle East!
After gaining enough working knowledge in the ESL program, Mia was sent to private school again. But this time, it was military boarding school! Yikes, right? It’s safe to say that many teens would be unhappy about this parental choice, but Mia is an out-of-the-box personality in many ways. How did she feel about this transition?
Free At Last
Mia actually says she loved military boarding school. It’s hard to believe, but she has described it a place she finally felt free. How could that be?
As a family plucked out of a conflict region and flown straight into a confusing new culture, things were not easy on a day-to-day basis. The insecurity of not knowing the main language or norms led her parents to becowzawwAwseme very strict and insular, which is not hard to understand when we really think about the stress involved.
As Mia began to Americanize and gain confidence in her new environment, this created a disconnect with her parents. After all, they were not in a youth program to ease integration. At military school, Mia had a chance to sleep far away from her family's watchful eye and focus on being an American teen.
Texas Tricks
Mia was a great student, and she went off to university in Texas after graduation. Her high school actually had a special program that allowed her to gain college credit during the summer — an extra opportunity to stay away from home!
She chose UT-El Paso because of its more open credit acceptance policies. Mia had enough under her belt to minimize tuition requirements to three years instead of four! But of course, we are all wondering what major she chose. What is Mia really passionate about?
Thrill or Chill?
Surprise, surprise — Mia is a history buff. She felt strongly that she needed to pick a subject that would never bore her, and played low and just focused on graduating early. Nice work, Mia!
Despite this success, something was deeply bothering her. Mia had a vulnerability, and it would eventually lead to the decisions that would shock her family and friends. What was really distracting Mia?
Putting Subway Jared To Shame
During college, Mia was actually going through a big personal transformation. While it might not be evident now, she actually spent her formative years struggling with her weight and self-image. By making small changes during this period with diet and exercise, Mia actually lost 50 pounds!
She did a bit of modeling work and bartender to get through school, and she even had a brief appearance on a Spanish gameshow as a “briefcase girl”. But despite some of this validation of her new physical appearance, Mia secretly felt she wasn’t attractive. But why?
Diet Aftermath
As many know, losing weight sometimes comes with an awkward adjustment. Mia suffered from loose skin and deflated breasts, and she has told interviewers she felt like she was left with the body of a middle-aged woman!
Mia knew she wanted to surgically correct this unexpected problem, and she heard the best place in the country for this type of procedure was Beverly Hills. But that’s not a cheap place, even for a week’s visit! In a clever move, Mia moved to Miami after college so she could get the second-best option in the country while simply paying normal rent as she recovered at home.
Attention Addiction
After surgery in Miami, things were looking bright. Mia was a college graduate with freedom from her parents, and she started to wear more revealing attire as a more confident person in public. In college, she hid her body most of the time with baggy clothes!
Mia describes seeing positive male attention on a level she had never experienced in her life, and this was intoxicating. She finally felt validated, and she loved it. Perhaps this was the perfect storm for a chance meeting that would come next.
A Surprise Encounter
While strolling in Miami, a man approached Mia and told her she was exceptionally beautiful. He asked if she had ever done modeling!
For a girl with chronic low self-esteem and weight issues, this was a compliment she was primed to accept. He flattered her about her body, and actually suggested nude modeling! A bit of a shock, but she kept listening.
The man invited her to take a tour of the studio and see what this business was all about. Mia took two weeks to decide, but her adventurous side took over. What would be wrong with a tour?
Mia's First Time
When Mia arrived at the headquarters, she was surprised by a number of things. First, it was a very fancy place, and not the scummy setting many might imagine. Second, the office was filled with warm, welcoming women. The cubicles seemed perfectly normal, with family pictures decorating desks.
The charm offensive continued, and Mia was asked if she might be interested in porn. Although she was taken aback, she considered the idea. Her body was getting top feedback from the outside world now, and this was hard to resist.
Just A Little Secret
Years ago, Mia thought that no one would end up seeing her pictures or videos. Social media wasn’t quite as all-encompassing as it is now, and she actually thought she would get swallowed up into an internet hole where many thousands of girls around the world filmed themselves in similar videos. How would anyone really recognize her?
Mia decided to move forward, and signed a contract to do a few videos. It’s safe to say she had no idea that her career would lead to a number one spot on adult aggregator sites in no time. Yikes!
Welcoming Women
Mia describes her experience on set as very pampering and glamourous. Hair and makeup took hours, and she was given more than ten menus to order high-end food before the work. The men were very nice, and chatted with to make her feel comfortable. And all the while, women were present creating normalcy for a situation many of us might question in broad daylight.
But how did Mia feel after the 15 minutes of filming were finished? She says she felt a mix of confusing emotions — guilt and shame were contrasted with a strong feeling of validation.
Spotted Online
At only 21, Mia was experiencing a lot of confusion. She felt so beautiful after the scenes were filmed, but this feeling would quickly disappear. Perhaps she would be filled with more self-esteem after the next one! Mia continued onto a few more gigs.
At this point, she started receiving messages from acquaintances and friends who seemed to recognize her from her online videos. Mia started to realize the reality of her decision, and she felt terrible. The fantasy was starting to crack that this was truly a private activity.
Playing With Fire
Things took an unexpected turn when producers suggested a very unusual script for the next job. Because of Mia’s Lebanese background, they thought a threesome featuring a character in a hijab would be rather interesting for their customers. Indeed, it would be — but not without consequences.
She actually says she told them she had concerns — “you mother******* are going to get me killed!” — but that producers simply laughed. Mia said this in a casual way, but perhaps she had uneasiness deep down. Why did she move forward?
The Final Script
By this point, the impact on her personal relationships was causing her to reconsider her overall involvement in the industry. She rationalized that she would just do one more, perhaps. Maybe this one?
According to the project’s producer: "We weren't trying to exploit [Khalifa's ethnicity]. We wanted to embrace it. No one could have anticipated the negativity surrounding it." Perhaps this echo chamber of encouragement and ignorance contributed to her decision to move forward, and forward she went. What happened next however, shocked everyone involved.
Rage Reaction
Mia was astonished to see that her hijab scene suddenly had more than 1.5 million views around the world. She quickly became the top search on Pornhub, and would remain the number one performer on the site for some time.
Outrage in the Muslim world was immediate, and this caused even more publicity. According to the Vice President of Marketing for xHamster: "The outrage it caused in the Arab world ended up being a bit of a 'Streisand effect'. Suddenly, everyone was searching for her. The effort to censor her only made her more ubiquitous."
A Furious Family
In a 2015 interview, Mia said she was surprised about the degree of outrage that exploded after the scene was published online: “The scenes containing a hijabi are satirical. There are Hollywood movies that depict Muslims in a much worse manner than any scene Bang Bros [the company who made the video] could produce.”
Clearly, many religious people in the Middle East did not agree with her assessment. Mia started receiving death threats, and things suddenly became quite serious. What had been personal exploration was not the liberating act she thought it would be. And sadly, her family disowned her over the videos. What a nightmare!
Death Threats Galore
Mia actually got death threats from ISIS sympathizers, including a picture of a real decapitated body with her head photoshopped into image. Next, someone online posted a map to her real personal home address.
Mia was understandably terrified, and she immediately moved out to stay at a hotel. She knew this was the end of her career, and her delusions about the entire affair were shattered. Mia resigned, despite protests from executives. All they could see were big dollar signs, and they refused to acknowledge the real danger she was exposed to at this point.
Global Meltdown
Around the world, there were mixed reactions. While some people were clearly offended enough to threaten her with execution, others looked at her decision differently.
British-Lebanese author Nasri Atallah explained his views: "The moral indignation ... is wrong...First and foremost, as a woman, she is free to do as she pleases with her body.”
He emphasized that Mia was a human being with agency residing on the other side of the world and that she should be able to make decisions about her own life. Nasri didn’t seem to think that she owed anything to a country she left!
Long Lost Lebanon
Mia herself had a lot to say about the circumstances in Lebanon that now seemed to follow her all the way to America. She explained that women's rights in her former country had a long way to go if a Lebanese-American porn star thousands of miles away could cause such an uproar.
Mia says she used to tell people that she came from the most Westernized place in the Middle East. Indeed, Lebanon has changed a lot since the departure of its Christian majority. Mia says she now sees the nation as “devastatingly archaic and oppressed."
Get Broke Quick Schemes
In the aftermath, Mia had to move on. She actually had only made $12,000 from all of her scenes, which surprised many people. The company made millions!
Mia left Miami, which she described as a toxic city. She tried to apply for normal day jobs, but it seemed she was recognized everywhere she went. This included awkward job interviews! Mia could barely leave her house and became quite reclusive. Crazy people shouting from cars and invading her personal space became a norm, and it was not easy to live a normal life.
The Sexy Secretary
After a few months of uncertainty, Mia was hired at a law firm for administrative work. And she was happy there for a while! The lawyers did know who she was, and it was a little bit uncomfortable at times. Still, she was happy they gave her a chance. After all, she was a top student fluent in three languages! Why not?
Sadly, the office closed, and she had to continue her job search. She tried bookkeeping, but says she was terrible at that type of work!
Instagram Madness
During her transition back to working life, she had to shut down her Instagram account because of all the threats. No matter what people said, she tried to maintain a sassy attitude. When someone told her she would burn in hell, she retorted: "I've been meaning to get a little tan recently".
Perhaps a break from social media was reasonable. Mia had plans to return, however, after a serious rebranding. What would her new image be like?
Sporty Surprise
Mia has actually successfully transitioned into an internet celebrity now, and she alternates between being a social media personality and a sports commentator. Yes, that’s right: Mia is a sports nut, too!
She hosted a daily sports show on the Youtube channel for Complex magazine called “Out of Bounds” with Gilbert Arenas. She built upon the positive audience feedback and landed a co-hosting role on a show called “SportsBall” on RoosterTeeth. Things have certainly changed for the better in Mia’s world!
Boob-mergency
Mia Khalifa did have one pretty public mishap since she started covering sports, though. It seems her previous beauty investment literally collided with a hockey puck during a recent game. Or rather, it collided with her! And squarely in the boob.
Considering the velocity of professional hockey shots, this was no laughing matter. It actually required her to undergo breast surgery for a ruptured implant!
The rubber puck was estimated to have been flying at around 80 miles per hour when it smacked her, but she has tried to laugh it off just a little. Mia kept the puck as a trauma souvenir! Mia explained on Instagram:
"I got hit in the boob with a puck during the game, and I'm 80% sure it ruptured an implant. But the good news is, I got a game-used puck from a Capitals Stanley cup playoff game. Worth it."
Cookin' Up A Storm
Since then, Mia has sold merchandise to make extra money. And she has professional plans in other areas she is passionate about, like cooking!
The now established sports commentator says she wants to be the ‘Chrissy Teigen’ of cooking. She has been running a youtube channel where she takes requests from fans to cook dishes they are curious about, and so far it looks pretty delicious!
And it seems that her expertise in the kitchen has led to her to one more surprise in life — falling in love with a real chef! How did she meet this mystery man?
Sweet and Swedish
Mia says she met her fiance in an unconventional way, but one that might be more and more common in the future because of our social media habits. She casually started following a chef on twitter that was recommended on the Michelin page.
And then, he noticed that a real-life blue checkmark user was watching him. Pretty intriguing!
The new couple started talking about food and developed a relationship online over a period of months. Mia was sure he didn’t know anything about her past, which was a hard thing to find for the infamous newsmakers. And she was delighted!
A Decent Proposal
Eventually, they flew to meet each other. Things went exceedingly well, and they have been seriously dating ever since! Her chef beau eventually admitted he had googled her after they developed their online relationship. He had to find out why she had millions of followers!
Her past didn’t bother him, and Mia was so happy to find someone she could connect with on a real level. He told her cooked with many chefs who had shaky pasts, and he knew that a person is a lot more than a sum of their mistakes. Mia seems so happy now! Today, she reflects: "I guess it was my rebellious phase. It wasn't really for me."
Activism and Insight
Perhaps Mia’s personal life coming together has given her the strength to speak more publicly about her experiences. She has done a round of interviews lately calling out the adult industry for its practices targeting young women with low self-esteem. And boy, does she have a lot to say!
At 26, she can now see that they engage in manipulative contracts and pressure tactics with girls who are not even legal to drink. She has suggested some legal reforms that might improve the situation, such as prohibiting street approaches to ensure that the only girls who get involved in the business are those who actively showed up on their own accord.
She also wants changes in the way contracts are presented to youngsters without lawyers, and perhaps Congress will take notice! Mia’s got a lot ahead of her, and perhaps her experiences illuminate some harsh realities about youth, self-esteem, and a business few of us ever see behind the scenes. It’s a big, wild world out there sometimes, isn’t it?
New Life, Old Problems
As Mia settles into her regular gal routine, New Life, Old Problems. Fans saw more remorse on social media recently: "Those 11 videos will haunt me until I die, and I don't want another girl to go through that – because no one should."
Despite trying to get material removed for years, all attempts have failed. Mia's peers have stepped in to create a petition on Change.org, with 2 million signatures already. What is their specific request, at this point?
The Justice for Mia Petition
The document explains: "Mia and her team have provided countless financial offers to the current owners of her domain name and pornographic videos to no avail...Big corporations are not giving Mia Khalifa a fair chance to demand her content in court due to financial advantage."
Furthermore: "We are demanding her domain names be returned, her videos be removed and fairly discussed in court without putting Mia Khalifa into deep financial ruin. Mia has stated her regret for her decisions in the porn industry multiple times." Whether this succeeds, only time will tell!
Mia Joins OnlyFans
But wait, something new? Observers couldn't help but notice a very famous face recently joined the new platform OnlyFans. While it's not required to post nudes and explicit material on the site, many do. With a former industry girl, many thought this would be the case!
Mia explained the details differently, though: "I am finally growing into my self-confidence in who I am and the decisions I make for me, and this is my way of being myself outside the perimeters of conventional social media. Even though I will not be creating nude content, I am going to be treating this page like my Instagram without terms of service." Was this two steps forward, one step back for Mia?
Not So Naked
Mia's account costs users $11.99 a month to see new, specialized content. Internet sleuths have checked in, of course, to see what she's really up to. It seems Mia is currently experimenting with different sensual photoshoots, mostly safe enough for work. On Instagram, she regularly cross-promotes her new venture, even when she's just eating sushi!
She reached out to fans directly: "I want to take my power back and just post what I want and what makes me feel good, and I'm just so thankful that y'all are along for this wild ride. This is all very new to me, I've never been on a platform as fan-facing, so any suggestions for improving my presence here is greatly appreciated! I love you!" But did all of them love her back, this time?
Furious Fanmail
As it turns out, no! First of all, some Twitter users were annoyed with what they called inconsistency. After so much time lamenting the industry that made her famous, she seemed to be getting right back into the sale of flesh. Plus, she had been reframing herself as an activist, only recently!
Other users were mad that they ended up paying for pretty photos that didn't deliver the goods. They were expecting a very different product, and didn't read the fine print! Where will this OnlyFans rabbit hole go? For now, Mia seems to be interested in expanding her social presence into more creative, money-making ideas. One was for charity. What was it?
Those Famous Frames
The glasses that started it all went up for auction after the 2020 explosion in Beirut. Horrified viewers from around the world will never forget how the Lebanese port went up in smoke, and Mia was one of them. Since it was her homeland, she thought she could uniquely impact fundraising. Ebay, it was!
To benefit the Lebanese Red Cross, Mia set up the ad and promoted it to her large Twitter audience. The description read: ''The novelty glasses are the best prop, I will sign them (if you want), and take one last polaroid wearing them before sending them off to their new home!" In the end, many wanted to help the Lebanese people. The winning offer? One hundred grand!