Celebrity6 min(s) read
Published 14:57 17 Apr 2026 GMT
Mia Khalifa made a heartbreaking admission about what her life is like after her adult film career
Mia Khalifa has opened up about the lasting impact her brief career in adult films has had on her everyday life - and it makes for difficult listening.
In a clip from her appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast with host Alexandra Cooper, the 33-year-old described what happened when she tried to return to normal life after leaving the industry.
What did Mia Khalifa say?
Khalifa spent just three months in the adult film industry back in 2014.
She was 21 at the time and filmed around a dozen scenes before walking away.
But walking away from the industry didn't mean the industry walked away from her.
Speaking to Cooper, she described the moment she realised there was no going back to a 'normal' existence.
"It's very weird to go in to a job interview thinking, 'oh I'm just going to go back to normal life' and have the interviewer ask you if you ever did porn," she said.
Cooper asked whether the interviewer had recognised her. Khalifa confirmed they had.
"I went to a couple interviews where some comments were made and then I finally got a job at a law firm," she continued.
"And then I just realised, 'I feel uncomfortable wherever I go'."
She went on to describe how even after landing a role at a friend's construction company, the problems followed her.
"I can't be sent in to the field. They have to be careful about who they let in the office because some subcontractors are creepy," she said.
"I started to feel like a burden on the person who was taking a chance on me and giving me a job."
How has her past affected her day-to-day life?
It isn't just job interviews.
Khalifa has previously spoken about how strangers feel entitled to her body because of what they've seen online.
In a separate interview with Anthony Padilla, she revealed that people physically grab her in public - not in bars or clubs, but in places like the grocery store and at airport passport control.
"They will follow me to my car, they will grab me by my arm," she said.
"When I tell them no politely, they'll call me a ***** or a s**t, or anything in the book."
She also described an incident at Copenhagen Airport where a man screamed at her after she refused to take a photo with him - while she was standing next to her husband.
"They think that they own your body because they've seen your body," Padilla observed. Khalifa agreed.
How much did she earn from porn?
One of the most striking details about Khalifa's story is how little she actually earned.
Despite her videos generating billions of views on PornHub, she has confirmed she made a total of just $12,000 from her time in adult film - roughly $1,000 per scene.
She receives no residuals from any of the sites that still host her content, and does not own the rights to any of the footage.
A Change.org petition calling for her videos to be removed from the internet has attracted well over a million signatures.
What has she said about how she got into the industry?
Khalifa has been open about the circumstances that led her to porn.
Speaking on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, she revealed that she was pressured into it by her ex-husband, a former US soldier she eloped with just days after her 18th birthday.
She described the relationship as 'abusive' and said she was his "toy to play with".
"I was naive, vulnerable, and malleable," she has said.
"Very easily talked into things, especially if it was by a man."
Her most controversial scene - in which she wore a hijab while performing a sex act - drew global backlash, death threats from ISIS, and led to her parents publicly disowning her.
She has said she told the producers they were 'going to get me killed' but went through with the scene out of 'intimidation'.
Where is Mia Khalifa now?
Despite only spending three months in the adult industry over a decade ago, it remains the thing most people know her for.
She was the most searched performer on PornHub in both 2016 and 2018 - years after she had already retired.
Since leaving, she has built a career as a social media influencer and content creator with almost 40 million followers on TikTok, 26 million on Instagram, and six million on X.
She also runs an OnlyFans account - though she has been clear that she does not post explicit nudity - and has donated over $160,000 from her earnings to charity.
She launched her own jewellery line, Sheytan, in 2023 and has made several appearances at Paris Fashion Week.
She also recently shared a series of X-ray 'nude' images as a way of reclaiming her image on her own terms.
She has said she has only had two relationships in the last decade because of a deep distrust of potential partners' motives.
"I can't even mentally get past somebody wanting to be with me for the novelty or for that reason," she has said.
"So, I'd much rather just be alone."
Who is Mia Khalifa?
Mia Khalifa - real name Sarah Joe Chamoun - is a 33-year-old Lebanese-American media personality, influencer, and former adult film actress.
She was born in Beirut in 1993 and moved to the United States with her family in 2001, growing up in Montgomery County, Maryland.
She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in history before entering the adult film industry in October 2014.
She left just three months later, but remains one of the most recognised names in the industry despite having only filmed around a dozen scenes.
Since leaving, she has worked as a sports commentator, webcam model, social media influencer, and OnlyFans creator.
She has also become an outspoken advocate against exploitation in the adult industry, spoken at the Oxford Union, and launched her jewellery brand Sheytan.
She was previously married to Swedish chef Robert Sandberg, though the couple split in 2021.