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This article is about the Lebanese-American retired pornographic actress. For the iLoveFriday song about her, see Mia Khalifa (song). For the Timeflies song also about her, see Timeflies.

Mia Khalifa
ميا خليفة
File:Mia Khalifa in 2019.png
Khalifa in October 2019
Born (1993-02-10) February 10, 1993 (age 31)[1][better source needed]
Beirut, Lebanon
Other namesMia Callista[1]
CitizenshipUnited States
Lebanon
Occupations
Years active2014–2015 (pornography)
Height5 ft 2 in (1.57 m)[1]

Mia Khalifa (/miːə kəˈliːfə/; Arabic: ميا خليفة, Lebanese Arabic pronunciation: [ˈmiːa xaˈliːfe]; born February 10, 1993), also known as Mia Callista, is a Lebanese-American social media personality,[2] sports commentator and webcam model.[3] She was a pornographic actress from 2014 to 2015.[4]

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Khalifa moved to the United States in 2001. She began acting in pornography in October 2014, and by December was ranked the most viewed performer on the website Pornhub. Her career choice was met with controversy in the Middle East, especially for a video in which she performed sexual acts while wearing the Islamic hijab. After three months, Khalifa left the pornographic industry to pursue other interests.

Early life

Mia Khalifa was born on February 10, 1993, in Beirut, Lebanon and moved with her family to the United States in January 2001,[5][6] leaving their home in the wake of the South Lebanon conflict.[5] Her family is Catholic and she was raised in that religion, in what she describes as a "very conservative" home,[5] although she is no longer practicing.[7] Khalifa attended a French private school in Beirut, where she learned to speak English.[5] After moving to the United States, she lived in Montgomery County, Maryland and played lacrosse in high school. Khalifa attended Northwest High School. [2] Khalifa has talked about being bullied at high school for being "the darkest and weirdest girl there", which intensified after the September 11 attacks.[5]

Khalifa attended Massanutten Military Academy and then moved to Texas to attend college.[5] She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.[8]

Pornographic videos

While at college, Khalifa worked as a bartender and did some modeling work. She was also a "briefcase girl" on a local Spanish-language TV game show, similar to Deal or No Deal.[5] After graduating, she moved to Miami and was approached to do nude modeling, which she accepted.[5]

Khalifa entered the pornographic film industry in October 2014.[9] She was walking in Miami when she was asked if she had ever considered appearing in pornographic films.[10] She came to widespread attention after the release of a BangBros scene in which she wears a hijab during a threesome.[5] The scene brought Khalifa instant popularity, as well as criticism from writers and religious figures.[5] The scene's producer said "We weren't trying to exploit [Khalifa's ethnicity]. We wanted to embrace it. No one could have anticipated the negativity surrounding it."[5] Alex Hawkins, Vice President of Marketing for xHamster, said "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."[5] With more than 1.5 million views, the 22-year-old Khalifa became the most searched-for performer on the adult video sharing website Pornhub.[11] On December 28 that year, Pornhub revealed that she was the No. 1 ranked performer on their website.[12]

Perhaps better known as 'The hijab porn star', Khalifa hit the headlines in 2014 when she infamously humped on camera wearing the traditional Muslim garb. The BangBros film initially sparked outrage in her home country of Lebanon with haters claiming she had brought disgrace to the nation and insulted Islam. Khalifa stated in an interview with Loaded that she felt she is being made a scapegoat for internet censorship in her native land, and many others there have since demonstrated against the government, showing support for the American porn star. They claim that although she may have sex, 'She is still more decent than they are'.

—Loaded magazine, July 2016[13]

She received online death threats after she ranked No. 1 on Pornhub, including a manipulated image of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant executioner preparing to behead her, and a message warning her that she would go to Hell, to which she replied "I've been meaning to get a little tan recently".[14] Lebanese newspapers wrote articles critical of Khalifa, which she considered trivial due to other events in the region.[15]

In an interview with The Washington Post, Khalifa said the controversial scene was satirical and should be taken as such, claiming that Hollywood films depicted Muslims in a far more negative light than any pornographer could.[14] Among those who publicly spoke out to defend her decision to become an adult performer was British-Lebanese author Nasri Atallah, who stated, "The moral indignation ... is wrong for two reasons. First and foremost, as a woman, she is free to do as she pleases with her body. As a sentient human being with agency, who lives halfway across the world, she is in charge of her own life and owes absolutely nothing to the country where she happened to be born."[16] Khalifa herself said of the controversy: "Women's rights in Lebanon are a long way from being taken seriously if a Lebanese American porn star that no longer resides there can cause such an uproar. What I once boasted to people as being the most Westernized nation in the Middle East, I now see as devastatingly archaic and oppressed."[14]

According to data from Pornhub, from January 3 to 6, 2015, searches for Khalifa increased five-fold. Around a quarter of those searches came from Lebanon, with substantial searches also from nearby countries Syria and Jordan.[7] Because of the hijab-related controversy, she was ranked No. 5 in a list of "The world's 10 most notorious porn stars" by British men's magazine Loaded in July 2016.[13] Almaza, a Lebanese brewery, ran an advertisement showing a bottle of their beer next to Khalifa's signature glasses, with the slogan: "We are both rated 18+."[17] In January 2015, pop band Timeflies released a song titled "Mia Khalifa" in homage to her.[18]

In January 2015, Khalifa signed a long-term contract with Bang Bros' parent company which required her to perform in multiple films each month. However, two weeks later, Khalifa had a change of heart and resigned.[5] The negative attention she received from her global attention prompted her to leave the industry: "It was an eye-opener for me. I don't want any of this, whether it's positive or negative—but all of it was negative. I didn't think too much into it about how my friends and family and relationships were suffering."[5]

In a July 2016 interview with The Washington Post, Khalifa stated that she had only performed in pornography for three months and had left the industry over a year before, changing to a "more normal job". She said "I guess it was my rebellious phase. It wasn't really for me. I kind of smartened up and tried to distance myself from that."[2] As of May 2016, Khalifa was still performing as a webcam model.[3]

In January 2017, xHamster reported that Khalifa was the most searched-for adult actress of 2016.[19][20] In 2018, three years after leaving the industry, she was still the second-highest ranked person on Pornhub.[21] In August 2019, she revealed that she only made $12,000 working in porn,[22] and had never received residuals from Pornhub or any other sites.[23]

Post-pornographic career

After leaving porn, Khalifa worked in Miami as a paralegal and bookkeeper.[5] She transitioned into a career as a social media personality, webcam model and sports commentator. She runs a YouTube channel; live streams on Twitch; and performed as a webcam model; sells photoshoots, merchandise and access to exclusive content on membership website Patreon; and sold explicit photoshoots and videos on the social media website Findrow.[5] She and Gilbert Arenas hosted Out of Bounds, a daily sports show on Complex News's YouTube channel, from October 2017 to February 2018.[24]

Khalifa was announced to co-host SportsBall alongside Tyler Coe, with its second season premiering July 16, 2018, exclusively on RoosterTeeth. Its final episode was released on October 30, 2018.[25] In May 2020, she had a guest appearance as herself in the Netflix show Ramy.[26]

Khalifa spoke out against the porn industry and the loss of privacy it caused her in a 2019 interview with BBC's HARDtalk.[27]

Internet memes

In November 2016, an online petition called for Khalifa to be appointed by President-elect Donald Trump as the next United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.[28]

In 2018, the musical duo iLoveFriday released a diss track called "Mia Khalifa", in response to a fake tweet posted by a user impersonating Khalifa. The song became an internet meme after the "hit or miss" snippet gained popularity on the TikTok app.[29][30] It is the most well-known viral TikTok meme in the Western world, and has been used in over four million TikTok videos.[31]

Personal life

Khalifa married her high school boyfriend in February 2011.[6] They separated in 2014 and divorced in 2016.[5]

Khalifa resided in Miami, Florida, during her pornographic career and then relocated back to Texas.[2] Khalifa is a fan of Florida State Seminoles football and attempted to recruit Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller to transfer to Florida State through social networking.[32] After ending her pornographic career, she used her social media presence of over 2.3 million Twitter and over 11 million Instagram followers to support the professional sports teams from the Washington, D.C. area,[2] including the Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards and the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals of whom her favorite player is André Burakovsky.[33] Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post observed that despite her change of career, Khalifa's social media feed was "still a bit more risqué than that of, say, Ben Bernanke."[2]

She has a tattoo of the opening line of the Lebanese National Anthem, and another of the Lebanese Forces Cross. She got the latter in 2012 after a bombing in Lebanon, stating it was to "show solidarity with my father's political views." Both tattoos have come under the scrutiny of her detractors.[14]

Khalifa has stated that her parents have stopped speaking to her because of her career choice.[14] In a statement, her parents disassociated themselves from her actions, saying that her decision to enter the porn industry was born of her residence in a foreign country which had a different culture than theirs and that her actions did not reflect her upbringing. They also said that they hoped that she would leave pornography, saying that her image did not honor her family or her home country.[6]

Khalifa is a supporter of English Premier League club, West Ham United.[34] Attending a Premier League game at the London Stadium in January 2019 between West Ham and Arsenal, her verbal abuse of Arsenal midfielder, Matteo Guendouzi, on social media for diving gained much publicity and redistribution on social media platforms.[35]

References

  1. ^ a b c Fay Strang (January 5, 2015). "Who is Mia Khalifa? Everything you need to know about Lebanese beauty who's PornHub's number one porn star". Daily Mirror. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Dan Steinberg (July 13, 2016). "A former porn star has become one of D.C.'s loudest sports fans on social media". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Sara G (May 7, 2016). "Mia Khalifa Interview". howareyoubb.com. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  4. ^ Chanel Adams (August 20, 2016). "Mia Khalifa Retired: See What The Former Adult Film Star Is Up To Now". Inquisitr. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Timothy Bella (April 9, 2018). "You Don't Know Mia Khalifa". Playboy. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Laura Smith-Spark and Roba Alhenawi (January 7, 2015). "Songs and death threats for Lebanese American porn star Mia Khalifa". CNN. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Mia Khalifa, a Lebanon-born porn star, is getting 'scary' death threats". BBC. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  8. ^ Taylor Wofford (January 6, 2015). "Meet Mia Khalifa, the Lebanese Porn Star Who Sparked a National Controversy". Newsweek. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  9. ^ Jessica Ogilve (July 24, 2015). "Inside Mia Khalifa's Mysterious Rise to Porn Superstardom". Complex. Archived from the original on January 2, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  10. ^ "Lance Armstrong finds a kindred spirit in former porn star". New York Post. February 28, 2018. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  11. ^ "Why porn is exploding in the Middle East". Salon. Alternet. January 15, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  12. ^ Adam Taylor (January 6, 2015). "The Miami porn star getting death threats from Lebanon". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  13. ^ a b "The world's 10 most notorious porn stars – Mia Khalifa". Loaded. July 13, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d e Heather Saul (January 7, 2015). "Pornhub star Mia Khalifa receives death threats after being ranked the site's top adult actress". The Independent. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  15. ^ "Lebanese porn star Mia Khalifa sparks controversy in Lebanon". Lebanese Examiner. January 3, 2015. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  16. ^ The Misguided Lebanese Debate over Mia Khalifa and Porn. Nasri Atallah Blog. January 5, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  17. ^ Nick Kotecki (January 7, 2015). "Lenanese American porn actress Mia Khalifa receives death threats". Pittsburgh Sun-Times. The Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  18. ^ Gil Kaufman (January 7, 2015). "Hijab-Wearing Porn Star Mia Khalifa Got Her Own Theme Song Courtesy of Timeflies". MTV. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  19. ^ Jessica Brown (January 5, 2017). "Meet the world's most popular porn star – they're from Lebanon". The Independent.
  20. ^ Tony Cuddihy. "The most searched-for porn actress on the planet has been revealed as Mia Khalifa". Joe.ie.
  21. ^ Mark Hay (June 27, 2018). "Mia Khalifa Only Did Porn Three Months But She's Still a Pornhub Sensation". Vice.com.
  22. ^ Alex Horton (August 13, 2019). "Mia Khalifa Reveals She Only Made $12,000 as an Adult Film Star". The Washington Post.
  23. ^ Trace Cowen (August 16, 2019). "Mia Khalifa is among the world's most-watched women. Yet the porn industry is keeping the profits". complex.com.
  24. ^ Dan Steinberg (October 10, 2017). "Gilbert Arenas and Mia Khalifa will co-host a daily sports talk show for Complex". Washington Post. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  25. ^ "Sportsball". Roosterteeth.
  26. ^ St. Félix, Doreen (May 18, 2020). ""Ramy" 's Comedy of Spiritual Errors". New Yorker. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  27. ^ Mia Khalifa: Why I’m speaking out about the porn industry (BBC News). August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  28. ^ "Petitioners suggest Trump name US-Lebanese ex-porn star as Saudi envoy". The Jerusalem Post. November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  29. ^ "A TikTok trend is probably why you've been hearing the phrase 'hit or miss' yelled in public lately". Business Insider. December 20, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  30. ^ "TikTok: The unlikely meme-generator you're about to see everywhere". New Statesman. January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  31. ^ "How TikTok Gets Rich While Paying Artists Pennies". Pitchfork. February 12, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  32. ^ Jimmy Traina (January 15, 2015). "Porn star/FSU fan makes offer to Ohio State QB Braxton Miller". The Buzzer. Fox Sports. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  33. ^ "Mia Khalifa Fancies Hockey Player Andre Burakovsky of the Washington Capitals, And More!". Master Herald. May 9, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  34. ^ "Mia Khalifa, Matteo Guendouzi, West Ham vs Arsenal, Twitter, Mohamed Salah, Leicester". The Sun via Fox Sports. January 13, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  35. ^ "Former pornstar's perfect slam nails star". NewsComAu. January 13, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
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