While Mia Khalifa ditched her steamy on-screen career almost a decade ago, she’s been far from squeaky clean since then.
The outspoken former adult film icon celebrates her 31st birthday on Saturday (February 10). And since earning the coveted crown of the world’s most watched po.. star in 2015, her life has been filled with a mixture of wild adventures and wince-worthy moments.
Growing up in a Christian household in Lebanon and making the pilgrimage to the US as a 10-year-old, Mia could never have guessed what was in store. She may have washed her hands with her short-lived X-rated career, but it hasn’t stopped her gaining a hoard of thirsty fans, nor stopped her contentious comments from grabbing the headlines.
From pro-Hamas rants getting her booted from Playboy to bonking in a hijab, the Daily Star looks at her most shocking moments. Let’s kick off with, arguably, her most controversial issue to date which ended up with ISIS wanting her head.
The influencer, who now boasts more than 27 million followers on Instagram, made headlines with a controversial s.. scene which ended up with Middle Eastern dissenters calling her a “disgrace”.
Her notorious 2015 threesome scene while wearing a hijab thrust her into the limelight and simultaneously under the cosh. Mia’s antics caused such a stir that she claimed to have received death threats from ISIS claiming they would “behead” her.
In response to the threats, the star said: “You can’t show weakness. That’s exactly what they’re looking for. I really try and just make it look like it rolls off, but I’ll admit, it gets to you after a while.”
In the months that followed, Mia left po.. in pursuit of a “more normal job”. Reflecting on her time in the industry, 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.”
Fast forward to October 2023, and the Middle East became another point of contention for Mia. Following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel which left 1,200 dead, she told the Palestinian “freedom fighters” to “flip their phones and film” their Israeli attack “horizontal”.
The adult model sparked outrage in all corners of the world for her purported “celebration” of Hamas’ terrorist activity. Two days after the comments, Playboy terminated their contract with Mia, slamming her “disgusting and reprehensible comments”.
Earlier in 2023, the model took a jibe at the Ukraine-Russia war a day after Vladimir Putin’s invasion as she posted a diagram showing instructions for making a Molotov cocktail.
Nearly a decade away from filming dirty movies, Mia continues to share risqué content on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and OnlyFans. She’s also dabbled in sports presenting and TV producing, and even worked as a paralegal before deciding to focus on modelling and influencing full-time.
It seems to be working out for her and she now spends her time travelling the world, splitting her time between the US and the UK, among other glamorous locations.
And Mia has also developed a fondness for Kent, often visiting the coastal county and earning herself the nickname “queen of Whitstable” after braving the cold in just a bikini.
