Mia Khalifa is a Lebanese-born ex-pornographic actress, sports commentator and social media personality who shot to global fame in October 2014. She quickly became known as the “hijab porn star”, following a video released by the Bang Bros pornographic film studio, in which she wore the traditional Muslim head covering during a threesome.
Like many people in the public eye, she became the subject of rumors and speculation. She also caused a significant amount of controversy in her home country as a result of the video that made her famous. One of the more enduring rumors was that she had contracted HIV, despite only working in the industry for around three months. So, does Mia Khalifa have HIV? Read on to find out the truth, and plenty more besides!
Who Is Mia Khalifa?
Early Life
Mia Khalifa was born on February 10, 1993, in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The daughter of very conservative Catholic parents, she studied at a French private school, where she learned how to speak English.
She and her family emigrated to the USA on January 1, 2001. They left to escape the widespread unrest and disruption following the South Lebanon conflict, a 15-year war between Israeli-backed Christian militias and Muslim insurgents supported by Iran-based militant group Hezbollah.
Her family settled in Montgomery County, Maryland, where she attended high school and played lacrosse. She was bullied for being, as she put it, “the darkest and weirdest girl there.” This worsened following September 11, with classmates calling her a terrorist. She later attended Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia, where her parents sent her after catching her smoking marijuana. During this period, she developed a love for both World of Warcraft and American sports, and chased after boys who were out of her league.
Becoming a Porn Star
Khalifa graduated early from the University of Texas El-Paso in December 2013, majoring in history. While at college, she made ends meet by working as a bartender and doing low-level modeling work. She also appeared on a local Spanish-language version of Deal Or No Deal. She got married in 2011, a subject she is reluctant to talk about, other than to say that she separated from her husband in 2014, and that they divorced in 2016.
Her first entry into the world of pornography came in 2012 when she posted a series of nude pictures to Reddit’s Gone Wild subreddit group. She apparently returned to Reddit in 2014, this time on a subreddit devoted to cuckolding, shortly before her ‘discovery’.
Having moved to Miami in 2013, she says that she was approached by a man, who she recounts said to her: “Hey, I don’t mean to be a creep, but if you are ever interested in nude modeling, here’s my card.”
Sudden Stardom
In October 2014, Khalifa’s first pornographic video was posted online to Scoreland, the blog run by a porn studio called Score. Shortly afterward, she shot a video produced by Bang Bros, in which she and her ‘stepmother’ wore hijabs while having sex with her ‘boyfriend’. The video was released in November of the same year.
This turned out to be both well-timed, and hugely controversial. In a time when Islamic extremism and terrorism was all over Western media, and the Islamic State (IS, also known as Daesh) was a focus of US foreign policy, her video seems to have capitalized on the zeitgeist of the time. It swiftly gained her a huge level of popularity, as well as censure from religious leaders.
Her video rapidly gained over 1.5 million views on Pornhub, the most visited porn video sharing website in the United States. On December 28th, Pornhub announced that she was their Number 1 ranked performer, being the most searched actress of the year.
Controversy And Death Threats
A few days after this announcement, the Lebanese Examiner posted a story on their website which stated that she was causing an uproar in her home country. This was apparently the result of the combination of the religious headwear worn and her tattoos. These include the first line of the Lebanese national anthem and the symbol of the Lebanese Forces, a conservative Christian political party.
Over the next few days, searches related to her on Pornhub increased five-fold. This sudden fame brought her increasing criticism from her home country, and brought her to the attention of IS and its supporters.
She received numerous death threats, including a photoshopped image of her in an orange jumpsuit, alluding to videos in which prisoners had been executed by IS militants. Her Twitter account was also allegedly hacked by IS, who posted propaganda on it. Despite this, she also received supportive messages from many people in Lebanon. Interestingly, over a quarter of the subsequent searches for her on Pornhub originated from Lebanon, and from its neighbors Syria and Jordan.
Moving On From Porn
After just three months of working in the porn industry, Khalifa realized that it wasn’t for her. Two weeks after signing a long-term deal with Bang Bros’ parent company, she realized that she had made a mistake and submitted her resignation.
She spent time working as a bookkeeper and a paralegal, but her fame hadn’t waned. She was still widely recognized, drawing both attention and criticism despite attempts to change her appearance.
She began her transition into the world of social media, opening up a YouTube account, a Twitter page, and a Twitch account. She appeared on a number of web-based series, including as a sports commentator on Complex’s Out Of Bounds for one season.
HIV Rumors
In January 2017, a website called The No Chill published an entirely fabricated story claiming that Khalifa had been diagnosed with HIV. By April, the rumor found its way to Twitter, where the fake news story quickly went viral.
On April 20, 2017, Khalifa went on record in an interview on the website Total Frat Move to state that she had definitely not been diagnosed as HIV positive. She also posted a link to the interview from her personal verified Twitter account.
In her own words: “The site that posted this incredibly fake “interview” with me is less credible than those ads on porn sites for hot girls in your area who are dying to meet you. I’m not sure what they have to gain from this bullshit other than publicity, but they definitely got that. I wasn’t even going to make a statement acknowledging this trash, but because it has gotten so much exposure, it feels necessary.”
The Bottom Line
Mia Khalifa garnered an incredible amount of attention over the course of her three-month-long pornographic career. After wearing a hijab during a threesome, she was criticized by religious leaders, her Twitter account was hacked by IS, and she received numerous death threats. As Pornhub’s Number 1 performer of 2014, she was the center of a whirlwind of rumor.
But does Mia Khalifa have HIV? No, she doesn’t. As she put it in 2017: “In case it isn’t clear already: no, I am not HIV positive. I get laid way less often than you’d think. The closest thing to intimacy in my life right now is when my roommate is washing her sheets and sleeps in my bed with me.”
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/30721981/mia-khalifa-a-lebanon-born-porn-star-is-getting-scary-death-threats
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pornhub-star-mia-khalifa-receives-death-threats-after-being-ranked-sites-number-one-adult-actress-9962293.html
https://twitter.com/miakhalifa
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