Featured Image Credit: HighLow with EmRata / Instagram/@miakhalifa
Topics: Adult Industry, Mia Khalifa, Money, News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Adult Industry, Mia Khalifa, Money, News
Mia Khalifa is one of the world's highest-ranking porn stars, but she didn't get paid as much as you'd expect.
As of 2018, Khalifa was still the second-highest-ranked person on Pornhub, despite having left the industry three years prior.
In fact, she only worked as a porn star for three months in which time she did around 12 shoots.
While those dozen videos have generated hundreds of millions of views, you'd think she'd be rolling in cash - but it turns out Khalifa was barely compensated for her work.
In fact, it appears as if it's the websites that Khalifa's content is on that's making all the money rather than their actors and actresses.
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Speaking on the matter of people being misled to believe that porn stars are paid a lot of money for what they do, Derek Hay, founder of pornographic talent agency LA Direct Models, recently told The Sun: "I don’t think that adult stars make as much money as the general public perceives them to make.
"I don’t think there’s anybody, even the biggest stars, who are making more than half a million a year.
"But if some of the top stars are making £240,000 ($308,301) to £320,000 ($411,068) per year, by most people’s perception that would still be a lot of money I think."
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Obviously this is still a lot of money, but could be argued as being a drop in the ocean compared to the business and views that porn stars bring in for XXX websites.
Addressing how much money she made personally during her brief stint in the XXX space, Khalifa previously revealed on social media that she only brought home $12,000 (approximately $1,000 per shoot).
She confirmed to The Washington Post in 2019 that she does not get residuals from Pornhub or other similar sites.
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And while her porn career has propelled Khalifa into worldwide fame, she's urged other women not to go into the industry.
Speaking in a 2020 Instagram video, Khalifa labelled her time as an adult film star as 'the lowest, most toxic, most uncharacteristic three months' of her life.
"Those 11 videos will haunt me until I die, and I don't want another girl to go through that - because no one should," Khalifa went on.
"Long story short: don't do porn. And if you do, don't do it with a company. Do it for yourself, on your own terms."