Mia Khalifa to Lance Armstrong: I quit porn over ISIS threats
Former adult entertainment actress Mia Khalifa told Lance Armstrong on his podcast that she is trying to re-brand herself after quitting the industry after receiving death threats from ISIS.
Lance Armstrong and former porn star Mia Khalifa have something in common – they both know what it’s like to live with some major regrets.
Armstrong famously lost his seven Tour de France wins following a doping investigation and was banned from cycling. Khalifa made the decision to do porn for several months, and it changed her life forever.
Khalifa, who was born in Lebanon, wore a hijab in some of her scenes and quickly shot to fame in the adult entertainment world, she told Armstrong in a recent episode of his podcast.
The then-21 year-old said she received death threats from ISIS and promptly quit the porn industry, but she has had a difficult time shedding her porn star image.
“Looking back on it I don’t know what I was thinking ... I was 21 and dumb,” she told Armstrong about deciding to do porn.
“As soon as I started to gain popularity that’s when I was like ‘get the f--- out of this’ ... this was not what I was trying to do whatsoever,” she added. “I just wanted to let loose and rebel a little bit. It didn’t validate me. Nothing like that ever does. That’s not what you should be doing to try and build your self esteem.”
She said she decided to do porn after mulling over the decision for about two weeks.
“I wasn’t doing it for money,” she insisted to Armstrong, saying her self-confidence was to blame.
She said changing her image is not going to be easy.
“If you put my name in [a computer] and Google it and open up 10 articles… every one of those articles starts ‘disgraced ...’”
Armstrong said he can relate to Khalifa in that way.
“This is why I have a ton of empathy and respect for you,” he said as he mulled over her Google results. “When I open up all these articles about you, every one of them starts ‘porn star.’”
Armstrong revealed during the chat that he has been friends with Khalifa for several years and she has been to his home and interacted with his son.
“…There are plenty of kids that have taken pictures with me and their parents have posted it, then other parents have said ‘I can’t believe you let your kid take a picture with Lance Armstrong’. So I get it,” he reflected.
Khalifa and Armstrong both currently live in Austin.
Now, at age 25, she said she is hoping living in Austin helps her rebrand herself.
“The reason I moved here is because I gave up on just trying to lead a normal life. Now I’m going to try to rebrand and change the narrative,” she said. “Accept that I’m Mia Khalifa now and try to be successful at that, doing something else.”
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