Mia Khalifa explains why she quit porn after a viral cosplay scene as a Muslim woman

Mia Khalifa has reflected on her work as a sex worker in the adult film industry, explaining that she left shortly after being persuaded to film an explicit cosplay scene as a Muslim woman.

The Lebanese-American rose to fame as a 21-year-old when she appeared in the viral video wearing the hijab, a head covering and modest garment sacred to Muslim women.

The footage went viral within hours and Khalifa received death threats from both Islamophobes and ISIS after being ranked the number one actor on Pornhub.

Now 31, Khalifa, who was raised Catholic, remembers the experience and why it led her to turn away from pornography.

“I had little control over my brand at the beginning,” she told the New York Times. “I became infamous by accident.”

She explained: “I entered the adult industry in October 2014 and very quickly I was pressured to appear in a video about me being a veiled Arab woman.

“The intention was to take advantage of the fact that I was Arab and spoke Arabic, and I pulled that off. Not long after, I would say maybe a few hours after the premiere, the avalanche began.

“Every news outlet picked it up and everyone had an opinion. I was completely in control of my image, my reputation. I feel like a lot of people go through sloppy periods in their 20s and 21s. Unfortunately my recording was in 4K.”

Khalifa says she was working at a law firm at the time of the incident and heard “whispering in the waiting room” at her workplace.

She said she felt “uncomfortable” and “like a distraction,” forcing her to pursue a career as a social media influencer.

“That’s when I realized that nothing was going to change. “It’s not going to get any better,” she explained. “I don't like it when the women I work with look at me a certain way, and I especially don't like it when the men look at me a certain way because it's like a zoo animal.

“So I reopened social media and decided to try to be an influencer and a public figure if that was the fate I had sealed for myself.”