About
Mia Khalifa is a Lebanese-American media personality best known for turning a brief, three-month experiment in adult entertainment into a far-reaching digital brand. Today, she streams on Twitch, commentates on sports, models for fashion labels, and runs side projects such as her jewelry line “Sheytan.” Finance outlets value her 2025 net worth at about $20 million, with $3-5 million in yearly income coming from subscription platforms, sponsorship deals, and merchandise.
Before Fame
Born on 10 February 1993 in Beirut, Mia moved with her family to suburban Washington, D.C., in 2001, fleeing the South Lebanon conflict and arriving in an America still reeling from 9/11. She used lacrosse to break the ice at school and worked weekend jobs—from a fast-food counter to a local game-show gig—to help pay tuition. After graduating from Massanutten Military Academy in Virginia, she earned a B.A. in history from the University of Texas at El Paso.
A visit to Miami during her final college semester changed everything. Curious and cash-strapped, she filmed a handful of adult scenes in late 2014. One—shot while she wore a hijab—hit Pornhub’s front page and made her the site’s most-searched performer within six weeks. The fame arrived with death threats, and she quit after roughly a dozen scenes, later revealing she earned about $12k in total, far less than the rumors suggested.
Trivia
- Hijab controversy: The viral scene drew ISIS threats and sparked debates on fetishization and cultural taboos, themes she now unpacks in podcasts and campus talks.
- Sports super-fan: Her rapid-fire tweets about Washington teams led NBA legend Gilbert Arenas to invite her on air; the duo co-hosted Complex’s Out of Bounds from October 2017 to February 2018.
- Glasses for good: After the 2020 Beirut explosion, she auctioned the black-rimmed glasses made famous in her videos, raising over $100k for the Lebanese Red Cross.
- Fashion muse: London label Aries released the 2024 photo book Mia by Aries and a watermelon-themed T-shirt, donating every sale to Palestinian grassroots charities.
- Meme magnet: The 2018 TikTok earworm “Hit or Miss” by iLoveFriday began as a diss track aimed at a fake tweet in her name and became the soundtrack for millions of lip-syncs.
- Body art with roots: Tattoos on her forearm and wrist display the opening line of Lebanon’s national anthem and the Lebanese Forces cross tributes to her heritage and family.
Family Life
Mia married her high-school sweetheart in 2011; they separated in 2014 and divorced in 2016. A story-book engagement to Swedish chef Robert Sandberg ended in an amicable 2020 split. From 2021 to 2022, she dated Puerto Rican reggaetón star Jhayco; despite the breakup, he publicly thanked her for inspiring his self-improvement in a January 2025 post.
Her parents, meanwhile, condemned her adult-film stint and have stayed distant—a silence she calls “the greatest heartbreak.” She pours that pain into activism, donating to Beirut blast victims, Black trans healthcare funds, and Palestinian relief drives—often through limited-edition merch drops that fans snap up within hours.
Associated With
Beyond her on-screen banter with Gilbert Arenas, Mia co-hosted the Sportsball podcast with e-sports commentator Tyler Coe, cameoed on Hulu’s sitcom Ramy, and appeared in Bella Poarch’s 2021 music video “Build a Bitch” alongside Valkyrae and Bretman Rock.
In fashion, she collaborates with designer Sofia Prantera (Aries) and Sara Burn, a former Virgil Abloh associate, while Playboy briefly signed her to a podcast deal before cutting ties over her outspoken support for Palestine.
Music circles link her not only to Jhayco but also to iLoveFriday’s viral track, and sports fans catch her interviewing UFC fighters or trading hockey stats with Washington Capitals reporters. Away from the spotlight, she works with nonprofits such as the Lebanese Red Cross, the Ghassan Abu-Sittah Children’s Fund, and Addameer, leveraging 26M Instagram and 39M TikTok followers to keep charity campaigns visible long after hashtags fade.
