Mia Khalifa, recently voted the top porn actress on PornHub, has caused outrage in her home country of Lebanon, and is even receiving death threats.

Who Is Mia Khalifa?

Khalifa, 21, a Lebanese porn star who does not go by her real name, has quickly become one of the most popular adult film actresses, but her fame has caused many to turn against her. Born in Beirut, Khalifa moved to Maryland when she was 10-years-old. She reportedly has a degree in history from the University of Texas and now lives in Miami, where she has quickly turned into a porn star phenomenon.

“Mia Khalifa has become a household name in the last few weeks since BangBros released her first feature, Look who’s cumming to dinner. We first noticed Mia the week of November 16th, where we saw over 200,000 searches for the previous unknown,” said Pornhub Vice President Corey Price.

Price told Buzzfeed that since Saturday, Khalifa has been a top search on their site – earning over 750,000 searches.

Khalifa’s popularity has led to a heap of criticism, mostly on social media, and some from people in her native country, who are calling her a disgrace to Lebanon and even threatening to kill her. Khalifa’s own parents have reportedly denounced her in Lebanese media, and the porn star says she is completely estranged from her family.

Many are upset at Khalifa because of how her Lebanese heritage is featured in her videos. Khalifa appears in one of her videos wearing a hijab – though she is not Muslim – and she has a tattoo of the Lenanese Forces cross and another tattoo of the opening line of the Lebanese national anthem.

Feminist Lebanese author Juliana Yazbeck wrote that, while she doesn’t feel what Khalifa does is wrong, but that she worries about the image of Lebanese women Khalifa is helping to publicize:

“For someone who has struggled so much to assert their presence as a human being with a working, thinking brain, I cannot deny that I felt a pang of despair when Mia erupted across social media and entertainment news. It never even crossed my mind to think, ‘she doesn’t have the right.’ What did cross my mind was: ‘Really? Of the very few Lebanese women who are making global headlines, it had to be a porn star?’”

Mia Khalifa Responds To Death Threats

Khalifa has responded to the outrage, and she seems determined to be unruffled by the criticism and threats coming her way. “They’re embarrassed I’m ‘claiming’ them – as if I had a choice. I was born there,” she told Newsweek.

Still, Khalifa admitted to the Washington Post, “Hearing that my home country hates me stings more than anything else.”

Khalifa has been open about dealing with the controversy on Twitter, responding to some threats with humor and re-tweeting supporters.

Warm bath, good book… Death threats can’t get me down when I have this kind of bliss to come home to

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.