Despite being an adult actor for less than a year, Lana Rhoades remains one of the most recognisable names in pornography.
The 28-year-old, real name Amara Maple, shot her first adult video back in 2016, at the age of 19, and worked as a porn performer for just eight months.
Despite being only being active for a short period of time, Rhoades has gone on to be one of the most searched for names in the adult film world and continued to win awards for her work years after leaving the industry.
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The content creator has also spoken more critically about the world of pornography in recent years, revealing in recent interviews that she felt 'taken advantage of' and even expressed a desire for her old videos to be deleted from the internet.
Why Lana Rhoades wanted to join the industry from a young age
Rhoades has made no secret of the fact that she was fascinated by the seemingly glamorous world of adult content from a young age. She revealed during a 2020 episode of the Impaulsive podcast that she'd been influenced into idolising the career path during her earlier teenage years.
"I think I was like 14 and I just like got the idea," she explained, with the admission leaving hosts Logan Paul and Mike Majlak taken aback.
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"I feel like I knew that I was going to be [successful]," she continued.
"Like at 14 I was just like 'You're going to be the number one porn star, do it'."
Rhoades went on to add that she'd even revealed her career plans to a school guidance counsellor, who responded by telling her that she needed 'therapy'.
This isn't the only time that Rhoades has spoken about what influenced her X-rated career either, revealing that she'd idolised Anna Nicole Smith and famous Playboy bunnies.
"I thought the Playboy girls were just so cool," she said in a 2021 interview with the magazine.
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Lana Rhoades claims she was 'taken advantage of' during adult career
Rhoades has spoken out about the darker side of adult content creation numerous time over the years. In a 2022 interview with Bradley Martyn's Raw Talk, Rhoades revealed she makes more money as a content creator than as a porn actor.
Recalling a conversation with a creator from Instagram and YouTube, she said: "I had never shot content with him but he was telling me 'I’m making $15,000 [£11,000] to do an Instagram post for this YouTube ad', and I was like, well I’m getting paid $1,200 [£889] to do this scene, how is this fair?"
Explaining why she'd never advise anyone to work in the adult industry, she continued: "I just didn’t have a great experience [in porn] and I don’t think that it’s great for other women, or even men."
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She continued: "Everyone can do what they want, I just don’t think that they’re making the best decision for themselves going into that.
"I don’t think that having sexual relations with people that you hardly know is good for your mental health or your heart."
The scenes that caused Lana Rhoades to quit the industry
During an episode of her 3 Girls 1 Kitchen podcast, Rhoades revealed there were some unnamed scenes which had been 'really traumatic' for her to film.
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"There were three to five that were really traumatic for me - whether it's being sent to a set with someone who was way too old, or being pressured into doing something that I was scared of doing because it was too extreme, that can definitely be very traumatic," she said.
"I would say that's the 100% contributor to why I left the industry."
Why Lana Rhoades wants pornography to be banned
Given her uncomfortable experience working as a porn actor, it shouldn't be too surprising that Rhoades has since become an advocate for axing adult content altogether.
Explaining this stance during an episode of The Skinny Confidential podcast, the content creator said: "I just I don't think that it's good for anyone, they should make it illegal."
Rhoades has even gone as far as stating that she wishes the videos she made during her eight months as a porn star could be deleted from the internet, telling on Harry Jowsey on an episode of his 'Tap In' podcast: "A lot of the videos I have no rights under, otherwise I probably would have deleted them all by now."
What does Lana Rhoades do now?
Since leaving the industry, Rhoades has since pivoted to being a social media influencer, alongside creating content for OnlyFans and co-hosting podcast 3 Girls 1 Kitchen.
She also does numerous podcast interviews and has teased numerous business ventures on her social media, including a jewellery collection, lingerie line, and teasing an upcoming project under her real name 'Amara'.
Topics: Adult Industry, Lana Rhoades, PornHub, Social Media, Podcast, OnlyFans
Brenna Cooper