Lana Rhoades was once one of the most well-known names in the adult film industry. But behind her fame, she experienced a darker reality that stayed hidden from the public eye.
At just 18, Lana entered the adult film industry. Her career lasted only eight months, but the effects of her time there have stayed with her long after she left.
What made her quit? Lana revealed that the nature of certain scenes was too much for her to handle.
Though she’s moved on to focus on YouTube and podcasting, the emotional scars from her time in the industry still affect her.
In 2022, during her podcast 3 Girls 1 Kitchen, Lana shared her experience in an honest and emotional conversation.
She talked about feeling pressured into humiliating scenes and admitted she was naive about what the job involved.
“This shows how naive I was,” she said. “When I started, I didn’t even realize I’d have to do sex scenes. I didn’t fully understand what being a porn star meant.”
Lana initially asked her agents to book her for girl-on-girl scenes, but they pushed her into boy/girl content, warning she wouldn’t get work otherwise.
As she agreed, the scenes became more extreme. “They glamorized doing more intense scenes for less money because it meant more profit for them,” Lana explained.
While she was never forced into anything, Lana felt pressured by industry expectations.
She also shared stories of colleagues’ troubling experiences. “Some of my friends were choked so hard they passed out during scenes,” she said. “There’s crazy stuff that causes lifelong physical damage.”
Lana herself wasn’t physically hurt, but the mental toll led her to therapy. Reflecting on her most distressing experiences, she said: “There were a few scenes that were traumatic for me. Being sent to sets with older actors or pressured into extreme scenes was too much.”
Now 27, Lana sees her time in the industry as a “life sentence” because of its lasting impact. She has struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts and has since spoken out in favor of banning pornography.