Steven Spielberg’s adopted sex worker daughter Mikaela has defended her career, insisting that online porn has helped her to overcome the depression, anxiety, and substance abuse that she believes could have left her ‘dead within a year’.
The 24-year-old came out as an online porn star in February, just days before she was arrested on a domestic violence charge against her ex-fiance Chuck Pankow, 51, that was later dismissed. Months later she found herself on the brink of homelessness because of her ‘financial position’ – something that online sex work has helped her to turn around.
Mikaela began her porn career making custom videos, but recently joined adult content platform ManyVids, where she sells solo pay-per-view clips for $14.99 each, all of which she films by herself at home in Nashville, Tennessee.
Despite reports that her parents – Spielberg, 73, and his wife Kate Capshaw, 66 – are ’embarrassed’ by her decision to come out as a porn star, Mikaela once again insisted that they are fully supportive of her career in a new interview with the Daily Beast, describing her work as ‘life-affirming’.
‘Healing’: Steven Spielberg’s adopted daughter Mikaela, 24, has defended her online sex work, insisting that porn has helped her to overcome substance abuse and depression
Concern: Mikaela, who lives in Nashville, said that she hit rock bottom two years ago, and believes she would have been ‘dead within a year’ had she not changed her lifestyle
Support: Despite reports that Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw were ’embarrassed’ by Mikaela’s porn career, she says they are fully supportive of her
‘I’m really enjoying work, and it’s giving me a whole new life-affirming way to be,’ she said, adding that online porn has been a vital part of her ‘healing journey’, which comes after a lengthy battle with depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.
Over the past few years, Mikaela has struggled with anorexia, borderline personality disorder, and alcoholism, all of which she says are the result of childhood sexual abuse.
‘I felt like had I not done the work I needed to do on myself, and on my relationships, I would have been dead within the year,’ she revealed.
According to Mikaela, who was adopted by Spielberg and Capshaw when she was a baby, she hit rock bottom two years ago, when she turned to alcohol in order to ‘cover up’ her issues.
‘I was heartbroken, vulnerable, and felt like my soul had kind of been split in two. And I was covering that up with drinking,’ she said, adding: ‘I am no longer like that.’
However the past year has been filled with controversy for Mikaela – not least because of her decision to come out publicly as a porn star.
Days after she shared her new career with the world, the Nashville resident was arrested on a domestic violence charge after getting into an altercation with her ex-fiance, a professional darts player who is 27 years her senior.
The incident reportedly occurred when Mikaela and Pankow got into an argument after returning from a bar around 4AM in February. Tensions reportedly escalated when Pankow made a ‘rude comment’ toward Spielberg, prompting her to get angry and throw objects at him.
Authorities did not disclose what type of objects were allegedly launched at Pankow, but one object struck his hand and left a visible injury.
Controversy: Mikaela was arrested on a domestic violence charge in February after an altercation with her then-fiance Chuck Pankow but the case against her was later dropped
Split: Mikaela and Pankow, who is 27 years her senior, have since parted ways
Both Mikaela and Pankow admitted the dispute to authorities when they arrived at the scene after she phoned the police; despite Pankow repeatedly labeling the incident as a ‘misunderstanding’, Mikaela was arrested and charged, although the case against her was dropped in September.
Mikaela declined to go into further details about the altercation between herself and her former partner when questioned about it by the Daily Beast, explaining that she ‘feels she can’t speak on the actual events because that would put her safety in jeopardy’.
However, she suggested that racism played a significant role in her arrest and the subsequent public controversy surrounding it, saying: ‘I felt almost like a racialist caricature of a Jew or a black woman in those moments, because I maintained my innocence that entire time. And that’s all I can say about it.’
She added: ‘People really don’t value black women and their bodies, so our cries for help are viewed as less valid than the burden of responsibility for things that we haven’t done that gets placed on us at all times.’
When the charges against her were dropped, Mikaela also issued a statement on Instagram in which she claimed that she had been ‘targeted’ by the authorities because she is a sex worker, while stating that the ‘trauma of wrongful arrest’ would take ‘months for her’ to overcome.
‘Today it’s over. I finally get to exhale,’ she wrote. ‘My only question is why aren’t we talking about women who are targeted for being sex workers. My recovery from the trauma of wrongful arrest will take months…. Maybe even years…’
Months after the arrest, Mikaela then found herself on the brink of homelessness, explaining to the Daily Beast that she ‘almost lost housing this summer’ because of the ‘financial position she was in’.
It is unclear whether her parents were aware of her situation at the time; DailyMail.com has reached out to Spielberg’s spokesperson for comment.
Although she admits that she grew up with a great amount of ‘privilege’, Mikaela called for ‘gentrification’ to be ‘fixed’, and she insisted that sex work should not be criminalized, but rather given more financial support and protection.
Online sex work has enabled Mikaela to achieve more financial independence and stability, providing her with a regular income that she hopes to expand in the future by producing more content, including professionally-shot videos.
New venture: Mikaela recently joined adult content website ManyVids, where she sells videos for $14.99 each, and also offers services like one-on-one video chats and phone calls
Niche: She insists that only does solo videos, and says she doesn’t have plans to move into more ‘hardcore’ content in the future, explaining that she prefers ‘passion-oriented’ porn
She currently has eight videos available for purchase on her ManyVids profile, including clips titled ‘Magic Wand Party’, ‘Gem Stone Butt Play & Machine Fun’, and ‘Up Close & Personal’.
Mikaela also offers other services to her followers, including one-on-one video chats, custom video creation, and phone calls.
However, she insists that she wants to focus solely on solo videos, and doesn’t have plans to move into more ‘hardcore’ content in the future, explaining that she prefers ‘passion-oriented’ porn.
‘Here’s what I’ve learned about myself from doing this kind of work: I’ve learned that I’m not hypersexual at all, actually, which in the long run has cost me money,’ she said.
‘I’ve learned that I do not enjoy hardcore content personally. Whatever you decide to make is your decision, but I enjoy soft content and passion content. My long-term goal with self-expression is to work with a company that does passion-oriented content.’
When Mikaela first came out as a sex worker in February, she told The Sun that she had made the decision to go public about her porn career after sharing the news with her parents over FaceTime.
‘My safety has always been a number one priority for them,’ she said. ‘I’m doing this, not out of an urge to hurt anybody or be spiteful about it, I’m doing this because I want to honor my body in a way that’s lucrative.’
Describing herself as a ‘sexual creature’, Mikaela went on to explain that she was eager to find a way to ‘capitalize on her body’, having grown frustrated with working in a more traditional job that ‘wasn’t satisfying her soul’.
She also shared that her new career has given her a feeling of empowerment and confidence that she never thought she’d be able to have, with the budding stripper revealing that she suffered abuse at the hand of ‘predators’ as a child, which later sparked a series of mental health issues.