Steven Spielberg's daughter Mikaela comes out as porn star, says she was 'abused by predators' while growing up
Steven Spielberg's adopted daughter Mikaela has caused quite a stir after coming out to confirm that she was seeking to carve out a career in the adult entertainment industry as a porn star.
Mikaela, 23, had first made the revelation about her new career path on social media earlier this month, writing, "I just launched my self-produced adult entertainment career. Safe, sane, consensual is the goal y'all." "My body, my life, my income, my choice. I owe not a single person my autonomy or virtue just because of a name."
Mikaela explained her decision further in an interview with the U.S. Sun and described herself as a "sexual creature" who became "really tired of not being able to capitalize on my body" and "being told to hate my body." "I also just got tired of working day-to-day in a way that wasn't satisfying my soul," she said. "I feel like doing this kind of work, I'm able to 'satisfy' other people, but that feels good because it's not in a way that makes me feel violated."
She said it had been a huge confidence booster to be able to show off her large natural breasts, which she described as the "moneymaker," and that the plan was to self-produce solo erotic videos that showed them and her curves off.
"Honestly I have hated my chest for so long but I've finally learned to embrace it," she revealed. "That was one of the things when I uploaded these first couple of videos, I realized, 'This is the moneymaker' - my large chest."
The 23-year-old, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, added she was a "very sexually natured person" and that she hoped her new career would help her attain financial independence from her ultra-wealthy parents. While she is focusing on solo work at the moment, eventually, Mikaela, who goes by the stage name 'Sugar Star,' said the plan was to obtain a Tennessee sex worker license and become a dancer at a strip club.
But the confidence and self-assuredness she now displays have been forged only after a complicated battle with a difficult past that involved bullying, alcoholism, and sexual abuse.
Mikaela shared that she had been groomed and abused by "predators" when she was growing up, but quickly added that these men were outsiders and not anyone from her family or circle of friends. The sexual abuse, in turn, contributed to her suffering years of mental health issues, including anorexia, borderline personality disorder, and alcoholism.
These problems were further exacerbated when her parents sent her to boarding school, she said, though she insisted they were doing only what they thought was best for their daughter and couldn't have known the impact it would have on her.
"I came out of there worse than I was going in - with more anxiety and more attachment issues, more depression, and more hatred from my body. I actually developed an eating disorder while I was living there," she said.
To cope, she turned to drinking, something that almost ended up killing her. "I was really out of control from about the age of 11, even to up to two years ago," she admitted. "So that out of control-ness only stopped pretty recently. When I was 21, I used to drink every day and that went on for like two years until I almost died a couple of times."
But with the help of therapy and her fiancé Chuck Pankow, who had been incredibly supportive throughout, she said she's now in a positive place where she feels very grounded, validated, and confident enough to venture into the porn industry.
Mikaela was adopted at birth by Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw in 1996 and is a sibling to Jessica Capshaw, Max Samuel Spielberg, Sasha Rebecca Spielberg, Sawyer Avery Spielberg, Destry Allyn Spielberg, and Theo Spielberg.
Theo, like her, is adopted as well, with Spielberg telling the Guardian in a 1999 interview that they adopted Mikaela so he could have an African-American sister. "We wanted Theo not to be the only black child in the family," he said at the time.
The 23-year-old said she speaks to her parents regularly and is still very close to her father, and revealed that when she broke the news of her sex industry ambitions to them over FaceTime during the weekend, they weren't upset, but were instead intrigued by her choice.
But that isn't necessarily the case with others, and she said she fully expects backlash from those who feel she is sullying the Spielberg name by associating herself with the industry.
"People will be resentful about this, people will be angry because it's like almost like I'm taking a piece of their security away by being independent," she said. "People sometimes can feel pretty entitled to your body, to your respect, to your time."
"This isn't like an 'end of the road' or 'I've hit bottom' choice," Mikaela insisted. "This is a positive, empowering choice, I realized there is no shame in having a fascination with this industry and wanting to do something that is safe, sane, consensual."