‘Biggest grownup star’ who stop and wished movies deleting returns with ‘twin’

She was one of the most watched women in the world but left saying she had no control and wanted her content deleted

A former adult star who said she had “little say” over who she filmed porn with at just 19 says she has reclaimed her creative freedom and won’t have to film another explicit scene herself. Lana Rhoades says when she first broke into the industry, agents decided performers’ rates and booked their shoots, leaving them with limited control.

Now, Lana, who has more than 13 million Instagram followers as @lanarhoades, is launching a digital double that she says will “pick up where I left off”, offering fans personalised pictures, videos and one-to-one chats while keeping her real body off-screen.

Looking back at the industry she entered in 2016, Lana said: “Before 2016, you would find an agent, they would fly you to LA, you’d stay in some small quarters, sometimes sharing a bed with another new performer, and they’d book you to shoot sex scenes for about $1,200.

“Your agent chose your rate. You also had little say over who your sex partner in the scenes would be. There was not much autonomy in the hands of performers.”

Now, almost a decade after stepping away from the industry, Lana has found a way to reconnect with her audience – through an AI version of herself. Lana is launching the double through Candy AI.

But she says the decision does not mean she wants to return to filming. “I am at a point in my career where it would no longer make me happy to use my own body for explicit sex content,” she said. The digital version is deliberately modelled on Lana at the beginning of her career.

She said: “My digital twin is based on 19-year-old Lana, and she will pick up where I left off in the adult industry.”

She said: “Fans aren’t just consuming pre-recorded media anymore; with this, they can interact, chat 24/7, and generate customised content with the version of me.”

Lana stopped filming in 2017, but her popularity continued, topping the most-searched performer ranking in 2019, with 345 million video views. She has previously spoken about wishing she could remove the films that helped make her famous.

During a 2021 appearance on Harry Jowsey’s Tap In podcast, she said she did not hold the rights to many of her old videos and if she did, she would probably have deleted them. She also described the moment she realised someone could earn significantly more by posting a simple photograph than she was making from an explicit adult shoot.

Speaking on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, Lana recalled earning $1,200 per scene while a male social media creator she met was receiving $15,000 for an Instagram picture.

Asked whether she had flirted with her digital twin to see what it would say back, she replied: “Absolutely, and she completely blew me away. Her flirt game is dangerously strong and she always has the perfect comeback.”

For her, it is the opportunity to continue her business without physically performing. “It’s hard to explain how liberating it is,” she said.

She believes other creators will increasingly consider digital doubles as a way of stepping back from filming. “Having a digital twin completely rewrites that equation,” she said. “I think more and more creators are going to look at this and realize they don’t have to sacrifice their wellbeing to sustain a long-term career.”

Her digital twin is due to launch November 11, with subscriptions priced at $13.99.

Lana added: “I was completely hands-on and approved every single detail. I absolutely love her. It was incredibly important to me that she looks, breathes, and sounds just like the real me. Fans get the ultimate Lana Rhoades experience, but entirely on my terms, meaning my real-world boundaries are never crossed.”