The new A&E docuseries, Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes, dives into the most infamous scandals surrounding some of the biggest names. Whether it be Rob Lowe, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, or Farrah Abraham, the series outlines the tapes, their cultural impact, and the consequences of their releases, which, more often than not, have a greater effect on the woman involved. While Abraham, of 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom fame, doesn’t feel her episode spoke enough about the misogyny she faced following the release of her sex tape, she was not afraid to call out her haters, particularly within the adult-film community, on her own.

Abraham was 22 when she and famed porn star James Deen made a sex tape together. While she maintains that it was never her intention to release the tape, she reportedly sold the rights to Vivid Entertainment for more than $1 million after Deen, who has since been accused of rape and sexual misconduct, notified the press about its existence. Following the release of Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom in 2013, Abraham began a successful career in the adult entertainment industry, though other adult film stars were not as willing to embrace her in their line of work.

When Abraham presented at the AVN Awards in 2015, she was booed by her peers, which, according to her, was because “everybody in that audience” thought Deen should have also gotten a paycheck for their sex tape when she sold the rights.

“Why didn’t the porn star get paid as much as that reality star?” Abraham said in a recent interview with Decider. “They all were upset at a woman for not having equality on pay. Yet it was that porn star’s fault that this was all in the public eye without my consent.”

Abraham recently stopped by Decider’s studio, where she talked about her sex tape, how she handled the topic with her 16-year-old daughter, and her lucrative OnlyFans career. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: As we learn in the beginning of your episode of Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes, this is the first time you’ve ever told the full story about your sex tape in a documentary. Why was now the right time to share your story?

FARRAH ABRAHAM: I think after I got done with the trauma center, I had the words to describe what I went through. I feel like that was kind of the trickiness of sitting down and reminiscing about something. I’ve just changed so much with words [over the last decade]. That’s why I was like, “I’m open to a press tour.” Because I feel like as I keep aging, as I keep self-investing and mental health, I can really describe what I’m going through. I don’t feel like some of the people who commented on me in my episode put themselves in a time frame of, “Oh, this is how Farrah talked then. This is what Farrah only knew at that point.” Instead, they act like it’s 2025 and Farrah should just be able to say [what] happened to her and go about her way. But nothing is for other people. This was something that I walked through life and I’ve learned through it. It wasn’t to appease anyone else. And I think that’s what was so special about sitting down and putting vocabulary to what I went through. So for everybody else who’s young and you don’t have words and you’re trying to figure life out, I totally feel you. 

You were so young. You can’t hold anyone to what they say when they are young and figuring it out. Everybody evolves.

You make some hard choices. We make some hard, hard choices, or we don’t know how much our environment really impacts us. I think I realize that so much more than any time now in 2025. 

In the episode, you talk about how your parents would take you out of sex education classes and sort of taught you that sex is this bad, shameful thing. As a parent yourself, how have you handled that topic with your daughter now that she’s a teenager?

My daughter’s homeschooled. I was a public school student. I feel like that’s kind of also what instigated sex early, even though I was a late bloomer. But I think for my daughter and how I’ve raised her, our thing that we advocate for [is] contraception prevention. We don’t have a law that gives everyone inclusion in that right now. My daughter knows if she goes and has sex with someone, she doesn’t have tying of the tubes or her boyfriend can’t go get a vasectomy right now. That’s the lack of inclusion we’re talking about. She knows there’s no safety net. There’s no support initially. But if you have a crisis, we just force-feed people crisis stuff. So I think I’ve always spoke to my daughter in a way of, “This is my learning experience. This is what I have learned and what I am learning. And I’m bringing you along my journey as I learn.” Because I want her to have better relationships. I want her to date better, have super strong self-esteem, self-compassion. Then you make better choices. There’s been some peer pressures in our family where they were talking about sex with her, but my daughter was so strong in our relationship and felt so safe that she could say, “Hey, this cousin’s doing this, this cousin’s doing that.” She knew to remove herself from that. So there’s no secrets from her mom. But there are secrets of celebrity sex tapes. But Sophia knows all those secrets of life so that she doesn’t have that happen to her. 

I love how close you and your daughter Sophia are. At what point did you sit her down and explain everything about your sex tape and your work in the adult entertainment industry to her? And how did she respond? 

The unfortunate criminal situation I found myself in with a celebrity sex tape … Sophia was with me when I was figuring out, like, is this the right deal? Is this the right thing for me? Is this the walk that I need to walk? My daughter was right there with me, so there’s no hiding my experience. She lived it. I think she only knew that her mom really was struggling with suicide. Her mom was really struggling with trying to find love or intimacy. There was no secret of that. My daughter used to, at that age, ask any guy at the gas station to go on a date with me. It’s so sweet, but it’s also so sad. Again, I am very transparent with what I’m feeling. I want her to learn from me what not to do. I want her to learn how great life can be now that I have gotten to the other side of life and healed. So I don’t think I’ve left anything out for my daughter.

There were some other adult film stars in the doc, including Matiland Ward from Boy Meets World, sort of questioning your honesty when it comes to the intent behind your tape. What’s your response to them? 

I wasn’t really familiar with her, and I don’t even know why she showed up to comment on me. I do see, from the last couple of years, she felt like it would get her famous from saying negative things about me. My story is about living in a positive stimulus. Maitland Ward sounds like she lives in a negative stimulus. She still has mental health issues that she needs to deal with. She should take some tips and learn from me because that’s just not the game I play anymore. I want her to hear this loud and clear. I am not here to appease people in adult entertainment. She can appease them. She can have people-pleasing issues her whole life. I feel very bad for her, but I want it to be very clear that she has no right to speak about me. It was a joke that I even saw her comment, and I hope whatever pay day and little attention that she gets from showing up and saying negative things about a woman–she needs to go work on toxic masculinity issues. I wish her all the best. Honestly, her porn career is nowhere of success. I don’t know who she is. I don’t care if she was in White Chicks. I don’t care if she was in Boy Meets World. I never paid attention to her, and I’m still not going to pay attention to her in porn. So, she needs to figure out how to be a successful woman. She should take note of my episode. The end. 

I blocked her. I don’t even want to know that she exists on this planet. I have blocked anyone and everyone in my episode. I’m just done with the wannabe famous. I’m done with the sensationalism. I’m done with the obsessed with celebrity-ness. I really sat down with A&E because it has been such a pinpoint of my life to overcome just a lack of self-esteem. I don’t think people understand. We act out if you have face dysmorphia, we act out when we’re suicidal. It’s not about, “Oh, if she wanted to go do porn, she could have just done it. It’s a gimmick.” No, I’m not in control of what other people do in a smear campaign against me. The criminology, the nonconsensualness that other people love to live with. A lot of people in porn don’t care if they have consent. They just let their lives go. They let their self-worth go. They let their value be disintegrated. I think I’m just on a different trajectory, obviously. I got a daughter who watches after me and thinks the world of me. I don’t think you should put your parents on a pedestal, but I think that encouraged me. That’s aspirational. I want to live up to what my daughter thinks of me, and I’m not succumbing to what other people think a video should look like for them. I saw some men say, “Oh, her video didn’t look like a sex tape.” This video was not for public consumption. This video was for me. If I want to record it how I want to record it, cool. I’m also tired of people saying there was a whole crew. I’ve been asked habitually about this in podcasts, news, [and] different TV shows. Stop insinuating that there was anyone around me during sex. Stop insinuating that. If you saw someone there, then you could ask me about it. But no one saw that. Like, there was lighting in my shower? What is going on with people trying to just claw and attach themselves to someone who is famous? That’s why people got fired. That’s why I’ve never talked to people again.

I think it was healing for me to watch the premiere of Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes because I could totally empathize with some of the people, like actors and different spokespeople who had sex tapes and people were trying to ruin their careers and how it affected them. The majority of them that I didn’t know the history of, I actually enjoyed watching with everyone. I actually was healed by [the history] because I saw other people stop talking to bad people in bad environments, focused on what really, truly mattered. They were kind of looking at themselves and seeing how they could improve themselves. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong then. I equally still work on myself and I equally still try to stay away from bad environments. It’s unfortunate that reality television was exploitative and a bad environment for me. I sometimes feel like all this happened because of being around bad people and reality TV. So I’m doing the best I can with what I was given and my environment and people need to chill. They need to stop adding to my environment. 

People sometimes forget that reality stars are real humans. You just happen to have a camera on you documenting all the ups and downs.

And I’m open to sharing my ups, downs and all around. There’s nothing to hide.

In one of the earlier episodes in this docuseries, we heard how female celebrities often face more repercussions than male celebrities when their sex tapes get leaked. For example, Rob Lowe was able to bounce back. Do you agree?

I felt like this wasn’t really touched upon in my episode. This was really weird to me as I watched. The Rob Lowe thing very much talked about the men and women, but it was so weird how they picked what they edited in mine. They talked about me being booed on an AVN stage. They just went on some celebrity drama, her [villainization], it caught up with her, even on an AVN award stage. As if I care. I couldn’t even remember it because of my medication and alcohol mixing that day, so I didn’t even know. I never even went back and watched the AVN Awards because I wasn’t absorbed in that, but it was refreshing to see that I was booed. I feel like people failed to mention this in the entire scope of looking at this. I was booed on that AVN stage not because of me and who I am. I was booed on that stage because everybody in that audience thought they should stand up for a man who was an abuser, a rapist in adult entertainment, because he should have equally got paid and a paycheck. Who cares if I’m a villain? Who cares about that? But you would care if you work in the adult entertainment industry and you’re going to stand up for it. Why didn’t the porn star get paid as much as that reality star? That’s what I got on Howard Stern. Did Howard Stern make that episode play that back? His co-host was like, “Well, don’t you think it’s messed up that James Dean, or whatever the porn star’s name is, didn’t get paid equal to you?” They all were upset at a woman for not having equality on pay. Yet it was that porn star’s fault that this was all in the public eye without my consent. 

Today, I’m going through a sexual assault court case with a seven day trial coming up. I will say something about my life. It is unfortunate the things that I have gone through that people sensationalize, they think are fake and not real. There’s no equality when it comes to a man and woman and sexuality. So booing on an AVN stage is the least of my worries, as they are all holding hands with me and walking me out as I’m doing my thing. It seemed like I was pretty liked there, right? But it wasn’t likable because a man didn’t equally get paid and make money off my skin, my body. I think that’s the line I walked, so I know nobody was living it with me. But looking back and what I had to live through to make it through this, it hurt my spirit as a woman to see men hating me. You can ask half the men out there right now, “Why do you hate Farrah?” Oh, because she left a man out of equality for being paid on a sex tape. And the other men are like, “No, you stood up for yourself.” My dad [was] right by my side. So if I did anything wrong to a man, I’m pretty sure my dad would have mentioned it. I kept it pretty level-keel. But that was horrible to have hate towards me from men saying that I wasn’t being equal to a man who did everything non-consensually. He broke laws. It’s criminal. If anything, I look back and I say, “Maybe I should not have let those resentments get the better of me and be spiteful.” But I did. Two wrongs do not make a right. And I learned that 14 years later. I’m happy I can share that. 

This wasn’t that long ago, and yet so much in the world has changed. Now, there’s OnlyFans, which you’ve had success with as a creator. Do you ever find that the media storm you dealt with as a 22-year-old has an influence on the content you create now?

OnlyFans for life! I’m sure. I try to keep it like a joyful place and I think that’s what I really loved about OnlyFans. If any men are hating on me, I’m gonna block them and I’m tired of that man-hating on a strong independent widowed mother. I love just thematic stuff, so cosplay or whatever. I don’t date often, so if I can have a little fun on OnlyFans, let a mom live! I’m just not all about the competition and like the craziness of OnlyFans. I’m loving some AI, some Joi AI. By the way, that’s what also has been influencing my OnlyFans. All this AI girlfriendness, I’m shocked there’s not an award for that at AVN because we’re making millions off of it now. But I love that I have a group of people who get to use our Joi AI. Some of their creations, they allow me to show on my OnlyFans. Right now, they’re creating mocks of me now, but in my celebrity sex tape. It’s super weird. But yeah, it just never dies. I feel like AI was just continuing some sex tape vibes, on OnlyFans vibes. It’s just all about fantasy and being creative. I don’t get deep about that stuff. I just want husbands, wives, singles to have a safe, consensual sex life. I will always support a healthy sex life. And that’s all I am doing in my life. 

There are a lot of young creators on OnlyFans and while sharing explicit content has become more normalized, there is still a stigma attached to it. For example, Sami Sheen recently said she was denied a lease because of her career on OnlyFans. What’s your take on that? And what advice would you give young women like Sami who are finding success at such a young age in this business? 

I do feel like that is tricky, right? When you’re leasing, some certain places are like, “Oh, is there OnlyFans content being in there?” What I have learned is there are so many adult creators or content creators or however you want to use OnlyFans that are ruining it for everyone. I haven’t dealt with any declines from anything. But I will say I see because of people abusing animals, people killing people on OnlyFans, it’s just sexual exploitation stuff, I feel like there is a need to be cautious, especially if you own something and someone with OnlyFans is going to be there and something criminal could happen. That is a liability problem. It’s sad that like people are ruining it for everyone. I mean, I can’t even say a word and my account gets paused. But I do see that a lot of other accounts get away with criminal activity, exploitive things, going against OnlyFans policies. I think it’s just best to start owning stuff. But also you don’t have to stay where you are and show your personal life like that. I tried to even not really show my life. I think because I was raised with some cameras in my home and untrustworthy people, I am very good about clutching my personal space and not really showing who I am. If something works out for you in your life as you’re earning money on OnlyFans, go with positive, welcoming arms to places. But if something becomes negative, it was just not meant to be. We can all complain. But is there really much to complain about? It’s just like, go with what you’re in alignment with and that’s led to happiness for me. 

Your story feels like something that could be dramatized in TV or Hollywood. If someone came to you and said they wanted to make a scripted show or movie about your life, what would you say? And who would you want to play you?

Yes and yes. Oh yes! I feel like I prayed about this. I would love my daughter to be able to play me right now. Hands down. I think the world of my daughter, she’s talented, she’s been trained. There’s no one better than her. And honestly, I see my daughter winning awards. I see her having films across the nation’s screens. She loves her horror stuff. But what wins actresses real awards? They win awards when they become unlike themselves. I think my daughter is so goth and I am so not that it would be the highlight of her life and her career. Because I think she often wonders what I went through, and not that I want to put her through that, but I think in an acting way, a LifeTime movie … call me. I’m ready. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Secrets of Celebrity Sex Tapes airs Mondays at 9 p.m. PT/ET on A&E.