Culture

The Duke Porn Star Is Returning to Campus, Despite Threats Against Her (Update)

The college freshman known as Belle Knox will not be returning to Duke University anytime soon, she says. Knox, who's been making the media rounds in New York this week, says students have threatened to kill her since she was outed on campus as a porn star. 

By Allie Jones
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The college freshman known as Belle Knox will not be returning to Duke University anytime soon, she says. Knox, who's been making the media rounds in New York this week, says students have threatened to kill her since she was outed on campus as a porn star. "I am still getting death threats,” she told Fox News. "I’ve had people threaten to throw trash on me."

[Update (12:21 a.m.): After originally reporting that Knox would not be going back to campus, the New York Daily News has updated their story to say that she will be returning, despite the death threats.]

Knox maintains that porn empowers her and it pays for her college tuition. "I’ve made between 25-30 videos, and at the rate I’m going, I’ve made enough to pay for this year," she explains. But now it appears she might not make it back in time for finals. She's in the midst of visiting every studio in Midtown, from HuffPost Live to CNN.

Knox appeared on The View earlier this week, where she revealed that she's been watching porn since she was 12 and sees no problem with it. Sherri Shepherd told Knox she was "breaking her heart," but Whoopi Goldberg understood her motivations.

In an xoJane essay published earlier this month, Knox explained her decision to talk to the media after being outed on campus:

I may never have a normal life again. But if I've exposed the insanity and the unfair standards that all women and especially my sisters in the sex industry face — if I’ve challenged the way that people view female sexuality — then this journey has been worth it. Society tries to tell women that our worth is contingent upon the secrecy of our sexuality, but I will not be silenced. ... I am not your child or your property or your Madonna or your whore.

This week, xoJane published another essay of hers defending rough sex in porn. Duke's finals begin on April 28. Tuition was $45,476 this academic year.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.