Miriam Weeks Is Focused On The Future

In early 2014, Duke University freshman Miriam Weeks made national news when her "secret double life" as porn star Belle Knox was revealed. Now, Lifetime's new movie Straight A's to XXX depicts Miriam Weeks' story and it will bring her back into the public eye. The film itself focuses on Weeks' decision to enter the porn industry in order to help pay her tuition, and the bullying she endured on campus after a male friend saw her in a video and told his entire fraternity. Her college experience was certainly unconventional, but what is Miriam Weeks doing now? Weeks tells Bustle she was not consulted about the movie and she has received no compensation.

Weeks originally planned on keeping her on-campus life entirely separate from her work as Belle Knox, but that was no longer an option after her job was revealed. So, she made the most of it — according to a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Weeks decided to come forward "as both a feminist and a 'voice' for women in the porn industry." She was interviewed by Dr. Drew, Piers Morgan, The View, and Howard Stern, and wrote an article for TIME detailing the financial plight faced by many students at pricey universities. Despite the harassment and threats she endured on campus, Weeks has remained at Duke, where she double-majors in women's studies and sociology and is on track to graduate this year.

When she returned to Duke for her sophomore year in 2015, Weeks told Business Insider that she has political aspirations. At the time, she had partnered with a libertarian group on campus and was juggling public speaking engagements with her studies. She spent the summer between freshman and sophomore year in Washington, D.C, training with Students For Liberty, a national organization that markets itself as "the largest libertarian student organization in the world." Upon her return to campus in fall 2015, Weeks became the campus coordinator for Students for Liberty at Duke.

At the time of her interview with Business Insider, Weeks declined to say whether or not she was still active in the porn industry — she was more interested in discussing her post-college career aspirations. Weeks expressed that she hoped to enter politics and focus on issues including college tuition costs, the decriminalization of sex work, and censorship. Weeks also told the outlet that she's interested in a legal career, focusing on advocacy for women:

"People always laugh at me when I say this because everyone always thinks I can't do it, but I want to be a lawyer for women. ... Gloria Allred, she's like my idol and I want to be her... Once I have my law degree and I kind of have that background ... I would love to be somebody who could testify in front of Congress or somebody who does advocacy."

Although Weeks is aware that many people may judge her for her background, she has continued to prepare herself for a future career in either politics or law. In February 2015, she was the keynote speaker at Lafayette University, which is quite an accomplishment for a college sophomore. Predictably, there were mixed reactions to her speech. Erina Kamiya, a student who attended the event, told StandUp, the university's social justice blog, that Weeks successfully conveyed the idea that sex positivity is possible in the porn industry. She added that Weeks' presence as a keynote speaker was a major step forward in promoting open-mindedness, but noted that some of her claims during the speech were questionable, especially when it came to Weeks' role as a feminist. Kamiya raised a number of valid questions:

"Is she really a feminist when she categorizes the application of makeup as 'unfeminist?' How could she say that everyone in the sex industry is sexually empowered? Isn’t it hypocritical of her to put down other forms of feminism when she herself has gone through the painful criticism of having been told that feminism and the porn industry are mutually exclusive?"

However, there's certainly a learning curve when it comes to speaking out about such a controversial topic — so it's impressive that Weeks was already making these types of speeches as a college sophomore.

In December 2015, Weeks responded to a question on Twitter and confirmed that she's no longer working in the adult film industry. In February 2016, she responded to a different user and once again clarified that she had retired and "moved on to other things." Weeks has kept a low-profile over the past year — but, if everything has gone according to plan, she'll graduate from Duke in the spring and pursue a career in either law or politics.

Editor's Note: This article has been updated from its original version to include Weeks' comment.