‘It wasn’t an easy decision’: Student quit law degree to become porn star over concerns about money and graduate job prospects

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By Thomas Connelly on

Ella Hughes has no regrets

Image via Instagram: @hughesthatgurl

A law student turned porn star has revealed that money woes coupled with a highly competitive legal job market were behind her decision to ditch her LLB.

Ella Hughes always thought she’d become a lawyer. However, during the first year of her law degree the now 22-year-old realised she was destined for a very different career path.

“I was working so hard — in lectures from 9am to 7pm everyday — that I couldn’t find a way to earn money,” she explains in a ghost written piece for the BBC. “I didn’t really need the money — I had a student loan — but I hate depending on people and always wanted my own money.”

Keen to secure her own financial independence, the once aspiring lawyer was introduced to the world of “cash-in-hand modelling” by a friend. With a few “all clothed” photograph sessions under her belt, she turned her hand to more provocative lingerie shoots for men’s magazines.

It was as this point Hughes was approached by porn companies, she says:

I had some reservations, because I knew it would be hard to pursue a career as a lawyer if I went into porn, but I’ve always been quite sexually open. I used to go to S&M parties, and I love sex, so in the end, I decided to just try it.

Hughes’ first video racked up over four million views. “The more I did it, the more I fell in love with it. I started doing around 15 scenes each month,” she explains.

Marbella vibes ??✈️☀️

A post shared by Ella Hughes ? (@hughesthatgurl) on

However, juggling a law degree and a career in porn was not easy, and something eventually had to give. Southampton-born Hughes says:

I did it for a year alongside my degree, but I was really struggling to balance it all, and my university professors eventually found out. They told me law and porn don’t mix — that law is a degree for respectable people and I might not be seen that way with my profile online as a porn star. I had to decide whether I wanted to stay or not.

In weighing up her options, Hughes admits money was a key factor. Law can be a very lucrative career yet Hughes claims she could have bought a house and car doing porn by the time she had completed her “bar exams”. Moreover Hughes — who discusses her career switch in a new BBC Three documentary, Sex Map of Britain — also had concerns about securing employment upon graduating. She explains:

I know lawyers can eventually earn six figures a year, but it’s also really hard to pass the bar and there’s no guarantee you’ll find a job after university, so I decided that finishing my degree wasn’t for me.

Dismissing any aspirations of returning to university to complete her degree, she continues:

I can’t imagine myself ever going back to my law degree. I think my life would have been really boring if I’d become a lawyer. Instead I’ve travelled the world and I’ve met so many unique people I never would have met outside the industry.

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