Porn star Lily Phillips gets baptized; questions about her sincerity emerge

Porn star Lily Phillips says she has been rebaptized and is re-embracing the Christian faith, prompting a debate about whether the development is sincere or merely a publicity stunt. 

Phillips, 24, best known for claiming to have slept with over 1,000 men in 12 hours, shared a video on Instagram last week documenting her rebaptism. The video showed the OnlyFans star standing in a shallow baptismal pool alongside a minister who completely submerged her in the water. The words on the screen stated “a day to remember forever,” and the song “God Is” by Kanye West played in the background. 

Phillips did not specify which church she was rebaptized at, but she opened up about her faith journey in an interview with US Weekly published Tuesday.

“I think for a while I’d kind of deviated from religion, and I think I was kind of in denial for a lot of it,” she said. “Quite a big thing happened more in my personal life, where I kind of felt the need to start speaking to God again. I hadn’t really practiced faith for a while. I just wanted to get rebaptized to kind of reinstate my relationship with God.”

Phillips insisted that “there are a lot of Christian girls who are in this industry,” adding “people might not know it and they might not feel comfortable talking about it because of the judgment.”

Acknowledging that many people will probably not think she is a “good Christian” because of her career choice, Phillips asserted, “That’s totally fine,” and said she has no intention of changing her positions at odds with traditional Christian teaching.

“I’m definitely not claiming to be a traditional Christian at all. Obviously, I’m not against gay marriage. I am also pro-choice. So I definitely don’t have, necessarily, traditional values. But that doesn’t mean to say that I can’t be Christian. I would just hope that the Christian community welcomes me, because I guess everyone’s relationship with God is bespoke to them,” she added.

Phillips outlined her plans to make religion “more of a priority” in her life.

“I’m going to take more of a back seat in work and stuff like that just to really prioritize this. Even though I travel so much — and this is my issue — I don’t necessarily go to church a lot because I’m traveling," she said. "But it doesn’t mean to say I can’t pray and I can’t practice my religion outside of church, so I’d definitely be doing that and taking that forward.” 

Discussing her religious upbringing, said he family has "always been religious."

“They don’t practice that much or anything like that," she added. “We were always quite close to God growing up and stuff like that. They were delighted.”

Reactions to Phillips’ baptism in the Christian community were mixed.

Russell Brand, an actor and comedian facing sexual assault allegations from his younger years, who has embraced the Christian faith in recent years and was baptized in 2024, reacted to Phillips’ rebaptism by sharing the video of it in an X post on Thursday. 

His caption reads, “Thank God.” Brand had previously told Phillips in an interview last year that she was “a child of God,” assuring her, “You are special and you are sacred.”

“You deserve to be cherished and treasured in every aspect of your life," he told Phillips. Encouraging her to recognize her “precious soul and spirit," Brand attempted to coax the adult film star out of the industry.

“There is a path and a light for you,” he remarked.

Phillips described herself to Brand as “obsessed with sex” and “not religious or anything like that.” 

On the other hand, Christian social media commentator Jon Root published an X post on Thursday, suggesting that Phillips’ baptism was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

“Currently, I don’t see the fruit of saving faith in Jesus Christ,” he wrote. 

In addition to noting her positions on abortion and gay marriage, Root listed the fact that she “still sells pornographic material,” “doesn’t mention Jesus Christ in her reasoning to be baptized,” and “still has immodest content on her social channels.”

Proclaiming that “God can save anyone,” Root reiterated, “I don’t see any evidence of good fruit.”

“Christianity has become a grift for many to elevate their brand a lot lately," Root concluded. "I don’t think this is anything more than lip service, especially after reading her explanation for baptism to US Weekly. If she was real, she’d leave her old life of debauchery, not justify her sin, while claiming to follow God." 

Other former porn stars have completely left the industry behind as they committed to faith in Jesus Christ.

Brittni De La Mora, a former porn star who starred in hundreds of films and made millions of dollars in the industry, is the most prominent example. After her conversion, De La Mora and her husband took over XXXChurch, a ministry devoted to helping adult film stars leave the industry.

In November, 51-year-old Jenna Jameson, who is known as the former "Queen of Porn," said she was baptized and is now using her platform to help others “find Jesus.” In an Instagram video, Jameson said she was "switching sides" after "decades of being known for my body and sin."