The parents of British adult performer Lily Phillips have spoken candidly about the struggles they face watching their daughter’s X-rated career play out so publicly.
Phillips, 24, has built a multimillion-pound empire as one of the UK’s most notorious “sexfluencers,” gaining widespread attention for her extreme sexual stunts; including a headline-making challenge in which she slept with 101 men in just 12 hours.
While her online fame has made her wealthy and widely recognized, it has come at a significant personal cost to her family.
In a new episode of Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, Phillips’ parents, Emma and Lindsay, reveal the toll of having their daughter’s private life turned into public spectacle.
The couple admit they often question whether something in her upbringing influenced her path, and confess they initially misunderstood what she was doing online.
“We’ve known for years she’s done OnlyFans, and I thought it was just posing in swimwear and lingerie,” Lindsay explained. Emma added, “We stood back because we want to continue our relationship with our daughter. We were pretty open with it.”
But when Lily escalated to filming explicit group scenes, including her record-breaking marathon with over 100 men, her parents said it was impossible to ignore. “When it went to the next step, we were like, ‘no, no,’” Emma admitted.
The hardest part, they say, has been reconciling their love for their daughter with their fears about her safety, dignity, and reputation. “If there’s anything we could do to change her profession, we’d do it overnight,” Lindsay said, via The Mirror. “It’s the degradingness of it, and making sure that she’s safe.”
Both parents also spoke of the social fallout they’ve endured: losing friends, being shunned by neighbors, and even receiving cruel messages from strangers accusing them of profiting from Lily’s work.
“Sometimes we think, have we done anything wrong? But as far as I’m concerned, we’ve had nothing but nice times and love,” Lindsay said.
At one point in the documentary, Lindsay delivers a heartfelt plea directly to his daughter: “You could have everything you want, Lily, if you gave it all up now.” The comment visibly upset her, with Lily walking away in tears. Later, she admitted to The Sun that the exchange was “really hard to listen to.”
She explained: “They didn’t choose for me to do this, and it’s not something that they’ve signed up for. They’re not gaining anything from this, so I think it’s just hard to put them through it. They don’t agree with everything I do, but I’m their daughter, and they’ll love me forever.”
Phillips, however, shows little regret about her career. She revealed she had been fascinated with sex from a young age and was already highly active during her university years. “I slept with hundreds of guys on nights out and thought, ‘I might as well get paid for this,’” she said.
What started as cam work and OnlyFans evolved into increasingly extreme filmed encounters, eventually making her a self-proclaimed “multi-millionaire,” the Daily Star reports.
But the fame has come at a cost not just for her parents, but for her own reputation. “My parents were called money grabbers. People assumed they were taking a cut of my earnings, which wasn’t true,” she explained. “They even felt people were whispering about them in the supermarket, and that was tough.”
Despite the backlash, Phillips insists she isn’t done pushing boundaries, though she admits she wants to move beyond the numbers game. “I want ideas that feel exciting again, not just the same old stunts,” she said, teasing plans for new projects, including one involving a plane.
The decision to feature Phillips on Stacey Dooley’s series has drawn criticism, with some accusing the journalist of glamorizing harmful behavior. “Really disappointing,” one viewer wrote online. “I just don’t think Stacey Dooley should be promoting this.” Others called the episode “grim” and “lowest-derivative entertainment.”
Still, the documentary highlights a reality rarely shown; not just the headline-grabbing extremes of adult entertainment, but the emotional fallout it’s leaving behind for families caught in the glare of their loved one’s choices.
